Richard Thompson
Ship to Shore


4.0
excellent

Review

by doofy USER (43 Reviews)
June 5th, 2024 | 22 replies


Release Date: 05/31/2024 | Tracklist

Review Summary: I don’t want to go overboard but…

If there’s one musician out there with absolutely nothing left to prove it’s RT, he’s delivered the goods time and time again, whatever decade you care to mention. Previous album ‘13 Rivers’ was sturdy enough already but this latest effort is stronger still and really makes you forget the man is 75 years old.

The first feather in ‘Ship to Shore’s cap is the fact the opening salvo of tracks up to ‘Trust’ are top tier RT and could all have happily found themselves included on ‘99s superb ‘Mock Tudor’ without letting the side down. In particular, the brooding ‘The Fear Never Leaves You’ is the most impressive song featured and close to a Thompson classic.

The second winning factor here is the pacing and variety, for as much as the remaining material can’t quite keep up the level set by the first four song run, ‘Ship to Shore’ never fails to hold the listener’s attention. Upbeat tracks like ‘Turnstile Casanova’ and ‘Maybe’ are an essential inclusion and keep things motoring even when surrounded by more experimental or pensive numbers.

As ever with RT we’re operating in a blues and folk informed type of ‘dad rock’ at heart but that combination of guitar virtuosity, addictive sardonic vocals and a keen melodic sensibility always elevate whatever genre this is to something unique and compelling. Thompson’s style sits somewhere outside of current trends, it always has more or less, but here we are anyway; he’s an institution, he’s royalty, he’s still sneering at each and every indignity the world dare throw at him. For those on board the good ship, he’s a musical hero plain and simple.



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user ratings (4)
3.8
excellent
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Comments:Add a Comment 
DoofDoof
June 5th 2024


17299 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Not a lot to say other than he’s a living legend and still in decent form.



So lazy review but needs must!

gabba
June 5th 2024


2825 Comments


Don’t know anything about this music, but cover had me pause for a sec and think if I’m seeing Bill Murray from a poster of a Wes Anderson movie.

robertsona
Emeritus
June 5th 2024


28660 Comments


first sentence is a doozy

DoofDoof
June 5th 2024


17299 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

this man has straddled the decades, all the way back to the '60s (if you include Fairport Convention)



you start thinking artists who've had two or three excellent albums every decade since then and you end up talking about your Bowie's and Dylan's...but even then Thompson rode out the '80s with more dignity than both those two!

Hawks
Staff Reviewer
June 5th 2024


115670 Comments


Gotta jam.

DoofDoof
June 5th 2024


17299 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Probably not the best entry point Hawks but I think this is better than an 'established fans only' late career deal....so maybe an ok place to start :/

Hawks
Staff Reviewer
June 5th 2024


115670 Comments


Which would u recommend starting with bro??

DoofDoof
June 5th 2024


17299 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

If you want more trad folk then one of the Richard and Linda Thompson ones…maybe ‘I Want to See the Bright Lights’, if you want more catchy/pop sensibility then the place to start is ‘Rumor and Sigh’.



This album is closest to a weaker version of ‘Mock Tudor’ so that’s another possible starting point.

Hawks
Staff Reviewer
June 5th 2024


115670 Comments


I've been digging a lot of "poppy" stuff lately so I think I'll go with Rumor and Sigh first. Will jam this week, thanks Doofster! :]

Bloma
June 6th 2024


253 Comments


I'm gonna buy this CD for my Dad, he loves 'Electric' and saw him live at a folk festival once.

DoofDoof
June 6th 2024


17299 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Bloma - think he’ll dig this, definitely one of his best out of the last five or six he’s put out

zakalwe
June 6th 2024


41946 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Nice one doof.

Another recent album that I’ve listened to quite a bit.

Never usually that fussed about production but it’s class on this.

DoofDoof
June 6th 2024


17299 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Yeah zak the production helps a lot, RT’s voice hasn’t got quite as much power as before but it fills that gap. The instrumental sections like at the end of ‘The Fear Never Leaves You’ are elevated by the production too.



This doesn’t sound too ploddy or pub rock’y which can happen with RT.

ScuroFantasma
Emeritus
June 6th 2024


12962 Comments


Don’t know anything about this music, but cover had me pause for a sec and think if I’m seeing Bill Murray from a poster of a Wes Anderson movie. [2]

zakalwe
June 6th 2024


41946 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

It’s a lovely cover

DoofDoof
June 6th 2024


17299 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Is it confirmed AI generated?



I like it either way in any case, it’s actually one of his better cover arts - usually they’re very generic or actively a bit shite

fogza
June 6th 2024


10224 Comments


Need to take a listen, seeing him live Saturday and I'm really stoked about it. Thompson is a legend

zakalwe
June 6th 2024


41946 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Is it AI generated? Fuck sake.



Where’s he playing fog?

DoofDoof
June 6th 2024


17299 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Seems the art was made by a reputable artist so might just be graphic design, though he could have used ai in the design phase (which to be honest most everyone uses to some degree in the graphic design industry now)

fogza
June 6th 2024


10224 Comments


He's playing the Albert Hall zak



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