A Year of Blind Spots: I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight

Joe is working through a list of albums that he considers "blind spots," i.e. albums that he's never heard but feels like he should.

I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight

Richard and Linda Thompson

1974

What 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die has to say about I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight by Richard and Linda Thompson:

Husband-and-wife duos are not usually the stuff of rock 'n' roll legend, but Richard Thompson, the only known Muslim guitar hero, has never played the game by the book. He quit Fairport Convention, the pioneering folk-rock band he had helped found, in 1971; Glaswegian Linda Peters had helped out with backing vocals on his unsuccessful solo debut Henry the Human Fly. This duo effort has become a perennial critics' favorite.

Despite insisting "there's always hope in the third verse of my songs," Thompson holds out little here. The album depicts the dark underbelly of British society—the destitute, lawless, homeless, and hopeless. The timing of the album, allegedly due to a vinyl shortage that was a by-product of an oil embargo, chimed in nicely with the three-day week and associated social unrest of the period.

Musicians recruited from Fairport, Sandy Denny's Fotheringay, and Gryphon supply the muscle. Touches like the use of a traditional silver band for the title track adds a quintessential Englishness that a standard horn section could not—perhaps one reason why Thompson has a major cult following Stateside. Elvis Costello has covered the bleak "End of the Rainbow," but his version lacked the "up" feel of Linda's voice that dragged theirs toward some kind of commerciality.

Journalist and producer Richard Williams described Thompson here as "the Coltrane of the guitar, the folk poet of the rainy streets." Many believe that he has never surpassed this album in either sphere.

What Joe has to say about I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight by Richard and Linda Thompson:

All these 1001 Albums blurbs are hit-or-miss, but I can't imagine we'll come across one more unsatisfying than this. This fucking jabroni spends more time talking about Elvis fucking Costello than Linda Thompson, whose name is right there as co-headliner. What is her deal? Can you maybe think to tell me something about the artist beyond who she is married to? The blurb makes it seem like this is the Richard Thompson show, even though Linda is lead vocals on most of the songs. (And the book's age is showing when it makes a preposterous claim like Richard is "the only known Muslim guitar hero." I can easily name one off the top of my head—Mdou Moctar—and could name a dozen more if given a few minutes on Wikipedia.)

I do think it's fascinating how few married partners are successful rock stars. But a marriage is an equal partnership. The blurb mentions the marriage but then makes it seem like Richard was allowing Linda to take part in his album. Perhaps it's true that Richard has had a more prolific career since this album dropped (I am familiar with 2018's 13 Rivers), but that and this blurb together speak more to the patriarchy than anything else. Maybe the author is too much of a Fairport Convention fan to see how Linda brings out the best in the duo here.

I've dabbled in Fairport, but was never really a big fan. It's been a hot minute since I've listened to Unhalfbricking or Liege & Lief, but I remember them being kinda frilly, closer to Renaissance Faire sounds than the folk music that I'm accustomed to. That's maybe the Britishness of the whole affair—note how the blurb also drops names of random British places (I think?) and expects us to believe that they aren't made-up words. I am starting to get the sense that 1001 Albums has much more of an affinity toward British bands on the outer edges of rock subgenres than I ever will.

Here's the thing about this album, though—it wouldn't be shit without Linda's vocals. No, strike that, it would be a subpar album with a few good songs. There are three types of songs here—good midtempo folk songs featuring just-okay vocals from Richard, slow songs that are absolutely saved by Linda's magical turns at the mic, and then there are the songs that put both of those together (mainly the title track, a true wonder). Without the wife in this husband-and-wife duo, you'd lose two-thirds of this shit. Can you imagine Richard trying to sing "Withered and Died"? I cannot. She's essential. Fuck the blurb.

But whatever the blurb wants you to think, Linda Thompson is here, and she's killing it on every song she's featured on, and she's the reason that I love this album. I can't imagine loving a more British album than this. Maybe it's because some of the music sounds a little Irish? That's just to my Fake Northeast Philly Irish ears, I know, I know, but they aren't that far geographically, I think it makes sense that I'd recognize some sounds and tag them as "from Ireland"—like maybe the concertina—rather than "from the British Isles." I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight pair well with another album I listened to a lot this week—the new Dropkick Murphys album, For the People.

Going back to the "married duo" thing, there's definitely something to say here, emotionally speaking. Basically, this couple decided to work together, right? It's no different than a husband and wife working an office job together. There's a certain amount of "shitting where you eat." But there's also, in the good relationships anyway, a satisfaction at getting to see the person you love way more often. Doing work, creating something, collaborative efforts like that, it requires you to know the people you're working with on at least some intimate level, and it's cool to imagine a husband and wife already having that from the beginning. I would imagine it's gotta be easier to make an album with your wife, right? That's why I never had a problem with the non-musically talented Linda McCartney joining in Paul's shit. That's a really pleasant idea for me. It makes me miss having Pam on this blog, honestly.

But anyways... this album. It's a good one. I'm glad Richard had his wife around to show him how to make a masterpiece.