Richard Thompson Dream Attic (4.5*)
If I've taken my time getting to the latest Richard Thompson album, it's the result of starting on a new listening/writing paradigm rather than any diminution in Hughesy's RT fandom.
Although it came out after our return from the Western Australian odyssey, the fact that I didn't get as much listening time as I'd expected meant there was a substantial listening backlog that needed to be tackled and a new RT album is always going to be something that will need a couple of listens to appreciate.
Given his cottage industry mode of operation (it's not as if he can afford to sit back and live off the proceeds of his album sales), a new RT album will usually be completely written before he starts to think about recording and, if it involves a band, solidly rehearsed before they hit the studio. The aim is invariably to complete the recording process in a manner that minimises the actual expenditure.
Another element in the Keeping Costs Down Stakes is Thompson's tendency to work with the same musicians, with the variations usually coming because someone has other commitments when RT requires his presence. This time around it's Michael Jerome, rather than Earl Harvin, on drums, electric bassist Taras Prodaniuk rather than the acoustic Danny Thompson (no relation), RT Band multi-instrumentalist fixture Pete Zorn and electric violinist Joel Zifkin.
Rather than sitting in a studio to record Dream Attic, however, Thompson took the band on the road for a brief lap around California, performing the album as the first half of a two set show and recording each night's performance. The resulting album represents the best version of each song, and the iTunes "Deluxe Edition" is rounded out with the same set of songs recorded as acoustic demo format. It makes for an interesting contrast.
While it's hardly likely that Thompson's familiar with North Queensland-based Storm Financial, the unscrupulous financial manipulator from the album's opening track, The Money Shuffle, would probably seem eerily familiar to some of the victims of the Storm collapse.