From the monthly archives: July 2008
Somewhere in the ever-holy Tower of Song the residents shuffle up the winding staircase (handrails gleaming, carved from ancient ivory) to the bone-shaking, perpetually hypnotic, and pure rhythm of the Bo Diddley Beat. Bo, like Little Richard, like Chuck Berry, helped erect the sturdy bridge between the swamp of jazz, blues, country and gospel musics that lead to the rollicking seas of rock and roll. Bo, as himself, is the undeniable architect of one of rock’s bulwarks–the otherworldly hip-shaking, chunka-chunka in-yer-head cadence of rock and roll. Bo, without the glammy, sweaty immediacy of Little Richard, who probably performed his way out of the womb, or the sharp, calculated story tunes and radio showy guitar hooks of Chuck Berry, offered up a different sort of regal showmanship.
Bo stood stage center like a conductor, hips akimbo, tasty hat, square eyeglasses, boxy guitar, oozing a quiet confidence while unleashing his snaky tremolo and laying down his first person eurhythmics. While Sun Ra readily informed his audiences and collaborators that he had been transported to space and thus transformed, Bo might well have been a time-traveler, clad in his own version of a space suit, his vast array of talismanic guitars his means of teleportation, mixing and matching the rumbling backbeat he lifted from the train yards of Chicago with ancient African tribal chants and the rat-a-tat-tat of a western gunslinger’s discharge, seemingly deprived of his earthly just desserts (money and fame), but actually here with other interstellar purposes: help create rock and roll, jumpstart the Rolling Stones, and lay down a mystical, eternal syncopation that will forever hold its sway.
Of course we consider ourselves fortunate to have caught up with British singer/songwriter Richard Thompson for this issue. In a career that has spanned forty plus years, Richard Thompson had been lauded again and again-for his guitar-playing. In 2003, Rollingstone magazine placed him 19th on a list the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. For his songwriting-in recent years he has won both the prestigious British music industry Ivor Novello Award and for a body of work that includes dozens of recordings dating back to 1967, when he helped form Britain’s seminal folk/rock band, Fairport Convention, BBC Radio gave him a lifetime achievement award in 2006. Thompson’s music combines musical virtuosity and lyrical smarts that refuse to be pigeon-holed. Whether he’s playing acoustic or electric guitar, singing songs that draw on Celtic tradition, Cajun rhythms, big band jazz, or straight out rock n’ roll, Thompson’s vocal phrasing and way with a line, invariably put his stamp on a tune.
Finally, we’re leafing through a recent issue of MOJO and see an ad for the Green Man Festival, August 15-17th (Brecon Beacons, Wales), where Thompson joins a lineup that includes Iron and Wine, Spiritualized, Pentangle, and Drive-by Truckers and wouldn’t you want to be there? Message-catch Richard Thompson live, wherever you are, whenever you can.
Same issue, we’re reading a review of Marc Almond (Soft Cell) and his recent seven-night residency at Wilton’s Music Hall London, and come across this: “Hearing Almond sing of Wilde and depravity in 2008 hardly breaks new ground. However, his choice of covers indicates one of British pop’s original thinkers. Jacques Brel’s “The Desperate Ones” and “The Devil OK,” are par for the course. But Richard Thompson’s “The Great Valerio,” is less expected.”
