Shoot Out the Lights - Richard Thompson on Elvis Costello's Spectacle

[wildwit]

Wow, unbelievable sound....can't stop listening, nice video thanks

[TheIkaraCult]

its impossible for RT to be anything other than transendant, but the version from Across a crowded room is better.

[MonsoonPDD]

Here's some information about RT's pickups (from a different guitar admittedly but it seems likely here):

Neck/W-P90

Middle/Tweedstone

Bridge/Vintage Hot TL4R

Wiring is standard 5 position switch: 1 Bridge, 2 Bridge/Mid, 3 Mid, 4 Neck /Mid, 5 Neck.

Toggle switch engaged/ Position 1 Neck/Bridge, Position 2 all 3 pickup active.

[Flametamer9]

It doesn't get any better than Costello and Thompson!

[Flametamer9]

@Tamapeaone The very best, right behind Elvis Costello, and RyCooder!

[TheMasons11]

amazing



[jackducky]

i went to a los angeles kings game in 81-82 and left early to see him at mccabes in santa monica late show....... linda ronstadt was in audience with peter .... she kept calling out for him to do honky tonk romance i think, i never understood it.

[SteveFE62]

My bad, song's 1982 I think, was getting my Shoot Out The Lights mixed up with my I Want To See The Bright Lights ... :)

[SteveFE62]

Tell you what's great about this: here's a gent in his mature years, shall we say, playing a song of his from 1974 in 2009 and still as intense and credible as the original. Not many artists get to keep going that long for starters, and a lot fewer get to retain their integrity and not become a cabaret act.

Richard Thompson's the real deal, somebody who never went for the big money but kept it totally real and his vision intact.

[daf827]

@SteveFE62 You really hit the nail on the head about Richard. Couldn't have said it better!

[SteveFE62]

@daf827 Ta, except I got the date of the song wrong! Senility hits all of us :-) An edit post function would be handy!

[HammerPoop]

@SteveFE62 Shoot out the Lights is from 1982.

[Ingr9821]

Maybe Seymour Duncans is my guess, and they're overwound hot.

[colingawel]

bad ass

[Renhjarta]

It's so strange that his Telecaster sounds like a Strat

[BigDaddyMalcontent]

@Renhjarta Looks like he has Strat pickups or something. Those aren't standard Tele pickups.

[forgetmenotaromas]

Never heard b4 Pandora kicked it out to me this morning...I like!!

[jhenry922]

Richard Thompson is so massively talented. I was a junior music reviewer in Winnipeg who went a Bob Mould show and he covered this song. When I presented my copy, I had thought this was a song he wrote. After having a good laugh at me, a co-worked loaned me 12 RT albums.

Hard to conceive his breadth of talent: R & B, Roots, Country, Rock, Folk and all together.

[TheSlayerOriginal]

No dislikes, Richard Thompson - Fuck Yeach!!

[JesusMakeUpMyDyinBed]

badass homage to "Rumble"

[FullMontyUK]

Great song, one of my favourites to cover, or try and cover, live. For those that don't get what Thommo is doing on that solo, it's meant to sound like that! Richard Thompson never embraced the kind of blues-rock wailing his contemporaries did and developed a style of playing that fuses traditional British folk with Arabic scales and contemporary jazz. It's not always easy listening but it's worth persisting with. I find it very inspiring.

[daf827]

@FullMontyUK Did you go to school with Richard? I learned only recently on Beesweb that "Thommo" was his nickname in high school!

[bradm1975]

People sitting down at a rock and roll show. God I hate that. It's Richard Thompson people, stand the eff up!

[waxeye55]

It's always been the same, the greatest artists don't get the following they deserve, just goes to show you how stupid most humans are, check out Warren Zevon, my shit's fucked up, to realise how great some of us are, especially in the face of death.

[Wimbo125]

This man, this legend, isn't as famous as he should be, he is one of the most undervalued artists on this planet... This man is music, this man is a legend, he is one of the best musicians on this planet.

And to those who say that Tom Morello is better: Tom Morello is a fantstic technician, not a guitarist.

[billcraswell]

Happy to be one of the three thousand.......

[thelenis]

that is fuckin' heavy...radio? pay attention...

[ShineOnCrazyDiamond1]

that solo.... Wow.

[Motorodhead]

Between the great Richard Thompson and Elvis Costello, you'd be hard pressed to find two more underrated guitarists anywhere. Thompson is just plain terrific.

[listen2this]

He played the some of the most original solos I've ever heard at San Francisco's bluegrass fest in GG Park. I wish I could've recorded them.

[metalcore929]

Great Tele grind!

[djlegand]

so sad that the greatest talents go unheralded

[pedrofinia]

seen him twice the mans a leg end

[Fergyguitar]

I must admit I hadn't seen this version before. Not the best I have heard him do it but still pretty incredible. the man is simply a musical genius.

[Glyde11209]

Absolutely stunning song and performance.....

[banarish]

This is sofa king good. Love his nod to Steve Nieve right around 3:00.

[walrus68]

ESTA ES UNA DE LAS MEJORES CANCIONES QUE HE ESCUCHADO .

[ugafan73]

Great player, but the entire riff is a massive ripoff of "rumble" by link wray. Almost verbatim

[BucksStudent]

@ugafan73 So? Are you one of those people who go around pointing out what rock group stole what? Who cares if he borrowed it from Link Wray. Wray didn't write the brilliant lyrics, play the hundreds of improvised solos, and have the awesome tone of Richard Thompson. By the way, "For The Sake of Mary" is stolen from "Cinnamon Girl," and Thompson admits that. But guess what? No one cares.

[ugafan73]

@BucksStudent - oh, so he has a problem then. He steals everything huh? you know what, i bet steve vai could be even better if he stole good songs and just put great solos in them instead of having these souless songs he writes. who cares? i guess people with no originality don't. get back to your book learning little boy...

[BucksStudent]

@ugafan73 No, he doesn't steal everything. Very little. You're obviously unaware of the tons of plagiarism in mainstream rock, and Richard Thompson's music/history. He doesn't steal things, either: He only borrowed a few things. Look on Youtube at his other stuff. Look how he helped INVENT folkrock with Fairport Convention; wrote songs that are covered all the time; has a completely original guitar style that people like Clapton and Knopler try to imitate all the time.

[Limesquibbo]

@BucksStudent Ok you are wrong. This guy plays with the least sould i dont know why people think hes so great the solos sound awkward and out of key. On the other hand eric clapton and knopfler are musical geniuses that came before this bum thats a cheap fake and knockoff of them so dont tell me eric clapton has no soul

[BucksStudent]

@Limesquibbo Knopler took most of his style from Richard. You know nothing about music. Jazz musicians, classical musicians, and blues musicians all play out of key at some point. Those who follow formula lack emotion; Mark Knopfler and Clapton both do it at some point. Clapton says Richard is his favorite guitarist, and Knopfler came LONG after Richard hit the scene.

[daf827]

@BucksStudent It's interesting to note that RT and MK are contemporaries (both born in 1949) – although Richard had a decade head start musically going back to Fairport. One big technical difference: Knopfler is almost strictly fingerstyle while Richard uses primarily hybrid pick-and-fingers. No doubt Knopfler was inspired by RT to some degree. There's a lot of emotion in both of their playing.

[BucksStudent]

@daf827 Knopfler has used a pick through a great deal of his career, though. His legendary stuff is all fingers, but Richard has used all fingers in some instances as well. In the end, both men use a good deal of compression in the studio, so the difference in tone is a bit more minimal for picking styles. I'm always a little peeved because RT used the out-of-phase position for years, but MK is more associated with it.

[echoceleste]

@Limesquibbo You have got to be kidding. Clapton knows how to string

a series of blues cliches together and thats it. He is the most musician ever to be called God. RT is an original musician and songwriter

[MisterBagg]

@Limesquibbo

Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler are certainly in the musical genius class- I am certain that if you were to ask their opinions of RT they would be considerably more gracious and accurate in their assessment of his abilities than you.

If you check your facts you will find that Thompson has been around for a very long time and, like EC and MK, has collaborated with many of the great names in contemporary music.

[pynchonian]

@MisterBagg

RT was an early inspiration for MK!

[TimmyOswald]

@ugafan73 I usually avoid slagging matches, but in this case a response seems well warranted. Soulless songs? You must have a very different definition of soul then the rest of us do, but in my definition we are talking about a man who wrote "Crazy Man Michael" when he was just 19 after holding his girlfriend in his arms after a tragic car accident... how is that soulless?

[jimmyskunk0]

Fanfreakingtastic!



[EFISHANT]

anyone who hasn't seen him live......or listened to him for thirty years ........your comments are about worth what I payed for them!

[bevandjohntube]

(bowing down...)

[mrgb46]

Does anyone know that a deluxe edition of the Shoot Out the Lights cd is out? It has a 40 page booklet and the 2nd cd is unreleased live tracks from that tour..I just ordered mine from RHINO..

[riverkeeper]

Thompson is appreciated as an holistic musician and artist, the same way Elvis is. You can't scratch the surface and think you have got him. The depth of his songwriting, musicianship and soul make him unique. Why compare him?

[MisterBagg]

Fishpigg, you're right - you just don't get it.

[Fishpigg]

Richard Thompson I don't get it ? Emperor's New Clothes springs to mind playing in the right key might help

[GrandWazoo68]

While I enjoy R.Thompson, Elvis Costello is a better composer and singer. And as guitar goes...no comparison to the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Johnson, Al Di' Meola, Jeff Beck, Frank Zappa, Frank Marino. J.J. Cale,Jimi Hendrix, Joe Bonamassa, Johnny Winter, Michael Landau, Robben Ford, Steven Wilson (of Porcupine Tree), David Gilmour, Paul Gilbert, Adrian Belew, Robin Trower, Steve Howe (Yes), Steve Morse, Steve Stevens, David Alan "Ted" Turner & Andy Powell (Both of Wishbone Ash)...

[WZYrover]

@GrandWazoo68 Well to each his own I must say. I love Elvis the C (This Year's Model!), but RT IMO is the best singer/songwriter. SRV, Meola, Beck, Zappa, etc. are all great guitarists, and there is certainly no need to compare them with RT IMO again - they are just great, RT is ... beyond words. As for Gilmour, I like him but I prefer Barrett. Another favorite guitarist for me would be John McLaughlin, or maybe Django.

[Skyman46]

@GrandWazoo68 Costello is a better composer huh...so that must be why he covers Richard Thompson material. His guitar playing is equally impressive to everyone you mentioned...he just happens to be different.

[PindamonhaMAN]

@GrandWazoo68 funny that you said "no comparison to" and 100 names... what about those 100, there are comparisons between them or they are equal?

[elflopso]

And *stay* out!

[lalberts]

i love all the different hats mr. costello wears on his show.

[johnmckinlay67]

No one comes close to this mans guitar playing. Thanks deerfried.

[brussels75]

First saw RT in Fairport at the LSE circa 1968... What a body of work he's put together over the years. Sheer brilliance.

[zeon40]

excellent as always

[maroonedsorrow]

How is it possible to construct a solo as both sublime and evil-sounding as that one... and then play one that is even better at the end? Thompson never fails to astound me.

[epweissengruber]

Jeeze. This guy's voice and guitar get better with age. I supposed being a vegetarian tee-totaller has its benefits. I wonder why he didn't pick up a Tele earlier. He was playing those custom jobs without whang bars through a compressor and mild distortion. Why didn't he just go for the twang right away?

[willylewis1]

RT is THE best

[HORACECOPE2]

Hell, thats a lot of genius in one room.

[Mouldytone]

Richard Thompson. Hero of the Fender Telecaster and of the beret!

[greasykitchen]

Sublime guitar playing. I've not seen him with that Tele before, but it sounds awesome. Looks like it's got the same pickups as his blue/green Ferrington.

[RTFan52]

The Tele was apparently borrowed for the occasion. I think I read that in one of the Q&A sessions on his web site

[Elspode]

Pretty damn fair job by both Thompson *and* Elvis and the Impostors.

[phildirt3]

where is this on record not the folky version him and linda did a good rock version

[octarhaberee]

Hard to know what you mean by folky version. He's performed it acoustic (still not exactly folky). I guess you might be talking about some of the more ferocious versions of the song versus the original released on the album of the same name? I'd recommend going to his official website and looking for the More Guitar disc in his online store. That's my personal favorite "rock version" on disc. Watching the Dark has a good version too, I believe, but I haven't heard that one for a long time.

[RTFan52]

I'd second the More Guitar recommendation. If you like this, you'd probably like that whole album. There's a version of the song Can't Win on it that's just mind blowing. IMHO.

[robinwatauga]

There's a pretty good version of this from the short-lived Dennis Miller Show with Al Kooper on B-3 here on YouTube. This is better, though!

[DuffBasher]

@phildirt3

The album "Shoot out the lights" oddly enough! Great album generally, very worth having in your collection.

[markiliff]

@phildirt3: There are fantastic (different) live versions of SOTL on Faithless, More Guitar, RT (box set) & Two Letter Words (my favourite, which also has a mando solo by Pete Zorn).

At least I *think* they're all different. Listening to all 8 versions I have straight through would be a bad idea at bedtime!

µ

[phildirt3]

look at the crap they give grammys to then look at this brillance i dont want to even know those morons that follow that sheep shit this is the real thing here!!!!!!!1

[ak47doubletap]

Fantastic !!! RT is genius, musically in love with the man.

[mrgb46]

I remember years ago how I wished EC and RT would tour together because they were 2 of my favorite singer/songwriters and now,with this,it's sort of a dream come true.Now,after seeing this,they need to tour together!! Simply amazing..

[TimmyOswald]

Sorry, all the children need to stop because the big boys are playing here. Sometimes I actually expect the lights to blow up because the room simply has to much awesome under pressure. An injustice on the grandest of scales that this video has less than three thousand views.

[lalberts]

@TimmyOswald well said.

[manygate10]

@TimmyOswald Never a truer last sentence was written!

[l2enegadesofFunk]

@TimmyOswald Well, it says you posted that comment a year ago, and the video was at most a month old a year ago....so 2000-3000 would have been fairly respectable considering.

Anyway, children can play too. Sungha Jung for the win. And of course Richard's son Teddy. =P

[royemembury]

@TimmyOswald .......dont know who you are mate ...............but yes I'm totally there with you!

[catweasel28]

What superlatives are left for Richard Thompson?

He was brilliant as a baby-faced 17 year-old. And he just gets better and better.

[wa0000]

S t u n n i n g .

[futilitismo]

"Someone give me a napkin, so I can wipe my mouth!!" --Cedric Maxwell

[bixby1999]

Wow!!!  I mean F-ing Wow!!!

[fulltuneguitar]

blue telecas!