Richard Thompson - Black Crow - JM Tribute 2000

[Yehudittx]

That man can play anything.

[Babaziba]

Tightly wound, passionate, great guitar work (all of them), controlled chaos between verses. BIngo. Is it weird that Joni looks slightly underwhelmed???

[Yehudittx]

@Babaziba She looked underwhelmed with a lot of these performances. She might just be listening hard. or tired. I think with Thompson's rendition of Woodstock she was trying to figure out what tuning he was using. :-)

[zeon40]

rt is without doubt a genius regardless of the merits of this song

[sselt]

This is a brilliant performance and I guarantee you that if Richard Thompson is singing a dissonant note, it's on purpose.

But then there's always someone who stands in front of a Picasso and blurts out: "No talent at all. That painting looks nothing like a real woman. "

[whsonic]

@sselt Right. Like someone said about painters and (modern) art: "There are thousands of painters who can paint a horse so that everyone recognizes it as a horse. And then there are some who can make you feel the horse."

[sa65cn1]

You have never had the privilege of seeing this man live. You will not be sorry, when he is doing his music he is incredible.

[catweasel28]

"How is he even famous?????"

Weird definition of fame you have, friend. There're a million infinitely inferior 'artists' far more famous than RT. If you don't like him, to quote another great songwriter, "You don't really care for music, do you?"

[awesomewelles90]

The backing band don't really fit with RT. They seem to be overplaying everything. It's far too cluttered. However RT is on top form as usual!

[siguitar1]

"How is he even famous?"... that's lovely, and such a thoughtful evaluation! You should work for Rolling Stone.

"He's out of tune...when it comes to bending the notes" ...ah, also brilliant!

I love how people know Joni's thoughts by looking at her face for 2 seconds on a video. By the way, Richard Thompson subbed for the no-show Stone Temple Pilots (which explains the crappy arrangement) and had no rehearsal with the band, which is why "Woodstock" is mesmerizing while "BC" falls flat.

[octarhaberee]

RT actually subbed for STP on Woodstock, not this one. This is a cool arrangement, the guitar is awesome, vocals not in top form for RT.

[siguitar1]

Ah, my bad on the sub. I still think the arrangement is a bit all over the place though...

I totally agree about the guitar. I saw RT and Loundon W III last weekend and RT gets better every time.

[joni36]

There is something seriously wrong with your ears and I guess you're not a guitar player...please stay home or go see the ear doctor..

[pipi333]

The guitar is nice but the whole rest sucks. The arragement is quite poor. Vocals either. Not a well done tribute to JM.

[violundomiel]

Thanks for posting this video! I am a big RT fan (isn't he sexy?) and JM fan familiar with this tune, and am so glad you defended his artistic integrity. Two musicians with a ton of integrity as well as terrestrial talent.

[IndigoJo]

Not good. He's out of tune a lot, particularly when it comes to bending the notes. And I normally like RT and I like this song.

[vaughnsalem]

all this corruption,Joni was ahead of times

[vaughnsalem]

another Joni Mitchell song that trancends time ,Richard does a great work with it

[alfaromeogtv1986]

It doesn't sound much like the incredible, ominous original version (does anything?) but this interpretation is great for entirely different reasons. Not only have we got TWO of the best lyricists and guitarists in the business here, but we've even got a folk-rock artist doing a hard-rock take on a jazz-rock song! If only people knew more about both of them.

Joni's face was a picture by the way, but what the hell...

[RTFan52]

"Folk Rock" is a pretty small pigeon hole to put RT in. With an electric guitar in his hands, there's rarely much folk in his playing these days. Check out "Dad's Going to Kill Me", "Put it There Pal", or the video simply called "Guitar Solo" (an excerpt from "Hard On Me"), all in the related videos section for me right now.

[alfaromeogtv1986]

Quite true, it is a pretty lazy way of trying to sum up his style really - especially considering all the different styles and genres he's tried over the years (any heavy metallist would be proud of "Hard On Me").

I guess what I meant is that artists who were involved in the 60s folk scene tend to be regarded in that way for the rest of their careers by much of the general public, no matter how much their style changes. It's interesting to see two of them subverting that view here.

[getabikeandrideit]

This and Cyndi Lauper's version of "Carey" were the highlights of the Joni Mitchell tribute. Joni however does not seem all that impressed..... : (

[daf827]

Joni's original is very jazzy, with more sonic space in the arrangement. RT's interpretation DOES sound more like one of his own. It's got a propulsive, jazz-rock fusion groove and RT's trademark angular, edgy solos. Very different from Joni's, which may explain her stony expression. It's not as true to the original as RT's rendition of "Woodstock." Joni's reaction is quite different on that song. BTW, Diana Krall does a great version of "Black Crow".

[jmorra]

Sounds like a regular RT song!