Ship to Shore

1968年、フェアポート・コンヴェンションの一員としてデビューし、英国トラッドに米国西海岸風フォーク・ロックのスタイルを掛け合わせる新境地を現出、71年にバンドを脱退した後には周辺プロジェクトのサポートやパートナーのリンダとのプロジェクト活動を続けるなど現在も精力的に活動する英国フォーク/トラッドシーンの第一人者=Richard Thompsonの『13 RIVERS』以来6年振りとなる24年作。今回は自身の音楽ルーツに立ち返り、スコットランド/アイルランドなどイギリス各国の伝統音楽、更にフォークのみならずジャズ/カントリー・ミュージック/クラシックに至るまで様々なスタイルの音楽性を取り込んだ内容。Michael Jerome(drs/perc)・Taras Prodaniuk(b)・Bobby Eichorn(g)ら長年のバンドメンバーにDavid Mansfield(fiddle)・Zara Phillips(vo)も加わったフルバンド編成による録音となっており、じっくりと染み渡るRichardの渋い歌声と年齢を感じさせない瑞々しいバンドサウンドが聴ける。リチャードらしい職人技のギタープレイとエモーショナルな歌唱を軸とした多彩な楽曲群が並んだ一作。

Almost a sequel to 2018s 13 Rivers, Ship to Shore reunites Richard Thompsons core band for another confident, self-produced set that plays like an amalgam of his careers disparate styles. Its lean and lively 12 songs were recorded in a single week-long stand at Woodstock, New Yorks Applehead Recording by engineer Chris Bittner. This follows a trend in Thompsons latter-day output, a renewed emphasis on feel and collaborative interplay over studio layering. It also provides an efficient delivery system for his two biggest assets: great songwriting and sharp, inventive guitar playing. To that end, Ship to Shore is one of the tightest collections hes made in the past quarter-century, exhibiting a wide tonal palette and a vitality belying his 75 years. Its title and maritime imagery are a little misleading; fans expecting bawdy shanties or a nautical epic in the vein of Fairport Conventions groundbreaking "A Sailors Life" will instead find a particularly saucy set of bruised love songs, droll character studies, and ruminations on times cruel passage. The signature folk-rock style he helped pioneer remains a baseline of his sound, especially on the loping "Freeze" and "The Old Pack Mule," the latter of which segues into a sprightly electric shuffle that could have come from Morris On or another early-70s Fairport family gem. The punchy "Turnstile Casanova" has the energy of a 90s-era Thompson cut and slots right in among his countless wry odes to love gone wrong. Of course there is plenty of guitar work to be dazzled by, particularly the revved-up solos on "Maybe" and the wild improvisations at the end of "Whats Left to Lose." Its stunning how a player so crafty and experienced can still throw himself into the deep and shred with such vigor. That he also remains a top-notch songsmith and vocalist makes him one of the rare triple-threats who consistently delivers. ~ Timothy Monger