Richard Thompson
Still
Fantasy
Richard Thompson’s latest album closes on an uncharacteristically sweet note with “Guitar Heroes,” a jaunty, nearly eight-minute ode to the players who initially inspired him, namely, Chuck Berry, Django Reinhardt, Les Paul, James Burton, and The Shadows’ Hank Marvin. This nostalgic salute is the only hint of advancing age on the typically stellar Still. While the production credit for Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy might bring Thompson to the attention of some new listeners, he’s really just doing the same thing he’s done so well for more than four decades. Longtime fans know that means spiky rockers (“All Buttoned Up”) and melancholy original ballads that sound like traditional English folk songs (“She Never Could Resist a Winding Road”), infused with rueful humor and marked by stirring vocals and virtuoso guitar, especially those scorching electric solos that make your jaw drop. Still, indeed: The talented Mr. Thompson has rarely been better.
