aaamusic | On 31, Aug 2010

The very accomplished Richard Thompson’s latest solo release Dream Attic is what you might call a cover album buried within its source material. The first half of the record consists of a series of Thompson’s live recordings, while the second is the same songs in acoustic form. This actually works very well – the recordings are just the right kind of live music, namely atmospheric enough to clearly be taken from a gig without sacrificing quality or suffering from an overly-intrusive audience presence. This kind of quality brings to mind Johnny Cash’s now famous recordings of his live prison shows. The acoustic tracks on the other hand are far more polished and smooth, just the right contrast to the often energetic and distinctly rock n roll sound of the live tracks. This album should definitely appeal to Thompson’s existing fans, and will certainly serve as an interesting introduction to new listeners. It isn’t perfect by any means, but very few things in life are – instead it should be celebrated for its effortlessly smooth synthesis of both great live and acoustic tracks.

Author: Katharine Sparks