First Light (album)
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| First Light | ||
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| Studio album by Richard and Linda Thompson | ||
| Released | October 1978 | |
| Recorded | 1978 at Olympic Studios, London | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 43:13 | |
| Label | Chrysalis | |
| Producer(s) | Richard Thompson and John Wood | |
| Richard and Linda Thompson chronology | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pour Down Like Silver (1975) |
First Light' (1978) |
Sunnyvista (1979) |
After the release of their third album, "Pour Down Like Silver", British folk-rock duo Richard and Linda Thompson took an extended break from music. They spent much of the next three years living in sufi communes in London and Norfolk.
This prolonged sabbatical was punctuated by occasional session work by Richard Thompson and a short tour in 1977 in which the duo performed mostly new, religious material and were backed by musicians who were also practitioners of the sufi faith.
In 1978 Richard Thompson accepted and invitation from Joe Boyd to play on Julie Covington's eponymous solo debut album. Boyd then convinced Thompson and his manager Jo Lustig to take the opportunity to record a new album with the American session musicians bought into to play on the Covington album.
The resulting First Light was the fourth album by Richard and Linda Thompson and marked their resumption of their recording career.
It is dominated by spiritual songs, many of them direct translations of sufi and koranic texts.
[edit] Track listing
All songs written by Richard Thompson except Pavanne which is written by Richard and Linda Thompson.
- "Restless Highway"
- "Sweet Surrender"
- "Don't Let A Thief Steal Into Your Heart"
- "The Choice Wife"
- "Died For Love"
- "Strange Affair
- "Layla"
- "Pavanne"
- "House Of Cards"
- "First Light"
[edit] Personnel
- Richard Thompson - guitar, vocals, mandolin, dulcimer, whistle
- Linda Thompson - vocals
- Andy Newmark - drums
- Willie Weeks - bass guitar
- Neil Larson - keyboards
- John Kirkpatrick - accordion
- Chris Karen - percussion
- Dave Mattacks - percussion
- Dolores Keane - whistle
- Dave Brady, Heather Brady, Dave Burland, Bill Caddick, Philippa Clare, Julie Covington, Andy Fairweather-Lowe, Trevor Lucas, Iain Matthews, Maddy Prior and Peta Webb - background vocals
