Talk:Richard Thompson (musician)

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Contents 1 Religion 2 Wife link 2.1 Popular music ? 2.2 Photos 3 British or English? 4 "not available in retail outlets" 5 1000 Years of Popular Music 6 Bringing It All Back Home 7 Cites and ref tags

[edit] Religion

This page is starting to bother me. Firstly because it's becoming poorly organised, secondly because it seems to place too much emphasis on Thompson's faith - trying, or so it seems to me, to paint him as a fundamentalist Muslim.

I'd like to give a total re-write a bash, however there doesn't seem to be a section in Wikipedia where I can put up a draft for comment.

Sorry, I thought two tildes would amount to signing my name. So I'm Bob Dubery - that's my name and mh wiki user name.

You can do this on a sub-page of your user page, eg. User:Bob Dubery/Richard Thompson -- TimNelson 08:13, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

You should use 4 tildes. -- TimNelson 08:13, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

I've tweaked this article's account of Thompson's religious faith, and quoted some lyrics from "Outside of the Inside". I think it is an extraordinary song, but there is nothing in the lyrics that tells you the author is a committed Muslim. Instead, the song seeks to get inside the mind of a Jihadist suicide bomber in a sardonic and subtle way. It's a strikingly original song, perhaps more challenging than Springsteen's "Paradise" on The Rising. Mick gold 10:01, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wife link

One thing that needs to be straightened out is providing a link to Linda Thompson. The "Linda Thompson" who is linked to through the Linda Peters link down in side projects is clearly not the same person, unless Linda had a secret early life where she was hanging out with Elvis. -- BoMaGoSh

[edit] Popular music ?

"Thompson is regarded as one of the most imaginative and individualistic stylists in popular music, as well as one of the most technically proficient."

I've got no problem with the "technically proficient" comment, however, I think it's a stretch to refer to this as "popular music". A more descriptive/precise musical category (British Folk?) would add to the introduction. Hu Gadarn 14:53, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

No, he's a popular musician, as opposed to (pure) folk or classical or whatever. He's just hasn't had much commercial success. You could say he was unpopular popular musician. Stylistically, he's not all that far from, say, Bruce Springsteen or Bob Dylan or any number of other better known popular musicians.--Chris 18:29, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

And here was me thinking he was electric folk (or at least folk rock). -- TimNelson 08:13, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Photos

Some images would be nice on the page, perhaps from a concert or even an album cover. Hu Gadarn 14:53, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] British or English?

Several references to "Britain" or "British" have been changed to "England" or "English".

Which should be used when discussing Thompson? He was born in England, that's certain, but he comes from a Scottish family, and has often expressed an affinity with Scotland, going so far as to say that if he had the choice he'd have played soccer for Scotland rather than for England.

Is it even an issue really?

My vote's for "British" A lot of the folk songs that he's done originate in Scotland (Patrick Spens, Willy O Winsbury), his father's Scottish. Anyway, "British" is really the correct term for everyone from the British Isles i.e. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Megamanic 02:59, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "not available in retail outlets"

Hey, I actually believed you guys and ordered a copy of 1000 Years of Popular Music through Thompson's website. Now a couple of days later I find it on the rack at A&B Sound. I could be listening to it now, but nooooo... I trusted Wikipedia.

Seriously, any objection to moving this one up to the section for mainstream releases? CJGB (Chris) 03:32, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 1000 Years of Popular Music

This is a bit of a confusing situation.

There are TWO distinct Thompson products with the title "1000 Years of Popular Music".

The first was a CD released on Thompson's own boutique label in 2003. This was recorded in 2002 with Thompson, Judith Owen on vocals and Michael Jerome on percussion. This recording has not been made available in regular RT outlets.

The second is a DVD with accompanying CDs released on the Cooking Vinyl label in 2006. This was recorded during a short tour in 2005, and the DVD has Thompson backed by Owen again on piano and vocals and by percussionist/vocalist Debra Dobkin.

These are different recordings of different performances with different song selections and different packaging. The first item is available only at gigs or via Thompson's web site. The second is more widely available.

So I think the current listing is correct - the DVD shown under DVDs and the earlier CD shown under fan club/boutique releases.

Bob Dubery 10:27, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Bringing It All Back Home

For completists: Richard Thompson recorded a duet with Dolores Keane and Mary Black, "The Dimming of the Day". It is available on "Bringing It All Back Home" (an anthology - not the same album as the one by Bob Dylan). Details here: - Brining it all back home and here Valley entertainment. As far as I know, it is not available elsewhere. Ogg (talk) 23:46, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Cites and ref tags

Hi there,

I would like to clean up the cites in this article. The best way would seem to be use ref tags which, in turn, will generate footnotes.

However I would like to be a little more precise where possible and include page numbers where the reference is a book.

The cite template will allow me to do that, but that seems to result in in-line entries rather than footnotes.

A good example is the Humphries biography referred to in several places. Is there way to have one master reference to that book and to add the page numbers each time that reference is referenced? Or do I need to do a full ref tag each time and have a footnote section with multiple references to the same ISBN, title, authour etc?

Thanks

Bob Dubery (talk) 12:00, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

If you surround the cite template with the ref tags <ref> </ref> that should work. Is that what you mean? Otherwise, try asking at the Wikipedia:Help_desk? Great work on the citations though, really improving the article I think (as the one who littered it with cite requests in the first place!) Ged UK (talk) 17:14, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

I haven't had time to try that yet. I'm hoping to find a way to make the cites more specific without having redundant entries in the reference list. Which may not be possible. I've checked out some other artists entries in Wikipedia and I think the way it is now is roughly in line with those. I'll try alternatives in the sandbox later, but in the meantime I think it's adding cites rather than refining cites that must take priority. Thanks Bob Dubery (talk) 06:12, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

I agree. Get the cites in, and if we can't get them formatted how we like, then hopefully a more skilled editor can help :) Ged UK (talk) 09:24, 2 March 2008 (UTC)