Sweet Warrior
| Sweet Warrior | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Richard Thompson | ||||
| Released | 28 May 2007 (UK) | |||
| Recorded | October and December 2006 at House of Blues Studio | |||
| Genre | Folk rock, contemporary folk | |||
| Length | 68:03 | |||
| Label |
Proper Records (UK, Europe) The Planet Company (Australia) Shout! Factory (North America) P-Vine (Japan) | |||
| Producer | Richard Thompson, Simon Tassano | |||
| Richard Thompson chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 84/100[1] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| BBC Collective | (favourable)[2] |
| The Guardian |  [3] |
| Independent |  [4] |
| Music Box | [5] |
| Uncut | [6] |
| AMG | [7] |
| PopMatters | [8] |
| The A.V. Club | (B)[9] |
Sweet Warrior is the twelfth studio album by Richard Thompson, released in 2007. Thompson financed the recording of this album himself and then licensed the finished album to various labels for distribution. On its release, Sweet Warrior entered Amazon.com's top 20 for music sales.
Overview
The track "Dad's Gonna Kill Me" was given an advance release via Thompson's own web site and iTunes. The song was singled out for praise by critics [10] and featured prominently in Thompson's live performances in early 2007. This song's lyrics make extensive use of U.S. military slang (the "Dad" of the title is GI slang for "Baghdad"), and convey the thoughts and feelings of an uneasy U.S. soldier stationed in Iraq.[11] It was subsequently used on the closing montage of the first episode of the third season of Sons of Anarchy.
This advance release also enjoyed airplay on several radio stations and attracted generally favourable comments from the press and advance publicity for the album.
The album received very favourable reviews.[12][13]
Track listing
All songs written by Richard Thompson:
- "Needle and Thread" - 4:43
- "I'll Never Give It Up " - 3:22
- "Take Care the Road You Choose" - 6:44
- "Mr. Stupid" - 3:53
- "Dad's Gonna Kill Me" - 5:16
- "Poppy-Red" - 4:37
- "Bad Monkey" - 5:13
- "Francesca" - 5:17
- "Too Late to Come Fishing" - 4:36
- "Sneaky Boy" - 2:59
- "She Sang Angels to Rest" - 3:25
- "Johnny's Far Away" - 4:53
- "Guns Are the Tongues" - 7:27
- "Sunset Song" - 5:38
Bonus tracks on the P-Vine Records release for the Japanese market:
- "Any Old Body"
- "Dust and Wine"
Personnel
- Musical
- Richard Thompson - vocals, electric guitar, steel-string acoustic guitar, mandolin, accordion, tin whistle, autoharp, harmonium, hurdy-gurdy, electric organ, handclaps (on 10)
- Michael Hays - rhythm guitar, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
- Danny Thompson - double bass
- Taras Prodaniuk - electric bass guitar
- Michael Jerome - drums, percussion
- Judith Owen - backing vocals, handclaps (on 10)
- Sara Watkins - fiddle (on 5, 12-13)
- Joe Sublett - tenor saxophone (on 7-8)
- Joe Buck - first violin (on 11)
- Al Michaels - second violin (on 11)
- Novi Ola - viola (on 11)
- Simon Tassano - handclaps (on 10)
- Chris Kasych - handclaps (on 10)
- Technical
- Doug Tyo - engineer (at House of Blues Studio, Encino, California)
- Chris Kasych - assistant engineer
- Simon Tassano - mixing (at Rumiville Studio, Austin, Texas)
- Jim Wilson - mastering (at Airshow Mastering, Boulder, Colorado)
References
- Sources consulted
- Endnotes
- ↑ http://www.metacritic.com/music/sweet-warrior/richard-thompson
- ↑ BBC Collective review
- ↑ The Guardian review
- ↑ Independent review
- ↑ Music Box review
- ↑ Uncut review
- ↑ AMG review
- ↑ PopMatters review
- ↑ The A.V. Club review
- ↑ "Richard Thompson, Sweet Warrior". PopMatters. 2007-05-28.
- ↑ Press release, March 14, 2007.
- ↑ Denselow, Robin (2007-05-25). "Richard Thompson, Sweet Warrior". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-05-24.
- ↑ "Richard Thompson, Sweet Warrior". BBC Folk & Country Reviews. 2007-05-28.