DISClosure
CD Reviews Of A National Scale

Richard Thompson
Action Packed: The Best of the Capitol Years

by Lisa Hummel

Since 1988, folk-rock legend Richard Thompson has recorded five full-length albums with Capitol Records. That body of work has been collected in a 17-track disc entitled, Action Packed: The Best of the Capitol Years, released late this month.

Featuring tracks from each of the five albums — from his label debut, Amnesia, to 1999’s Mock Tudor — Action Packed captures Thompson at his best and proves that much of the material produced in the past decade is on an even keel with even his earliest works. Thompson first came onto the music scene in the 1960s as a member of the British import Fairport Convention and quickly became a critical favorite, drawing rave reviews for both his unparalleled guitar skill and his songwriting mastery. Though observations have been made that Thompson’s material is not wholly happy — his works, particularly those following the break-up of his partnership and marriage to singer/songwriter Linda Thompson, have been called, among other adjectives, “droll” — Action Packed is a well-packaged assortment that flows nicely, ranging from the sleepy “Waltzing’s For Dreamers” to the toe-tapping crowd favorite “I Feel So Good.”

Action Packed also features three bonus tracks from the guitar playing songster, a live version of “Persuasion,” a duet between Thompson and his son, recording artist Teddy Thompson; and two previously unreleased tracks, “Mr. Rebound” and “Fully Qualified Man.”

There is no word on whether Action Packed: The Best of the Capitol Years marks the end of Thompson’s stint at the label, but if that’s the case, it is a fitting send-off: the songs are among the finest in Thompson’s career catalogue. (Capitol)

Maria Wilson
Generations

by Benjy Eisen

The good news is that local musician Maria Wilson is an excellent acoustic guitarist with an approach to her instrument that is both musical and inventive. The bad news is that her latest release, Generations, simply isn’t inventive enough.

Wilson plays contemporary instrumental music that falls squarely in the category of “new folk” where a folk integration of bluegrass and jazz has been occurring over the past two decades. It is a music that requires a certain amount of talent to pull-off, and Maria Wilson certainly has that talent.

As good as Wilson may be skill-wise, Generations is regrettably plagued with some unfortunates. The songwriting isn’t up to par, the production is poor, and the packaging borders on amateurish. Also annoying are the song-by-song descriptions that Wilson feels compelled to include in the liner notes (“Great title” “Very intense” “Very percussive”). Ugh. If we’re reading the insert, we obviously have the CD — let us hear for ourselves.

Such maladies can be easily overcome by music that outshines. On Generations, there are few such moments. In order to be successful, new folk must take the listener on some sort of journey in which movement is constant and change is inevitable. The songs on Generations quickly reach a plateau and flat-line from there. This is due in part to theatrical runs that often end up sounding like textbook exercises and practice sessions. Furthermore, the disc simply lacks the elegance of subtlety, going instead for the impressives and the flash.

That said, Maria Wilson sounds like she would be a joy to see live in pubs, clubs, and coffeehouses. Generations, however, just isn’t very listenable.