Back in 1999, Richard Thompson was asked to name his 10 greatest tunes of the millennium. He took the request at face value and came up with a list that started with "Sumer Is Icumen In" from the 11th century and carried on through to Jerry Lee Lewis. From there came the idea of expanding the list to a couple of dozen songs and recording them live in concert. It's an inspired conceit as, with just an acoustic guitar and percussion, he delivers 1000 years of the people's music, taking in medieval lays, centuries-old folk ballads, Purcell, Gilbert and Sullivan, Abba, Prince and many points between. Hearing is believing, and it works brilliantly.
Back in 1999, Richard Thompson was asked to name his 10 greatest tunes of the millennium. He took the request at face value and came up with a list that started with “Sumer Is Icumen In” from the 11th century and carried on through to Jerry Lee Lewis. From there came the idea of expanding the list to a couple of dozen songs and recording them live in concert. It’s an inspired conceit as, with just an acoustic guitar and percussion, he delivers 1000 years of the people’s music, taking in medieval lays, centuries-old folk ballads, Purcell, Gilbert and Sullivan, Abba, Prince and many points between. Hearing is believing, and it works brilliantly.
