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- By date
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Front Parlor Ballads is built from modest stuff, but the finished product is as strong as anything Thompson has recorded in the past ten years.
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Even when he turns down the volume, he never tones down the creative intensity.
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BillboardWhile lyrically his songs are top-drawer, Thompson's guitar prowess is also noteworthy. [13 Aug 2005]
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Song after song, this is hardly an album that boasts of its riches but, in a determinedly low-key fashion, the music asserts itself in honest textures captured in naked performance.
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Rolling StoneA few tracks feel forced... but the majority have the effortless sound of a master who's been at it for four decades. [11 Aug 2005, p.70]
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Recording at home suits him. Even with the over-dubs, this set has the vitality of a live performance, and he clearly feels relaxed enough to take chances with the sometimes elaborate songs, delivering both the expected guitar skills and some fluid, difficult vocals.
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While this may not be the best place to start investigating the man, it's still another reliably wonderful chapter in the life of one of the country's best songwriters.
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UncutMay just be the most concise and potent distillation of Thompson's art to date. [Album of the Month, Sep 2005, p.98]
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Q MagazineMostly the results are pleasingly wry and wise. [Sep 2005, p.118]
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MojoLess has become more for Richard Thompson. [Sep 2005, p.96]
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Front Parlour Ballads offers the traditional Thompson mix of lush folk beauty and cruel knife-twisting lyrics.
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The surprise here is that Thompson has been able to create such a crackerjack of an album from such sparse and dark materials.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 5 out of 7
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Mixed: 1 out of 7
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Negative: 1 out of 7
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martinbFeb 5, 2006Usual RT mix of wry lyrics, dark ideas and superb playing.
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wxOct 28, 2005
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SordelAug 17, 2005Adventurous but, for this artist, underwhelming