Albums of the Week: Hard Luck Stories (1972-1982), The Universal Want, Encounter
New releases from Richard and Linda Thompson, Doves and Igor Levit
This week’s three new releases include a box set collection from folk-rock duo Richard and Linda Thompson, a belter of a new record by Doves and pianist Igor Levit’s lockdown recitals.
Richard and Linda Thompson: Hard Luck Stories (1972-1982)
This exhaustive box set (eight CDs or a “big download”) tells the story of “one of the most intriguing partnerships in British music”, said Kitty Empire in The Observer. As vocalists, the folk-rock duo Richard and Linda Thompson shared a “startling contralto directness”, and their music has an “unfussy beauty”. This collection covers six released albums, but the big excitement is 31 unreleased tracks, including a whole CD devoted to the duo’s 1975 album Pour Down Like Silver and its outtakes. “It is a tale worth retelling – and shelling out for.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A love of country music suffuses the work, said David Honigmann in the FT – from Linda and Sandy Denny singing gorgeous harmonies on the Everly Brothers’ When Will I Be Loved? to the box set’s closing song, High School Confidential. The previously unreleased demos and live versions contain revelatory recordings in which they “swap the voices”. End of the Rainbow, a father’s bleak warning to his new baby, is “even more heartbreaking” sung by Linda, and her Night Comes In is “breathtaking”.
Universal £76
Doves: The Universal Want
Doves, a trio of Manchester school friends who got together in 1989, broke through at the tail end of Britpop as “purveyors of moodily atmospheric space-rock”, said Neil McCormick in The Daily Telegraph. But after four acclaimed albums between 2000 and 2009, they went on hiatus – and never reappeared. Now they’re back, and the great news is that the album is a belter. Vocalist Jimi Goodwin may still have “the single most downbeat voice in popular music”, but Doves’ blend of lyrical and melodic heaviness – with the “pounding thrill” of their hard-driven grooves, and the “psychedelic detail of cinemascopic arrangements” – is still mesmerising.
Their tried-and-tested blueprint has lost “none of its magic”, agreed Alexis Petridis in The Guardian. Goodwin’s voice has taken on an “appealingly rough patina” in his decade away from the limelight. And their lyrics are more “careworn” than ever, reflecting the “kind of concerns that tend to beset people as their 40s slide into their 50s”. It’s all “heartfelt” and well done – and the band’s fans will be “delighted”.
Virgin EMI £12
Igor Levit: Encounter
Stranded in his Berlin flat during the lockdown, pianist Igor Levit treated fans to wide-ranging daily recitals streamed live on his Twitter account, plus a 15-hour rendition of Satie’s Vexations, said Geoff Brown in The Times. Now, Levit has released this selection of the music that drew especially positive responses from his online audience, recorded in May in Berlin’s Jesus-Christus-Kirche. It is an introspective album full of “balm, closure” and peace – ranging from “glittering Bach” to Brahms’s chorale preludes – every piece a “decorative and contemplative beauty”.
The final, and longest, item is the one that most captivated Levit’s “Hauskonzert” audiences during the lockdown, said Richard Fairman in the FT – namely Morton Feldman’s Palais de Mari. The American “individualist” composer’s 28-minute piece, from 1986, evokes a strange world of stillness. “Odd chords hang in the air, fading slowly into a void” – a vanishing point, as Levit calls it. It completes a remarkable recital that forms “a slow retreat into a private, internal world”.
Sony Classical £16
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
5 timely cartoons about climate change denial
Cartoons Artists take on textbook trouble, bizarre beliefs, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Kris Kristofferson: the free-spirited country music star who studied at Oxford
In the Spotlight The songwriter, singer and film-star has died aged 88
By The Week UK Published
-
The Chagos agreement explained
In Depth Ceding the islands to Mauritius could allow China to gain foothold in the Indo-Pacific, experts have warned
By The Week UK Published
-
The Count of Monte Cristo review: 'indecently spectacular' adaptation
The Week Recommends Dumas's classic 19th-century novel is once again given new life in this 'fast-moving' film
By The Week UK Published
-
Death of England: Closing Time review – 'bold, brash reflection on racism'
The Week Recommends The final part of this trilogy deftly explores rising political tensions across the country
By The Week UK Published
-
Sing Sing review: prison drama bursts with 'charm, energy and optimism'
The Week Recommends Colman Domingo plays a real-life prisoner in a performance likely to be an Oscars shoo-in
By The Week UK Published
-
Kaos review: comic retelling of Greek mythology starring Jeff Goldblum
The Week Recommends The new series captures audiences as it 'never takes itself too seriously'
By The Week UK Published
-
Blink Twice review: a 'stylish and savage' black comedy thriller
The Week Recommends Channing Tatum and Naomi Ackie stun in this film on the hedonistic rich directed by Zoë Kravitz
By The Week UK Published
-
Shifters review: 'beautiful' new romantic comedy offers 'bittersweet tenderness'
The Week Recommends The 'inventive, emotionally astute writing' leaves audiences gripped throughout
By The Week UK Published
-
How to do F1: British Grand Prix 2025
The Week Recommends One of the biggest events of the motorsports calendar is back and better than ever
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK Published
-
Twisters review: 'warm-blooded' film explores dangerous weather
The Week Recommends The film, focusing on 'tornado wranglers', stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell
By The Week UK Published