Rumor and Sigh

Rumor and Sigh
Studio album by Richard Thompson
Released May 1991
Recorded 1991 at Sunset Sound, Los Angeles and Konk Studios, London
Genre Folk rock, alternative rock
Length 61:19
Label Capitol
Producer Mitchell Froom
Richard Thompson chronology
Sweet Talker
(1991)		 Rumor And Sigh
(1991)		 Watching The Dark
(1993)
"1952 Vincent Black Lightning"
Sample of "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" from Rumor and Sigh
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Rumor and Sigh is the sixth solo album by British singer/songwriter Richard Thompson, released in 1991.

Release

The album peaked at number 32 on the UK Albums Chart and was Thompson's first Top 40 album in the UK.[1] The album did not chart in the US, although the lead single "I Feel So Good" peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, his second and highest charting single on that chart.[2] Its follow-up single, "Read About Love" failed to chart.

Two videos, for "I Feel So Good"[3] and album track "I Misunderstood"[4] were produced to promote the album. Thompson also promoted the album's American release by performing "I Feel So Good" on Late Night with David Letterman.[5]

The album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 1992, but lost to R.E.M.'s Out of Time.[6]

"1952 Vincent Black Lightning"

The track "1952 Vincent Black Lightning", despite not being issued as a single, became a fan favourite and is one of Thompson's most highly acclaimed solo compositions.[7] Interviewed in the 2003 BBC documentary Solitary Life, Thompson said: "When I was a kid, that [the Vincent Black Lightning] was always the exotic bike, that was always the one, the one that you went "ooh, wow". I'd always been looking for English ideas that didn't sound corny, that had some romance to them, and around which you could pin a song. And this song started with a motorcycle, it started with the Vincent. It was a good lodestone around which the song could revolve".[8]

In 2011 Time magazine listed the song in its "All TIME 100 Songs", a list of "the most extraordinary English-language popular recordings since the beginning of TIME magazine in 1923."[9]

A live version of the song appears on Thompson's album Two Letter Words: Live 1994.

The song has been covered by several artists:

Track listing

All songs written by Richard Thompson:

  1. "Read About Love" – 3:34
  2. "I Feel So Good" – 3:21
  3. "I Misunderstood" – 4:05
  4. "Grey Walls" – 4:21
  5. "You Dream Too Much" – 4:06
  6. "Why Must I Plead" – 4:58
  7. "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" – 4:43
  8. "Backlash Love Affair" – 4:49
  9. "Mystery Wind" – 4:35
  10. "Don't Sit On My Jimmy Shands" – 4:26
  11. "Keep Your Distance" – 4:11
  12. "Mother Knows Best" – 4:59
  13. "God Loves A Drunk" – 4:43
  14. "Psycho Street" – 4:28

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ UK Albums Chart - Richard Thompson
  2. ↑ http://www.billboard.com/artist/365002/richard+thompson/chart?f=377
  3. ↑ "I Feel So Good" video
  4. ↑ "I Misunderstood" video
  5. ↑ "I Feel So Good" Letterman performance
  6. ↑ Pareles, Jon (January 9, 1992). "Grammy Short List: Many For a Few". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  7. ↑ Allmusic review for "1952 Vincent Black Lightning"
  8. ↑ "Richard Thompson: Solitary Life" at bbc.co.uk
  9. ↑ "All-TIME 100 Songs: 1952 Vincent Black Lightning" (retrieved on Feb. 26, 2014).
  10. ↑ Bob Dylan July 14, 2013 Setlist"
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