Mock Tudor (album)

Mock Tudor
Studio album by
Richard Thompson
ReleasedSeptember 1999
RecordedNovember 1998
StudioThe Sound Factory, Los Angeles; RAK Studios, London
GenreBritish folk rock
Length54:56
LabelCapitol
ProducerTom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf
Richard Thompson chronology
Celtschmerz
(1998) 		Mock Tudor
(1999) 		Action Packed
(2001)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
The Green Man(not rated)[1]
The Graham Weekly(not rated)[2]
Rolling Stone [3]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[4]
Allmusic[5]

Mock Tudor is the tenth studio album by Richard Thompson. Released in 1999, it was his final album released by Capitol Records and his last to date for a major record label. Subsequent Thompson studio albums would be self-financed and distributed by smaller independent labels.

For this, his fifth album for Capitol, Thompson teamed up with producers Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf, and Mock Tudor had a more straightforward production than his preceding albums on Capitol which had been produced by Mitchell Froom. In this album Thompson draws predominantly on the musical styles of 1960s England—the time and place of his youth. The lyrics have a nostalgic tinge and are rich with allusion to fairy tales and children's books as well as to Shakespeare and T. S. Eliot.

Thematically, Mock Tudor is split into three sections: Metroland—comprising the first five songs, "Cooksferry Queen" to "Hard on Me", Heroes In The Suburbs—covering "Crawl Back (Under My Stone)" through "Walking the Long Miles Home", and concluding with Street Cries And Stage Whispers—encompassing the last three songs (on the original release). "Walking the Long Miles Home" recalls the days of Thompson' youth when he would watch such bands as The Yardbirds at London's Marquee Club but then miss the last tube back to his home in the suburbs.[6][7]

Although widely regarded by critics and Thompson fans as one of his best works, Mock Tudor did not enjoy much popularity among the public.

Track listing

All songs written by Richard Thompson.

  1. "Cooksferry Queen" – 4:14
  2. "Sibella" – 4:15
  3. "Bathsheba Smiles" – 3:54
  4. "Two-Faced Love" – 4:03
  5. "Hard on Me" – 5:55
  6. "Crawl Back (Under My Stone)" – 3:59
  7. "Uninhabited Man" – 4:52
  8. "Dry My Tears and Move On" – 3:48
  9. "Walking the Long Miles Home" – 4:10
  10. "Sights and Sounds of London Town" – 4:54
  11. "That's All, Amen, Close the Door" – 5:56
  12. "Hope You Like the New Me" – 5:00

Mock Tudor was released on Bong Load Records as a double vinyl LP and with two extra songs.

  • "Fully Qualified to Be Your Man"
  • "Mr. Rebound"

Personnel

Technical

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Green Man". www.greenmanreview.com. Archived from the original on 19 November 2005.
  2. ^ "George Graham Reviews Richard Thompson's "Mock Tudor"". georgegraham.com.
  3. ^ DeCurtis, Anthony (2 September 1999). "Mock Tudor".
  4. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  5. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Mock Tudor at AllMusic. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
  6. ^ "This gobsmacking guitarist will never be out of fashion". The Argus. 30 June 2023.
  7. ^ "Richard Thompson in Edmonds, WA". trouserpress.com.

Other sources

  • Richard Thompson – The Biography by Patrick Humprhies. Schirmer Books. 0-02-864752-1
  • The Great Valerio by Dave Smith