Errors: A Rumour In Africa

Looking forward to the Errors album in a couple of weeks. This is disturbing.

10: Richard Thompson: You? Me? Us?

Between Christmas and New Year I was putting a compilation together for a friend who'd never heard of Richard Thompson. I knew I should include Razor Dance - probably the acoustic version. But looking in iTunes I realised that I only had the live version on Celtschmertz. No problem; it's a good version on the best live album. But where was You? Me? Us? I knew I'd bought it on release - Virgin Megastore, Nottingham - and I saw him tour with it (no t-shirt - when was the last time I saw a Richard Thompson album cover you'd wear on your chest?). But no sign of it in iTunes. Must have bought it on cassette. Double cassette? There's an ancient artifact. And no sign of a dodgy torrent either. Biggest surprise, an album I'd put inside Thommo's top 10 seemed to be deleted. And I've waited a month for this US import to arrive.
Well worth the wait though. It's even better than I remembered. Both electric "Voltage Enhanced" and acoustic "Nude" discs would stand well alone, but as a pair they'reclose to perfection.
It's dark stuff, not the best advert for marriage, and I doubt there's anyone who's persevered with - or escaped from - a long term relationship who won't find something to identify with here.
A couple of tracks appear on both discs, but for a double album, it flies by. And the lyrics - Razor Dance revisits Wall of Death and Shoot out the Lights with even more venom (and my memory served me well - the acoustic version is superior). But with Hide it Away, Put It There Pal and The Ghost of You Walks - on what other album would a song about a man who gathers corpses from battlefields (Sam Jones) seem like light relief?