Shaking Out the Sheets

After more than 40 years of performing and recording, the legendary English singer, songwriter, and guitar virtuoso Richard Thompson has created an enormous body of notable work that spans the genres of electric folk, contemporary songwriting, and guitar-based rock. A widely respected and much-covered songwriter whose music is literate, lyrical, and often piercingly emotional, Thompson is also a master of both electric and acoustic guitar who sometimes sounds like he has at least 10 fingers on each hand. He has been the recipient of a BBC Lifetime Achievement Award and joined contemporaries such as Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix in being named one of Rolling Stone's top 20 guitarists of all time. And while always a critic's favorite and a cult hero in the folk-rock world, in recent years he seems to have become somewhat better known to the general musical public as well, as word of the power and quality of his writing and playing has finally spread. This four-CD box set, which draws 71 tracks from 35 albums recorded between 1967 and 2007, offers a commendably comprehensive look at his story so far, both for relative newcomers to Thompson's music who might be looking to catch up and for longtime fans who need to patch holes in their collections.

Walking on a Wire is the third Thompson box set to be released. Unlike the other two sets [Watching the Dark, Hannibal Records (1993) and RT: The Life and Music of Richard Thompson, Free Reed Records (2006)], the material here is drawn entirely from Thompson's back catalog of commercial releases, rather than delving heavily into rarities, alternative versions, and previously unreleased live performances. The four CDs are accompanied by a 60-page booklet that includes a lengthy and well-written historical commentary by Thompson biographer Patrick Humphries, as well as detailed credits.