Happy 50th: I Want To See The Bright Lights

Bonus for paid subs. We’re celebrating the 50th birthday of a folk-rock classic.

This week I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight celebrated its 50th birthday. It’s the first album by then husband/wife duo, Richard and Linda Thompson, it’s also the second album Richard Thompson made on the back of breaking away from Fairport Convention. With Fairport, Thompson was part of five albums in under three years, even more remarkably, there were three albums in just one year including the band’s two best records back. A dizzying time. He also had found a way of writing and playing alongside the magic of Sandy Denny, making new sounds out of old, traditional ideas, or bringing new ideas to old, traditional sounds.

So, when his first solo album, Henry The Human Fly flopped on delivery (like most of the British ‘folk’ albums from this period it would of course find fans in later years) Richard built up a band-idea with his wife, making their duo both romantic and musical.