Across a Crowded Room

Infobox Album | Name = Across a Crowded Room
Type = Studio album
Artist = Richard Thompson


Released = April 1985
Recorded = September and October 1984
RAK Studios, London
Genre = Rock
Length = 38:10
Label = Polydor
Producer = Joe Boyd
Reviews = *"Rolling Stone" Rating|4|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/richardthompson/albums/album/126345/review/5944104/across_a_crowded_room link]
Last album = "Small Town Romance"
(1984)"
This album = "Across a Crowded Room"
(1985)
Next album = "Daring Adventures"
(1986)|__NOTOC__"Across a Crowded Room" is an album by Richard Thompson released in 1985.

In 1984 Thompson's management negotiated a contract with Polydor which gave him some financial security for the first time in over a decade. "Across A Crowded Room" was the first album recorded under this new contract. Thompson retained Joe Boyd as producer, but this was to be the last album that Thompson would record with Boyd behind the controls and the last studio album he would record in England.

"Across a Crowded Room" was the first Richard Thompson album to be simultaneously released on vinyl and CD.

The album is notable for some sophisticated arrangements and the variety of allusions and topics in the song lyrics - Margaret Thatcher's England, the moors murders, the Koran, and the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "South Pacific" from which the album's title is derived. Several tracks, including "She Twists the Knife Again", are also possibly inspired by his messy breakup with his ex-wife Linda. However, the listener may also follow Thompson's own advice on what to make of his lyrics: "I think people should take lyrics as they find them, go into them as much as they feel necessary, or ignore them and just listen to the bass line."

Track listing

All songs written by Richard Thompson

#"When The Spell Is Broken"
#"You Don't Say"
#"I Ain't Going To Drag My Feet No More"
#"Ghosts In The Wind"
#"Fire In The Engine Room"
#"Walking Through A Wasted Land"
#"Little Blue Number"
#"She Twists The Knife Again"
#"Love In A Faithless Country"

The above listing reflects the songs and sequence on the original LP release. The original CD issue included an extra track, "Shine On Love" and had a different running order. Subsequent CD re-issues have reflected the sequence and song selection shown above.

Personnel

*Richard Thompson - guitar,vocals
*Bruce Lynch - bass guitar
*Dave Mattacks - drums
*Dave Bitelli - alto saxophone
*Pete Thomas - tenor saxophone
*Simon Nicol - guitar
*Christine Collister, Phil Barnes, Clive Gregson and The Soultanas - backing vocals
*Alan Dunn - accordion
*Philip Pickett - shawm, crumhorn, recorder and symphony.