MoFi SACD - Richard Thompson "Rumor And Sigh"

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The Most Cohesive and Accessible Album of Richard Thompson's Career:  Savagely Witty Rumor and Sigh Includes All TIME 100 Song "1952 Vincent Black Lightning"  

Mastered from the Original Master Tapes and Strictly Limited to 2,000 Numbered Copies: Mobile Fidelity's Hybrid SACD of Rumor and Sigh Features Lively Production

Richard Thompson manages all of his usual superhuman feats on Rumor and Sigh. Rippled, vibrant guitar lines that sound like they're coming from four guitars? Check. Lyrics that expose the delicate quirks of human behavior in witty, truthful manners? Here. Engaging vocals that arrive as if they are sung only to you, the words doubling as whispered thoughts in your own head? Yep. But Rumor and Sigh goes further by featuring astute, lively production and well-planned arrangements that turn the 1991 album into the most cohesive and accessible efforts of Thompson's storied career.

Mastered from the original master tapes and strictly limited to 2,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's hybrid SACD breathes with an effervescent openness that makes the music emerge with a livelier sheen, standout dynamics, and unstoppable energy. This audiphile version makes it immediately evident Rumor and Sigh endures as a very special album – a cohesive, varied, and fun set spiked with some of Thompson's finest compositions and an exoticism that extends to the modest use of the hurdy-gurdy, mandolin, concertina, and crumhorn.

Casual fans will likely even recognize the Mitchell Froom-produced release includes the incomparable "1952 Vincent Black Lightning," a motorcycle-based tale of desire, love, and death rightly recognized by TIME magazine as one of its All TIME 100 songs. On SACD, it and the other 13 tracks take on newfound radiance that showcases the brilliant range of Thompson's instrumentation and tone. 

The album's sonic signatures and themes claim a similar diversity. Opener "Read About Love" provides an electric-start jolt, its upbeat tempos, shimmering accents, and massive hooks framing Thompson's amusing story of an inexperienced introvert that applies pop-culture ideas of romance to the real thing. The master wordsmith finds similar ironies in the mischievous intent of "I Feel So Good," a Celtic-flavored tune whose uplifting emotions contrast with the character's out-of-control desires. Humor further wriggles in the jaunty "Psycho Street" and spirited "Don't Sit on My Jimmy Shands," an enduring tribute to the Scottish accordionist and the pursuit of collecting rare 78 records.

The singer-songwriter's knack for accentuating biting contrast – and for delving into darker regions where jealousy, bitterness, and self-deprecation reside – pervades Rumor and Sigh in the same manner his band shades his every move with narrative skill. Just listen to the faint keyboard cues on "I Misunderstood" or Jim Keltner's crisp, hi-hat cracks on "You Dream Too Much." Of course, everyone stands aside for the folk-leaning "1952 Vincent Black Lightning," a solo tour de force of musicianship and lyricism that confirms Rumor and Sigh survives not only as one of the finest records of the 1990s – but one of the best platters of the last three decades.