Shoot Out The Lights

英国夫妻民谣摇滚二人组Richard and Linda Thompson的最后一张专辑，在专辑发行的同年二人正式离婚。专辑从录制到发行的过程可谓一波三折，矛盾重重。1979年直到1981年，他们没有取得任何唱片公司的合约，专辑中的歌曲的录制也是断断续续，中途还炒掉了制作人。直到1981年底，Richard Thompson在当时的情人，后来的夫人Nancy Covey安排下在美国取得了巡演的机会，才有唱片公司对他们的作品重新产生兴趣，但又赶上Linda Thompson怀孕，于是专辑直到1982年才发行。巡演开始的时候二人实际已经分居，勉强维持工作关系，滚石杂志的编辑非常不厚道地评论说，“他们同意一起巡演，然后观众都跑去看Linda如何在舞台上攻击Richard。”可叹…… 虽然有这么多不和谐因素，这张专辑却成为Richard Thompson早期音乐生涯中最畅销的作品，也成为他在美国的音乐第二春的开始，同时这也是Linda Thompson的最后一张专辑，从此以后她就在乐坛销声匿迹，她的声音很好听，让人怀念。 本专辑在滚石杂志评出的500张历代最强专辑中排名第333位。 by Mark Deming Richard & Linda Thompson's marriage was crumbling as they were recording Shoot Out the Lights in 1982, and many critics have read the album as a chronicle of the couple's divorce. In truth, most of the album's songs had been written two years earlier (when the Thompsons were getting along fine) for an abandoned project produced by Gerry Rafferty, and tales of busted relationships and domestic discord were always prominent in their songbook. But there is a palpable tension to Shoot Out The Lights which gives songs like "Don't Renege On Our Love" and "Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed" an edgy bite different from the Thompsons' other albums together; there's a subtle, unmistakable undertow of anger and dread in this music that cuts straight down to the bone. Joe Boyd's clean, uncluttered production was the ideal match for these songs and their Spartan arrangements, and Richard Thompson's wiry guitar work was remarkable, displaying a blazing technical skill that never interfered with his melodic sensibilities. Individually, all eight of the album's songs are striking (especially the sonic fireworks of the title cut, the beautiful drift of "Just The Motion," and the bitter reminiscence of "Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed"), and as a whole they were far more than the sum of their parts, a meditation on love and loss in which beauty, passion, and heady joy can still be found in defeat. It's ironic that Richard & Linda Thompson enjoyed their breakthrough in the United States with the album that ended their career together, but Shoot Out The Lights found them rallying their strengths to the bitter end; it's often been cited as Richard Thompson's greatest work, and it's difficult for anyone who has heard his body of work to argue the point.