The serious-looking portraits of Sufi Richard and his loyal
muslim wife could have put off the casual purchaser. The music is often
profound, but within there are a number of classic Thompson songs. John
Kirkpatrick's opening (just like Jimmy Shand) is a joy on "Streets
Of Paradise," where the tears fall down like whiskey and wine. Similarly
strong are "Night Comes In" and "Beat The Retreat."
The final song, sung by Linda, is a beauty--a love song of immense depth,
with the final lines "...I need you at the dimming of the day..."
What a pity Linda has all but retired from singing.
Pour Down Like Silver was the last album Richard &
Linda Thompson would release before beginning a self-imposed three-year
retirement in order to join a communal Sufi Muslim sect. The cover photographs
show the Thompsons dressed in traditional Muslim garb, and while lyrically
the album offers few clear signs of the Thompsons' new spiritual direction,
the stark asceticism of the music marked a real change from the alcohol-fueled
mood swings of I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight and Hokey Pokey.
The horns, accordion, and ancient instruments that had dotted Richard
and Linda's previous albums were used far more sparingly on Pour Down
Like Silver, and even Thompson's usually astounding electric guitar solos
were pared down in favor of an emotionally intimate, bare-wired approach
that sounds alternately like a confession and a plea for guidance. Pour
Down Like Silver is downbeat even by Richard Thompson's less than joyful
standards, but it also features some of his most beautiful and compelling
songs the ravaged plea for salvation of "Streets of Paradise,"
the mysterious and mesmerizing "Night Comes In," the mournful
romantic meditations "Beat the Retreat" and "For Shame
of Doing Wrong," and the spare but heartfelt love song "Dimming
of the Day." And Linda (usually the more pragmatic of the two) breaks
the mood near the end of side two with the cynically witty "Hard
Luck Stories." Pour Down Like Silver is the most severe of the Richard
& Linda Thompson albums, but those brave enough to look past its dark
surface will find a startlingly beautiful album; it's not an easy album
to listen to, but it greatly rewards the effort.(Mark Deming)