Sure, this is a decent enuf album but i cannot perceive why it is routinely regarded as one of rock 'n' roll's finest. My hunch is that one or two high profile reviewers (Rolling Stone, et.al) gave it glowing reviews back in '82 and other copycat writers simply fell in lockstep. That's generally what happens. Perhaps the compilers of such 'best of' lists realized that one of the true great artists of the late 60s and 70s wasn't represented so this album was artificially inflated. I suspect many reviewers were simply a few years late in discovering the Thompson talent so they decided to glom onto this album.

I feel that SOTL is at best Richard & Linda's 5th and perhaps even 6th best effort. 'Hokey Pokey' and 'I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight' are the two albums that best illustrate the Thompson's genious. Even 'Sunnyvista' and 'Pour Down Like Silver' are superior albums with more great songs than this one. If you haven't tapped into any of those other albums please do yourself a big favor. I'd put SOTL at the same level as their 1978 release 'First Light' - an ok album.

I'm curious what other Richard & Linda fans think. Not those of you who simply acquired this recording because you repeatedly saw it on some contrived list, but those of you who are very familiar with this duo's entire body of work. What of 'Hokey Pokey' 'I Want to see the Bright Lights Tonight' and others? How do they stack up to this ok but overrated record?

"Shoot Out the Lights" was Richard and Linda Thompson's 1982. comeback album after two slightly disappointing albums released on the Chrysalis label in 1978 and 1979. Unfortunately this was also to be their last, as both their marriage and their artistic partnership was falling apart at this point. Quite a paradox as the album is as strong as their finest albums recorded for Island in the mid 1970's.

Musically more rocking and less folkish than their Island albums; lyrically at least as dark as "Pour Down Like Silver". Titles "Walking on a Wire", "Shoot out the Lights" and "Wall of Death" indicate the general dark tone of the album.

Richard who takes the lead vocals on the more rocking tracks like "Don't Renege on Our Love" and "Man in Need", while the two great ballads "Just the Motion" and "Walking on a Wire" have Linda in front. Along with the two outstanding closing tracks "Did She Jump" and "Wall of Death" the Linda ballads are my favourites on the album.

Strong songwriting by Richard and tight playing from the band, which besides Richard on guitar consists of old Fairport friends like Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg and Dave Mattacks, make the album one of the most consistent in Richard Thompson's long career.

Produced by another old Fairport friend Joe Boyd, who produced the first five Fairport albums and several later Richard Thompson solo albums.

The final album that Richard and Linda Thompson recorded as a duo is one of their best and certainly a classic English rock album. There had always been long shadows in their music but this album all seems to take place after nightfall. Even the prettiest ballads turn out to be meditations on loss and grief if you give them more than a cursory glance.
The couple split after the release of this album and comparisons could perhaps be made with "Rumours" by Fletwood Mac, as songs like "Don't Renege On Our Love" and "Walking on a Wire" seem to refer to the breakdown of relationships. Yet overall the material on "Shoot out the Lights" explores much darker territory than you will ever find Fleetwood Mac exploring. The title track refers to a real life serial killer who explained his crimes by saying he wanted to "shoot out the lights". The album closer "Wall of Death" has a sweet, singable melody until you realise that the song is more about the sense of urgency and preciousness that death gives life than the amusement park ride it takes its name from. But the payback for listening to all this melancholy is some very moody and atmospheric songs that are rooted in real emotion, however sad at heart. Richard Thompson was in some sense one of the last great craftsmen in rock in that songcraft is always at the fore in his records. This music is not especially innovative but the songs are beautifully put together and performed and it is definitely a record that you can keep coming back to discover new shades.

This is not a soft cushion but anyone who has been disappointed in love will recognise themselves in this album. The last collaboration between two great musicians each of whom has gone on to produce much more great music. They also produced Teddy Thompson who has himself produced 2 excellent albums. also check out the first solo albums by RT (Daring Adventures) & LT (One Clear Moment) where they further vent their spleens.
Buy it and then buy everything else. You won't love everything but you won'r hate anything either.

This was the last of the RT and LT partnership albums and their most popular and accessible. There's less of a folk influence here and more pop. It does seem to me that RT was striving for commercial success with some of these tracks, something he had always refused to pander to with any of his past work. The 2 most commercial tracks are the galloping opener 'Don't renege on our love', which bore all the hallmarks of a hit single. 'Wall of death' likewise could have also been a single, if a little less obvious (See a superb live version on YouTube). But the problem I have with this album is that some of the songs lack the depth of of his previous work. The most obvious examples are 'Man in need' and 'Back street slide' which are more ordinary fare compared to RT's usually very high standards.

Before this album was made, I remember the music critics complaining that Thompson's work was far too gloomy and dark for general public taste. RT was indignant about this criticism and SOTL was probably his reaction to it. However the ballads 'Walking on a wire' and 'Just the motion' are well up to usual expectations, and are not exactly cheerful songs either. Finally the title track is the album's 'angry' song and includes one of RT's more manic guitar solos. The track bears a resemblance to Link Wray's instrumental, 'Rumble'.

To sum up, SOTL is hardly RT/LT's best album IMO, despite its popularity. It was after all the first RT album to be plugged in the US, however it does serve well as an introduction to RT's talents. But if you are looking for something a bit rarer and more special from the RT and LT collection, try the albums 'I want to see the bright lights tonight' and 'Pour down like silver', the latter being RT's most melancholic and spiritual effort, but both are excellent nevertheless (and readily available on amazon.co.uk without paying through the nose). And as with all RT albums including this one, they require repeated listening to appreciate them properly.