Richard Thompson & Danny Thompson: Industry

Here's an upbeat idea for a concept album: a collection of songs about the decline of industry in Britain. Yet Industry works, in large part because the people doing the conceptualizing are renowned English bassist/composer Danny Thompson and hyper-acclaimed British folk-rock singer/guitarist Richard Thompson (no relation, though they've collaborated for years). Instead of warbling in earnest about shutting down the old mill, Thompson and Thompson keep their storytelling simple and personal, offering slices of life about unemployment (the gorgeous "Drifting Through The Days") and lovers on the picket line ("Sweetheart On The Barricade"). The record works like magic, from the rocking "Big Chimney" to the somber, languidly pretty "Lotteryland" to tremendous instrumentals like "Children Of The Dark" and "Pitfalls." In just about any other hands, Industry would be a pretentious wreck; instead, it's an accessible artistic success, through and through.