Linda Thompson: Fashionably Late

During the first half of the '70s, Linda Thompson and husband Richard expanded on his work with the British folk-rock group Fairport Convention, recontextualizing mournful traditional folk music for modern times, in what has come to be known as the duo's "English period." When the Thompsons converted to the Sufi Muslim faith, they opened up their music to more spiritual and socially conscious realms. Then they bitterly divorced, and after one solo album (1985's would-be pop crossover One Clear Moment), Linda dropped out of the business due to a prolonged bout of the psychological language-impairing disorder dysphonia—and, perhaps, due to the pain of watching her ex-husband go on to a career of eclectic, critically acclaimed guitar heroism. Somewhat surprisingly, her first album in almost 17 years opens with the mellow singalong "Dear Mary," featuring Richard's concentrated, snaky picking and trembling background vocals. Credit for the unlikely reunion—not repeated here—goes to Richard and Linda's son Teddy Thompson, who's also largely responsible for getting his mother back into a recording studio. Half of Fashionably Late's 10 tracks were co-written by Teddy and Linda, along with one by Teddy alone, three by Linda alone, one by Linda with Rufus Wainwright (another folk-music scion), and the rippling hill-country-lovers' plea "Evona Darling," originally written by Lal Waterson. The material plays to Linda Thompson's strengths, with her quiet, primarily acoustic, doggedly traditionalist ballads showcasing her thick, eloquent voice. Sounding as though she's perpetually choking back a sob, Thompson sings of loves, fortunes, and lives lost, letting her vocals hover slightly above her son's gentle instrumental arrangements. She casts a cool shadow, and in the smoky "All I See" and the sleepy, cabaret-style "Paint & Powder Beauty," Thompson finally gets where she started going 30 years ago. Fashionably Late contains deep-rooted, uniquely English folk music—pretty and sad—but it's also freshly free-associative, and controlled by the intonations of a woman who treasures the rare, often fleeting gift of her voice.