[SACD-R][OF] Richard Thompson - Rumor And Sigh - 1991/2018 (Rock, Folk Rock)

Accordion, Concertina – John Kirkpatrick
Backing Vocals – Christine Collister, Clive Gregson
Bass – Jerry Scheff
Drums – Jim Keltner, Mickey Curry (tracks: 1,2,5,8,9,11)
Fiddle – Aly Bain
Guitar – Simon Nicol
Guitar, Mandolin, Hurdy Gurdy – Richard Thompson
Mixed By – Tchad Blake
Percussion – Alex Acuña
Piano, Keyboards – Mitchell Froom
Producer – Mitchell Froom
Shawm, Crumhorn, Bassoon [Curtal] – Phillip Pickett*

Rumor and Sigh is the sixth solo album by British singer/songwriter Richard Thompson, released in 1991 on the Capitol label. The album was a commercial success for Thompson, and featured his biggest American hit single “I Feel So Good”, as well as the fan favourite “1952 Vincent Black Lightning”.
The album earned Thompson a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 1992.
All Music Review
While Richard Thompson’s devotees will tell you the man is a triple-threat genius — passionate vocalist, compelling songwriter, and sterling guitarist — even his most loyal supporters will concede that the dour nature of his songs and the no-frills production of many of his albums make the bulk of his catalog tough sledding for the uninitiated. Given this, 1991’s Rumor and Sigh is arguably the best album for those wanting to sample Thompson’s work for the first time. It captures Thompson at the top of his form on all fronts, but also gives his songs just enough polish to make them approachable for the unconverted, and though it’s several shades darker than the average adult-contemporary album, it honors Thompson’s obsession with romantic despair and the less pleasant quirks of fate without sounding depressing in the process. Producer Mitchell Froom tricked up Thompson’s sound a bit, but his approach added to the material rather than interfering with it; the topsy-turvy keyboards and sharp, snapping drum sound on “Gray Walls” and “You Dream Too Much” actually add to their narrative drama, and Froom coaxed some of Thompson’s most soulful vocals on “Why Must I Plead” and “I Misunderstood.” Thompson actually gets funny on “Don’t Sit On My Jimmy Shands” and the darkly hilarious “Psycho Street,” and Thompson fans who like his work straight with no chaser will be knocked flat by “1952 Vincent Black Lightning,” perhaps the best traditional-style number in his songbook, and the harrowing “God Loves A Drunk,” an unnerving tale of several kinds of addiction. While Rumor and Sigh is quite slick by Thompson’s standards, its clean lines and bright mix serve both the songs and the bandleader quite well, and make Thompson’s tunes sound like the radio hits they’ve always deserved to be.
ELUSIVE:
The Most Cohesive and Accessible Album of Richard Thompson's Career: Brilliantly Diverse, Savagely Witty Rumor and Sigh Includes All TIME 100 Song "1952 Vincent Black Lightning"
Richard Thompson manages all of his usual superhuman feats on Rumor and Sigh. Rippled, vibrant guitar lines that sound like they're coming from four guitars? Check. Lyrics that expose the delicate quirks of human behavior in witty, truthful manners? Here. Engaging vocals that arrive as if they are sung only to you, the words doubling as whispered thoughts in your own head? Yep. But Rumor and Sigh goes further by featuring astute, lively production and well-planned arrangements ranking the 1991 album as one of the – if not the most – cohesive and accessible efforts of Thompson's storied career. And now, courtesy of Mobile Fidelity, it's his best-sounding record.
Mastered from the original master tapes and strictly limited to 2000 numbered copies, this hybrid SACD breathes with an effervescent openness that makes the music emerge with a livelier sheen, standout dynamics, and unstoppable energy. This definitive digital edition makes it immediately evident Rumor and Sigh ensures as a very special album – a cohesive, varied, and fun set spiked with some of Thompson's finest compositions and an exoticism that extends to the modest use of the hurdy-gurdy, mandolin, concertina, and crumhorn.
Casual fans will likely even recognize the Mitchell Froom-produced release includes the incomparable "1952 Vincent Black Lightning," a motorcycle-based tale of desire, love, and death rightly recognized by TIME magazine as one of its All TIME 100 songs. It, and the other 13 tracks, takes on newfound radiance that showcases the brilliant range of Thompson's instrumentation and tone. You could plug in a guitar amplifier right next to you, connect a Fender, and strum. Yet you still wouldn't have the depth, intimacy, and detail afforded by this audiophile edition. It's that remarkable.
So is the diversity of the album's sonic signatures and themes. Opener "Read About Love" provides an electric-start jolt, its upbeat tempos, shimmering accents, and massive hooks framing Thompson's amusing story of an inexperienced introvert that applies pop-culture ideas of romance to the real thing. The master wordsmith finds similar ironies in the mischievous intent of "I Feel So Good," a Celtic-flavored tune whose uplifting emotions contrast with the character's out-of-control desires. Humor further wriggles in the jaunty "Psycho Street" and spirited "Don't Sit on My Jimmy Shands," an enduring tribute to the Scottish accordionist and the pursuit of collecting rare 78 records.
The singer-songwriter's knack for accentuating biting contrast – and for delving into darker regions where jealousy, bitterness, and self-deprecation reside – pervades Rumor and Sigh in the same manner his band shades his every move with narrative skill. Just listen to the faint keyboard cues on "I Misunderstood" or Jim Keltner's crisp, hi-hat cracks on "You Dream Too Much." Of course, everyone stands aside for the folk-leaning "1952 Vincent Black Lightning," a solo tour de force of musicianship and lyricism that confirms Rumor and Sigh survives not only as one of the finest records of the 1990s – but one of the best platters of the last three decades.