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(More customer reviews)What began as Richard Thompson's cheekily literal response to Playboy when asked to name the "Ten Greatest Songs of the Millennium" has blossomed into something of a cottage industry for the cult folk/rock hero, spawning a concert tour, a limited edition CD, and now even a DVD.
And this is cause for celebration, because even though Mr. Thompson humbly asserts that "I am unqualified to sing 98% of the material here," you'd be hard-pressed to find another performer with the talent, intellect, and wit required to present this diverse and eclectic collection of songs in such an enjoyable and entertaining way.
A project like this could have easily descended into a tedious, winking, postmodern concert-length joke, and certainly Thompson and his troupe have a little fun with Gilbert & Sullivan and Britney Spears -- who wouldn't? But what ultimately makes 1,000 Years work so well is the sincerity and respect with which all of this material is treated, from Elizabethan ballads to coal miner songs to Shenandoah to Nat King Cole to Squeeze. The trio even manage to convincingly perform an a capella madrigal!
While about half of this "popular music" is understandably rooted in the 20th century, Thompson also adapts an impressive collection of tunes from the other 900 years of the past millennium (the ones that Playboy apparently wasn't very interested in), aided only by the back-up vocals, percussion, and occasional (and usually unnecessary) keyboards of Debra Dobkin and/or Judith Owen.
This backing duo (not exactly a "band") provides tasteful and unobtrusive accompaniment when needed. The only misfire occurs when Ms. Owen sings self-consciously "jazzy" and affected lead vocals on Night and Day and Cry Me A River, made even worse on the DVD format by her distracting and annoying hand gestures. I sure would have rather heard these classic songs sung by Richard Thompson (or just about anyone else, for that matter.)
There aren't any DVD "bonus features" per se, but a few interesting and amusing interview clips and rehearsal footage moments are interspersed here and there, and both stereo and 5.1 surround sound options are available. There are also two "bonus CDs" provided with the same audio as the DVD (presumably so you can also listen to this concert in your car, buggy, or covered wagon.)
Overall, Richard Thompson's 1,000 Years of Popular Music is one of the most enjoyable concert DVDs I have seen, from the rousing "Sumer Is Icumen In" opener to the boisterous final encore of "Sam Hall."
And without a dobut -- this is the greatest set list of the millennium.
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Richard Thompson - guitar & vocalsMichael Jerome - percussionJudith Owen - vocalsThe idea for this project came from Playboy Magazine - I was asked to submit a list, in late 1999, of the ten greatest songs of the Millenium. Hah! I thought, hypocrites - they don't mean millennium, they mean twenty years - I'll call their bluff and do a real thousand-year selection. My list was similar to the choices here on this CD, starting in about 1068, and winding slowly up to 2001. That they failed to print my list among others submitted by rock's luminaries, is but a slight wound - it gave me the idea for this show, which has been performed occasionally, and will hopefully receive a few more airings. The idea is that Popular Music comes in many forms, through many ages, and as older forms get superceded, sometimes the baby is thrown out with the bathwater - great ideas, tunes, rhythms, styles, get left in the dust of history, so let's have a look at what's back there, and see if still does the trick. I am unqualified to sing 98% of the material here, but me having a go could be considered part of the fun. Also, trying to render an Arthur Sullivan orchestration with acoustic guitar and snare drum is pretty desperate stuff, but may, at a stretch, be thought charming. What appears on this CD is a performance, rather than a chronological, distillation of several different shows - hence some gaps in the 17th and 18th centuries, and too much weight on Music Hall and Rock & Roll - we just felt that some performances weren't quite captured - perhaps on Part Two?
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