Dream Attic Explained

Dream Attic
Type:	Live
Artist:	Richard Thompson
Cover:	album_dreamAttic_cover.jpg
Released:	30 August 2010 (UK) 31 August 2010 (USA)
Recorded:	Live at various venues, February 2010
Genre:	Rock, Folk rock
Length:	73:18
Label:	Proper (UK, Europe) Shout! Factory (North America)
Producer:	Richard Thompson, Simon Tassano
Prev Title:	Live Warrior
Prev Year:	2009
Next Title:	Live at the BBC
Next Year:	2011

Dream Attic is a live album by British folk rock musician Richard Thompson released in 2010, on Proper Records. While not a studio album, it is Thompson's fourteenth overall full-length album of new original solo material.

Overview

Instead of recording new songs in a studio, Thompson made demo recordings, rehearsed the songs with his bandand then recorded the new material live on a two-week tour of the Western United States in February 2010. Each night's first set presented thirteen new songs, played live, in the sequence they would soon have on the album.^[1]

The album was assembled from these live recordings. No studio overdubs were done. Each track on the finished album is an entire, unedited live performance of the song.

Dream Attic was nominated for the Best Contemporary Folk Album award in the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.^[2] On its release, the album entered the British top 20 for album sales, Thompson's first. In the US the album reached No. 83 on the Billboard 200 chart.^[3]

All but two of the tracks were also performed as the first half of a January 2011 Glasgow show that was recorded for the 2011 DVD Live at Celtic Connections.^[4]

Track listing

All songs written by Richard Thompson:

1. "The Money Shuffle" – 5:57
2. "Among The Gorse, Among The Grey " – 3:57
3. "Haul Me Up" – 4:51
4. "Burning Man" – 5:39
5. "Here Comes Geordie" – 3:28
6. "Demons In Her Dancing Shoes" – 5:38
7. "Crimescene" – 6:58
8. "Big Sun Falling In The River" – 5:27
9. "Stumble On" – 6:04
10. "Sidney Wells" – 7:34
11. "A Brother Slips Away" – 4:41
12. "Bad Again" – 5:25
13. "If Love Whispers Your Name" – 7:36

Proper Records released a "deluxe" edition of this album, with Thompson's acoustic demo recordingsof the same 13 tracks on a second disc.

Personnel

Musicians

• Richard Thompson – vocals, electric guitar
• Pete Zorn – acoustic guitar, flute, saxophone, mandolin, vocals
• Michael Jerome – drums, vocals
• Taras Prodaniuk – bass guitar, vocals
• Joel Zifkin – electric violin, mandolin, vocals

Technical

• Simon Tassano – mixing (at Rumiville Studio, Austin, Texas), FOH engineer and tour manager
• Jim Wilson – mastering (at Airshow Mastering, Boulder, Colorado)
• Tony Brooke – live recording
• Russ Cole – monitor engineer and production manager
• Bobby Eichorn – guitar technician and stage manager

Notes and References

1. Web site: Releases: Richard Thompson – Dream Attic – Silent Way.
2. Web site: Official list of the 53rd Grammy nominees, announced December 2010.
3. Web site: Billboard 200 for the week of September 18, 2010.
4. https://www.newreleasesnow.com/album/richard-thompson-live-at-celtic-connection-dvd-blu-ray