8 April 2026 - Richard and Linda Thompson - Shoot Out The Lights

I don't take many trips back to the 1980s, but in this caex of Fairport Convention) and Linda Thompson - a husband-and-wife duo - had been married for nine years and had released five albums of varying acclaim and success.  They had been dropped by Gerry Rafferty, who had financed recordings that generated no interest.  Their marriage was struggling - and Linda was pregnant.

So when Joe Boyd signed them to his Hannibal Records, he was taking a serious risk.  What he got was a masterpiece of an album that ended up being a pretty big hit, 1982's Shoot Out The Lights.  It would be the duo's final album (and their marriage would be over by the time of the album's releasae), but it would reestablish Richard as a songwriting force.

The title song is a masterclass in guitar-driven emotional rock music. 

Just because the marriage broke up does not mean Richard did not perform his songs.

By the way, Richard and Linda are both still with us, and Richard even sometimes still performs, as he did in 2014 in this clip.