Richard Thompson announces Acoustic Rarities album

Richard Thompson

Richard Thompson’s next album Acoustic Rarities, the successor to Acoustic Classics II, will be released on October 6 via Beeswing/Proper Distribution – just ahead of his next UK tour.

The record focuses on some of the most obscure material in his catalogue and includes tracks that have never previously been released, along with some that have only been heard as cover versions in the past.

Thompson previously said of his acoustic recordings series, which began in 2014: “I was just making the kind of record that’s supposed to be for new listeners. I envisaged this being something that goes on the merchandise table at the concerts, for people coming to the show for the first time.

“I wasn’t expecting it to be much more than that but the record label and my management really liked it, so it seems to have taken on a life of its own. It’s representative of the sort of thing I do at a solo show. I didn’t have anything like it.”

Acoustic Classics II is on sale now, while Acoustic Rarities is available to pre-order now. See the tracklist and Thompson’s UK tour dates below.

Richard Thompson: Acoustic Rarities tracklist

1.What If (unreleased)
2.They Tore The Hippodrome Down (unreleased)
3.Seven Brothers (covered by Blair Dunlop)
4.Rainbow Over The Hill (covered by the Albion Band)
5.Never Again (released in 1975 on Richard & Linda Thompson album Hokey Pokey)
6.I Must Have A March (unreleased)
7.I’ll Take All My Sorrows To The Sea (from the orchestral song suite Interviews With Ghosts)
8.Poor Ditching Boy (released in 1972 on Richard Thompson album Henry The Human Fly)
9.Alexander Graham Bell (unreleased)
10.Sloth (released in 1970 on Fairport Convention album Full House)
11.Push And Shove (unreleased)
12.End Of The Rainbow (released in 1974 on Richard & Linda Thompson album I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight)
13.Poor Will And The Jolly Hangman (released in 1970 on Fairport Convention album Full House)
14.She Played Right Into My Hands (unreleased)

Richard Thompson UK tour 2017

Oct 11: Brighton Dome
Oct 12: Guildford G-Live
Oct 13: Poole Lighthouse
Oct 14: Bristol Colston Hall
Oct 15: Cardiff Wales Millennium Centre
Oct 17: Edinburgh Usher Hall
Oct 18: Gateshead Sage
Oct 19: Salford Lowry (sold out)
Oct 21: Saffron Walden Saffron Hall
Oct 22: Coventry Warwick Arts Centre
Oct 23: London Cadogan Hall
Oct 25: Sheffield City Hall
Oct 26: Leicester de Montfort Hall
Oct 27: Basingstoke Anvil
Oct 28: Norwich Theatre Royal
Oct 30: London Bridge Theatre (sold out)

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