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Teddy Thompson
Upfront and Down Low
(Verve Forecast)
Douglas Heselgrave's #4 album for 2007
First Appeared in The Music Box, September 2007, Volume 14, #9
Written by Douglas Heselgrave
Upon first listening to Upfront and Down Low, Teddy Thompson’s follow-up to his stirring
sophomore endeavor Separate Ways, one can be forgiven for wondering
if he has lost the plot and turned his back on the confessional tales of young
love and betrayal that characterized his opening effort. At the outset, the odes
to lost innocence and disappointment of Separate Ways seem to occupy a
different universe from those on his new album of classic country covers.
Thompson has moved away from the paradigm inhabited by many of his peers, such
as Jeff Buckley and Rufus Wainwright, as well as the grandiose soundscapes that
defined his previous disc. Still, a recording of aching country chestnuts that
were made famous by George Jones, Merle Haggard, and Dolly Parton sounds like
career suicide — or it would, if Thompson weren’t so damn talented. Supported by
beautiful arrangements and sterling musicianship, Separate Ways was a
collection of Thompson’s own angst-ridden compositions, but there was a certain
sense of maturity that was missing from the set. It was impossible not to come
away from it with the feeling that he was in danger of getting trapped in a
corner, one from which he needed to escape in order to grow as an artist.
From the most unlikely of sources, a solution to this dilemma came. In the
songs that Thompson chose to record for Upfront and Down Low, there is a
shared exploration of love and loss that characterized the aesthetics of Separate Ways. In his new suite of hard-bitten tales of suffering and pain,
however, he finds the stoicism and resolve that were absent from his sophomore
set. The
shared melodrama of both collections finds a resolution and the strength to
carry on in the painful, moral tales that are eviscerated on Upfront and Down
Low.
In his approach and selection of songs, Teddy Thompson is a fearless artist.
Upfront and Down Low is not a collection of country-light crossover
tunes. This also isn’t classic country with a full helping of irony
á la early k.d. Lang or the Flying Burrito
Brothers. Thompson never flinches or lets his gaze drop away from the momentum
of the material he has taken on. He jumps right into the heavy, tearful darkness
that each of these compositions inhabits, and he plumbs the depths of the
genuine emotion that they try to communicate.
In emotional terms, Thompson often channels Hank Williams with a sense of
power and confidence as well as a lack of affectation that one would not expect
from such a young singer. His utter sincerity and willingness to follow the
heart of these tunes makes Upfront and Down Low a collection without a
recent parallel. As revelatory as Johnny Cash’s American Recordings,
Thompson’s album presents country music that is treated with reverence and
respect. He delivers the material as it should be heard. How a young, English
singer pulled this off is a mystery, but suffice it to say that his version of
Walking the Floor over You rips into the stale-beer stench of country
music’s heart of darkness like few singers have ever been able to muster. It is
no exaggeration to say that a better vocal track has yet to be laid down
anywhere so far in 2007. Over the course of the disc’s 13 tracks, the absolute
control and commitment in Thompson’s voice sends shivers down his listeners’
spines as he mines the emotion out of classics such as The Worst Is Yet to
Come and My Blue Tears.
The realization of Upfront and Down Low was aided by many of the best
musicians in the business. In addition to receiving a helping hand from his
contemporaries — Rufus Wainwright, Tift Merritt, and Jason Crosby — there are
vocal and musical contributions from the truly gifted Iris DeMent, Tom Waits'
guitarist Marc Ribot, and Bill Frisell’s collaborator Greg Leisz. Richard
Thompson, Teddy’s dad, also lays down some tastefully off-kilter, honky-tonk
leads on one track [You Finally Said Something Good (When You Said Goodbye)],
thus showing the embarrassment of riches and talent that have been passed from
father to son. Down Low may be the only original composition on the
collection, but it demonstrates that Thompson can get down and dirty in the
hurting department with the best of them.
Reminiscent of John Prine and Mac Wiseman’s Standard Songs for Average
People but containing a darker focus and much more muscular and rich
vocalization, Upfront and Down Low is the best country album to be issued
so far this year. Often sounding like Lyle Lovett in his heyday, Thompson sings
each of these vintage classics without fear or affectation. These lovingly
crafted songs hopefully will show younger listeners just how short a musical
journey it really is between Hank Williams and Jeff Buckley while also stressing
the tremendous universality of the North American song form, regardless of
musical genre. Like the great British blues artists of the 1960s, Teddy Thompson
has taken an American musical form, treated it with reverence, and reflected it
back onto its country of origin so that it can be heard and appreciated in new
ways. Upfront and Down Low represents a huge artistic leap for a young
singer who just now is entering his prime. It is a triumph and an early career
highlight that surely will gain respect and increase in reputation as the years
pass.  ½
Upfront and Down Low is available from Amazon.com.
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2007 The Music Box
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