by Sam Juliano
Jamie Uhler declares: With us right on the doorstep of the Halloween season in October, I thought this year would be fun to prime the pump and build anticipation towards Horror movies by getting into another seasonal treat, the Autumnal Record. Thus over the next 9 days I’ll be offering some of my favorite LPs that give a decidedly Fall vibe (while not, um, offering any Mark E. Smith Fall records, at least this year!). As always these are discussion starters not enders, all these albums are available across most streaming sites and YouTube. Happy listening!September 24 Richard & Linda Thompson – Shoot Out the Lights (1982) and Matthew Sweet – Girlfriend (1991)I don’t necessarily think autumn is the time to throw in the towel on romantic or personal relationships, but when reflecting on the dying of the nicest days of the year, it’s hard not to dread the freezing temperatures that keep us confined to isolation indoors, especially for those of us that inhabit harsh weather climates. Any contemplation along these lines will surely lead one to Richard and Linda Thompson’s breakup record, the dismally bleak, but impeccable performed Shoot Out the Lights. Its cover begins the saga, Richard seated on the floor alone in a saturated, orange lit room under a portrait photo representation of his soon to be ex-wife Linda. The songs contained inside are no less depressive, the duo trade lead vocal duties back and forth track to track, as if to telegraph each of their own personal reasons for needed to end the marriage, the other being relegated to backup duty as if to say they both respect the decisions and the performer of them, just as they know that these are loves that will not be soon forgotten (if ever). The songs are then complex and warm in the coldest way possible, a couple known by fans as great artists who make great records at whatever the cost to their own personal hardships. Rediscovering this LP in the last year had more or less often stopped me in my tracks when its introspection swell about my apartment; ‘Walking on a Wire’ is Linda pleading for help as Richard’s sinewy guitar weaves through her, a favor he returns to her in ‘Man in Need’. ‘Shoot out the Lights’ is Richard’s great guitar epic on the album—he’s a truly special guitarist—the stereo mix allowing him to double his efforts in an orchestra of echo, a gunslinger anthem for creating darkness to abscond into. Elsewhere songs like ‘Just the Motion’ and ‘Wall of Death’ offer slowed aching sadness, becoming near Folk anthems for demise, a startlingly statement for a genre used to making such call and response pleas for righteous political action.Matthew Sweet’s 1991 heartbreak opus Girlfriend, meanwhile, gains its power from not having the Linda to Richard (or Richard to Linda) opposite, instead beginning on his own, openly wondering just where (and how) he’s going to live post-breakup (‘Divine Intervention’). As an opener it’s great, calling into question God’s role in heartbreak and loss, roaring with noisy guitar breaks and echoed harmonies. He keeps most of the tunes in an amped up, heavy alternative guitar power Pop style where he sees love lost, but also what love could be; writing as many odes to what he hopes to have (the title track, ‘Girlfriend’), or, in the case of ‘Winona’, a track for actress Winona Ryder, what his wildest dreams in love could accomplish (see also ‘Looking at the Sun’). In the end it’s a wonderful record, and draped with its iconic cover—Tuesday Weld wrapped in chic ’60’s shawl coat faux-fur—a near perfect Americanized version of the coming nostalgic BritPop movement. Or, it’s just that idea of Power Pop Emo that Weezer would fully employ from Pinkerton until Maladroit, their last good record (‘Evangeline’ is the closest to this point, but ‘Does She Talk?’, and ‘Your Sweet Voice’s softness is as well).
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