This is an extended version of the interview that appears in today’s Nottingham Post. You can read the shorter version here. Richard Thompson is in Manchester, about to embark on three days of band rehearsals for his new tour, which comes to Nottingham next Thursday. He doesn’t like rehearsals generally, but this time should be more straightforward than usual. For his new album Dream Attic was recorded on the road, in the USA last year (quote about advantages/disadvantages). ‘People often come up to me after shows and say the studio versions are great but we prefer the live versions of songs. So this one’s looser. There’s the odd mistake on there. I hadn’t realised that it would involve so much work for the band. In…

No time for a long post about this week’s song of the week, as I’ve spent my weekend blogging time writing up an interview I did with one of my musical heroes on Thursday. An extended version of the interview will appear next weekend, after it’s been in Friday’s Nottingham Post. But, in the meantime, here’s a clue as to who it’s with. This is from a stone cold classic album that was, for a long time, the worst selling LP in the Island label catalogue, ‘Henry The Human Fly.’ Richard Thompson – Shaky Nancy

For the rest of the year, I’ll be devoting this blog to the sleeve notes to our best of year compilation, now in its 22nd year with, for the first time, downloads of the songs featured (unless copyright holders object, these tracks are presented for promotional purposes and will be removed if yada yada). So, on with the show. This year’s cover photo is taken from a brief unscheduled stop made by the massive train The Canadian, on which we took a wonderful four day journey from Toronto to Vancouver back in August, passing through The Prairies that you see in the background. 1. Robyn – Dancing On My Own The pop highlight of the year, without a shadow of a doubt, has been Robyn’s…