Richard & Linda Thompson "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" [1974]

Be forewarned: Richard and Linda Thompson's "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" is what happens when even studio hacks can't get anybody to finance their music project and they go ahead and do it anyway. Apparently recorded in the living room of their London flat, Fairport Convention survivors the Thompsons (not to be confused with the Thompson Twins -- these two were married until their lack of success drove them apart) offer a relatively useless glimpse into what Eric Clapton would have sounded like had he kept an old lady for more than five minutes. What was likely much more useful about this record was doubtlessly picked up by partners-in-crime Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, who'd already pitched their tent in LA and were just looking for a huge void to exploit; they found it in this failed experiment of what I'll for now call "burb-rock," and built the entire kingdom of melodrama that were the Buckingham-Nicks years directly on it. White as a bedsheet soaked in Clorox, "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" countrifies British MOR rock and Britifies anything that may have previously existed as originally American (and worthwhile), progressing at a mild, anti-aggressive tempo throughout, with plenty of show-offy accompaniments that fit right into the mix. These two are nothing if not well-trained mutts, after all. But just as Fairport Convention was unjustly lauded in the 60s, so its remnants are bestowed undue praise -- did one of these people perform the Heimlich maneuver on Jann Wenner at a dinner party or something?