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Teddy Thompson
A Piece Of What You Need
Verve
Let me just say up front that I'm a bit reluctant to leave the dance
floor, having spent hours listening to Upfront and Lowdown, Teddy
Thompson's country album, which I adored. But my cowboy hat and boots
are safely back in the closet and, in just a few listens, I'm down with
the new one A Piece of What you Need, which is a departure to
say the least. It's like Teddy said, "Well, that's enough of that,
let's do a pop album."
Teddy, the son of Linda and Richard Thompson, would appear to have inherited
the best of both his parents but he sounds like neither. I checked him
out at Amoeba Music when he was touring the country album and although
he was visibly road weary he had an ease onstage that made him a delight
to watch and he delivered like a kid raised on showbiz. Also worth mentioning:
He wore fabulous boots.
A Piece Of What You Need bounces around a bit. It's overly percussive
in spots but producer Marius DeVries (David Gray, Rufus Wainwright,
Neil Finn, Robbie Robertson) has a nice touch and the album runs the
gamut from very listenable ("The Things I Do," "What's
This?" and "One Of These Days") to press-repeat-seven-times-I-want-to-devour-that-one:
("In My Arms," "Where To Go From Here," "Turning
The Gun On Myself" and "Can't Sing Straight"). The more
I hear this record, the more I like it.
One more thing: Don't miss the video for "In My Arms" (MySpace
or YouTube it) where the fabulous Teddy charms a teenage girl roughly
half his age (eye roll) at what looks like a carnival/roller rink. It's
sublimely stupid.
—The Vinyl Princess
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