A review by emckeon1002
Beeswing: Losing My Way and Finding My Voice 1967-1975 by Richard Thompson

4.0

A must for Richard Thompson fans. Thompson is a very fine writer, and if you're interested in how he came to the music he creates now, this is the book for you. As a musician, of course, he spends a lot of time on how he came to music, and the musicians he performed with, and there's a bit of the inner dialogue, but, of course, he's remembering 50-60 years hence. His "British reservation" and his general personal reservation means that we don't get an intimate glimpse at his relationships or his trauma (this is not sex and drug and folk and roll), but it's a look at a period in music that many of us admire. Thompson himself is a genius guitarist, but not a superstar, nor are the great musicians he came up with, including Nick Drake, Dandy Denny and many others. The book ends just about at the moment his marriage disintegrates, and there's not much of a sense that he had, or has, much clarity, or is willing to share the struggles. Still, as a Thompson fan, I enjoyed it very much.