“No kiss, no tears
No farewell souvenirs,
Not even a token,
When the spell is broken.”
What, precisely, is wrong with doom and gloom? 
Recommended albums for stpauler are, well, geez . . . Daring Adventures, as mentioned above, was what got me into him. After that I might say the recent Sweet Warrior, or maybe . . . I’m not sure I’d recommend the ones with Linda as an introduction. While damn fine, they’re not representative of his 30 years of solo work.
You want some humorous RT? How about ‘Fast Food’:
Water down the ketchup, easier to pour on
Pictures on the register in case you’re a moron.
My favorite song by Sandy. Many long years ago I had a radio show called Suspended In Gaffa and I featured only female vocals, but I cheated a lot to get guys I liked in, such as playing Peter Gabriel’s “Don’t Give Up” (with Kate Bush) or “Excellent Birds” (with Laurie Anderson), the Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York” (with Kirsty MacColl) and “I’m A Man You Don’t Meet Every Day” (with Cait O’Riordan), and so on. I got Richard Thompson in the show quite often…
with Fairport Convention (such as “Who Knows Where The Time Goes” with Sandy, and “One Sure Thing” with Judy Dyble),
with Sandy solo, such as the above-mentioned “Listen, Listen,”
and with Linda, songs like “The Great Valerio” and “A Heart Needs A Home.”
I’ve never seen him live though, dammit.
I’ve got a bootleg of a live performance called “Doom and Gloom”. The Princeton Record Exchange was an excellent place to find Richard stuff - probably still is, but I’m now thousands of miles away from it.
I agree with you about the Linda albums. Good, but not as varied as the solo work.
I saw him in concert last night. First, he played the 13 tracks from his new, upcoming album. First song was an uptempo song about the economic downturn. Then he played a song that he called “miserable, miserable, and miserable”, i.e., one of his doom and gloom songs. A couple of songs later he sang about Burning Man. He sounded like he was a regular attendee. Then it was a few songs about Jolly Olde England. Then another doom and gloom song, not the one about the serial killer, but Crime Scene(“Peace is dead. Love is dead. Darkness rules the day”), that stood out to me. The song about the serial killer wasn’t that doom and gloom. Then he sang a song called* Brother Slipped Away* about 3 friends of his that recently passed. There was one more song after that. I can’t wait until it’s released. Y’all are going to love it.
After a fifteen or twenty minute intermission, he came back on stage to play his old stuff. I am embarrassed to say I couldn’t ID the first two songs. I knew the rest though. The crowd got to sing a few choruses of “Tear Stained Letter.” He ended his encore with “I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight.” The sold-out crowd sustained a ten minute ovation after that, but we didn’t get a second encore. It was my second time I’ve seen him live.
Have seen him live twice, both solo acoustic shows in Vancouver. One of them, his son Teddy opened.
He didn’t play it, but the song that always comes to mind first when I think of him is “End of the Rainbow.” If there’s a darker lullaby to a newborn son, I haven’t heard it.
Agree with silenus about the two albums mentioned. Personally, I’d go with Shoot Out The Lights.
I’d recommend Shoot Out The Lights as well, though maybe more for nostalgic reasons in my case. Still, any album that contains the title track, “A Man In Need”, “Walking On A Wire” and “Wall Of Death” is definitely worthwhile.
“Read about Love” - “He gave me a book-the cover was plain, written by a doctor with a German name.” Genius. I also love “Don’t Sit on my Jimmy Shands” for humorous songs.
I’m actually in a kind of obsessive RT phase right now having just gotten the box set at Christmas. I saw him with Loudon Wainright III in October in Pittsburgh (a 100 year old Carnegie Hall at the library in Homestead) and it was amazing.
Jealous. It’s my understanding that he’s actually recording the new album at these shows and will pick the best performances from the shows on this tour.
My 7 year old loves “Tear Stained Letter” and “Wall of Death.” I have listened to the live version of “Hard on Me” from the box set at least once a day for the last few weeks which is my new favorite.
One great thing about his songs is there’s often a surprise in them. “Wall of Death” sounds very dark: It’s about an amusement park ride-yippee!. “Cooksferry Queen” is a nice love song - about a Gangster and his drug dealer girlfriend. “Turning of the Tide” well, brutal and dark. And don’t get me started on “From Galway to Graceland.”