"Second Stream" Recordings I

Richard Thompson: Doom and Gloom From the Tomb, Vol. 1 [1985]

There are those who could credibly argue that none of Richard Thompson’s recordings are meant for the mainstream market. it is, after all, a market that has never embraced him, and Thompson remains, to this day, something of the quintessential “cult” favorite. But even within a cult (or rather, a relatively small, yet extraordinarily loyal fan base), there lies a deeper core of hard-core devotees who yearn for more production from an artist than even a meagre market will bear.

Richard Thompson realized this quandary as early as 1985, when he released this cassette-only collection solely to members of his fan club, by mail order. Little could anyone imagine that this type of direct marketing to the faithful few would eventually develop into an entirely second stream of releases that would become an ever-growing part of the Thompson catalog.
Doom and Gloom From the Tomb (what a wonderful title!) was indeed a collection for hard core enthusiasts, featuring demos, live recordings, and previously unreleased songs from Fairport Convention, Richard & Linda, as well as newer solo recordings. No doubt Thompson was correct in his estimation of his niche in the market, and a collection such as this would be an effective, yet affordable method to deliver the most of his music to the hungriest of his followers.
Issued on his own Flypaper label, created exclusively for this purpose, Doom and Gloom was never intended to have a long shelf (or rather postal) life. It was soon out of print, which it remains today. Thompson would issue a second volume in 1991, and by the end of the next decade would begin a steady stream of (mostly) live albums from his own Beeswing label - all available by mail order only.

This concept would prove not only to be a reasonable business practice, but it makes for a much wider appreciation and assessment of Thompson’s music than would otherwise be possible.
The down side of this method, from a collector’s point of view, is that these recordings tend to go out of print after a few years, and it remains to see if many of them will ever be resurrected. Such recordings must be seen, therefore, as a separate, “second stream” of issues and cannot be considered part of the Richard Thompson canon proper.

This does not mean that they are neither interesting or important for our purposes - I would certainly review and analyze Doom and Gloom if I had a copy in my possession. But since I don’t, we must pass by it without much more ado.

When we begin to reach the mail-order titles that are currently available, we will make a decision as to how thoroughly to scrutinize them at that time.

For those interested in the contents of this recording and other details, they are readily available for scrutiny at Thompson’s official web site, Beesweb at http://www.richardthompson-music.com.