I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight

I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight is the second album released by Richard Thompson, and his first to include his then wife, Linda Thompson, the pair being credited as Richard and Linda Thompson. It was released by Island Records in the UK in 1974. Although the album was never commercially successful, and was critically ignored upon its release (and not released outside of the UK until by Hannibal Records in 1983), it is now considered by several critics to be a masterpiece and one of the finest releases by the two singers, whether working singly or together. Background After the marked lack of success achieved by his first album, Henry the Human Fly, British singer-songwriter/guitarist Richard Thompson started a personal and professional relationship with Linda Peters, a session singer. I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight was the first album by the duo of Richard and Linda Thompson. Sessions for the album took place at the Sound Techniques studio in Chelsea, London, over a few weeks during spring 1973, with house engineer John Wood co-producing with Thompson. The album, provisionally titled Hokey Pokey, was recorded on a shoestring budget of £2,500; owing to vinyl shortages, it was not released until 1974. Where his first album was treated harshly by the critics, the second was eventually hailed as a masterpiece. It is now regarded as a classic of English folk rock and one of the Thompsons' finest achievements.