Box Set Shines Light on Richard and Linda Thompson

Hard Luck Stories, an 8-CD box set of Richard and Linda Thompson’s work together from 1972 to 1982, is scheduled to be released on Sept. 11 via Universal in the UK. As is the usual standard, a load of bonus material is being included as well, including 30 previously unreleased recordings.

Each of the six albums the then-couple recorded and released during that timeframe – 1974’s I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight through 1982’s Shoot Out the Lights – is appended with various bonus cuts: demos, single tracks, alternate takes and studio outtakes. There’s also a disc of early material predating these albums, and a disc of live cuts recorded in 1975 and 1977.

The set was personally curated by Richard and Linda, and compiled and mastered by Andrew Batt, the archivist behind 2018’s Bobbie Gentry box, Girl From Chickasaw County. Also included is a 72-page hardcover book featuring essays and a previously unpublished photographs.

Here in the US, vinyl reissues of R&L’s first three albums together – Bright Lights Tonight, Hokey Pokey and Pour Down Like Silver – are coming out via Universal/Island on the same date. No bonus tracks included.