Starring Henry the Human Fly

As lead guitarist for Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson had helped steer a band that initially emulated American rockers like Jefferson Airplane into an authentic British folk rock institution, swiftly evolving as a powerful songwriter ready to dip back into his own heritage for models. Thompson's first solo album finds him ranging through ballads, jigs, and reels as comfortably as he once had tackled Dylan and Joni Mitchell, tapping British brass bands and reviving old ballad forms and pre-industrial imagery to make his point. From "Roll Over Vaughn Williams" to the jubilant surfer-at-the-track spree of "The Angels Took My Racehorse Away," he gives ample evidence of the musicianship and intelligence that have since made him a cornerstone of folk rock regardless of nationality. --Sam Sutherland