Richard & Linda Thompson's marriage was crumbling as they were recording Shoot Out the Lights in 1982, and many critics have read the album as a chronicle of the couple's divorce. In truth, most of the album's songs had been written two years earlier (when the Thompsons were getting along fine) for an abandoned project produced by Gerry Rafferty, and tales of busted relationships and domestic discord were always prominent in their songbook. But there is a palpable tension to Shoot Out The Lights which gives songs like "Don't Renege On Our Love" and "Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed" an edgy bite different from the Thompsons' other albums together; there's a subtle, unmistakable undertow of anger and dread in this music that cuts straight down to the bone. Joe Boyd's clean, uncluttered production was the ideal match for these songs and their Spartan arrangements, and Richard Thompson's wiry guitar work was remarkable, displaying a blazing technical skill that never interfered with his melodic sensibilities. Individually, all eight of the album's songs are striking (especially the sonic fireworks of the title cut, the beautiful drift of "Just The Motion," and the bitter reminiscence of "Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed"), and as a whole they were far more than the sum of their parts, a meditation on love and loss in which beauty, passion, and heady joy can still be found in defeat. It's ironic that Richard & Linda Thompson enjoyed their breakthrough in the United States with the album that ended their career together, but Shoot Out The Lights found them rallying their strengths to the bitter end; it's often been cited as Richard Thompson's greatest work, and it's difficult for anyone who has heard his body of work to argue the point.

(by Mark Deming, All Music Guide)

... und dann gab's noch dieses verrückte Ehepaar, die sich angeblich ärger als Punk-Rock-Bands aufführten, den Veranstaltern wären die Sex Pistols zur Betreuung auch weitaus lieber gewesen als dieses zornzerstrittene Duo, die zerstörte Garderobenräume zurückließen. Mit "Shoot Out The Lights" brachten Richard & Linda Thompson den musikalischen Höhepunkt aber gleichzeitig das Ende ihrer gemeinsamen Karriere. Für britischen Folk-Rock wurde damit eine ziemlich hohe Latte gelegt und bis heute nicht übertroffen. Und wie bei vielen Meilensteinen entstanden auch hier zwei Versionen: Eine erste, als unbefriedigend empfundene und daher zurückgezogene Version, bekannt als "The Rafferty Tapes", und die zweite, offizielle eben, die auch tatsächlich die bessere ist. Die Live-Auftritte aus jener Zeit waren geprägt vom Ehe-Frust, klangen also wütend-brachial und zutiefst emotional, dabei in bester Spiellaune, rotzig und ohne Sicherheitsnetz. Linda Thompson, 1982 noch zur besten Sängerin Englands gekürt, versagte letztendlich die Stimme: "You open your mouth and nothing happens", oder: Hysterical Dysphonia. Richard Thompson hingegen erlebte ein beständig-kreatives Hoch und veröffentlichte, als ob nichts gewesen wäre, mit "Hand Of Kindness", "Across A Crowded Room" und "Amnesia" gleich drei weitere Musik-Juwelen in den 80ern. Männer haben es eben leichter. Ungerecht, aber wahr.

(Der Schallplattenmann)

Written as a reaction to the Russians' 1979 invasion of Afghanistan, "Shoot Out the Lights" was the title track of Richard and Linda Thompson's brilliant 1982 swan song. From the opening two chords, which seem to have been lifted directly from Link Wray's classic instrumental "Rumble," you can feel the disquieting tension that will haunt the next five-plus minutes. Though the song was originally inspired by the conflict in Afghanistan, it transformed into a menacing, cinematic character study of a murderer who stalks the nighttime city streets. Richard & Linda Thompson's marriage was crumbling as they were recording Shoot Out the Lights in 1982, and many critics have read the album as a chronicle of the couple's divorce. In truth, most of the album's songs had been written two years earlier (when the Thompsons were getting along fine) for an abandoned project produced by Gerry Rafferty, and tales of busted relationships and domestic discord were always prominent in their songbook. It's ironic that Richard & Linda Thompson enjoyed their breakthrough in the United States with the album that ended their career together, but Shoot Out The Lights found them rallying their strengths to the bitter end; it's often been cited as Richard Thompson's greatest work, and it's difficult for anyone who has heard his body of work to argue the point.

(www.rykodisc.com)