British-born Richard Thompson has been producing exceptionally high quality music since the late 60s; most of it flying under the radar of radio. For his latest album Dream Attic (out now), the founder of Fairport Convention decided to take his music directly to the masses by recording every track in front of a live audience. To do so, you either have to be supremely crazy or confident; Thompson is the latter, plus he’s supremely talented, which doesn’t hurt.

Skeletons In The Attic: Far removed from the inner sanctum of a comfortable recording studio, Richard Thompson exposed himself and his band in a manner most musicians wouldn’t dare to do. So why stick your (guitar) neck out? “The thing about recording live is that you lose accuracy but you gain energy; you lose choices but you gain immediacy,” says the 61-year old risk taker. Expanding on his decision to open up his Dream Attic of songs directly to a live audience, he adds, “In the studio, you’re creating something in which sound is a compositional component. It’s a more introverted experience, and you mustn’t dawdle in the studio or you’ll make an antiseptic product. So we’re forsaking the sound component of that process in order to go for the energy.”

Listeners of Dream Attic will quickly learn both the sound and energy are at a top notch level, starting with “The Money Shuffle,” an unveiled vilification of the financial failure “dedicated to our good friends on Wall Street who did such a fine job lately” says Thompson. “I’m hopeless with money; I prefer to keep it under the mattress.” Following the contemporary crucifixion of commerce, Thompson takes a trip back in time with hauntingly beautiful ballads such as “Among the Gorse, Among the Grey,” “Burning Man,” “Crimescene,” and “Stumble On,” among others.

Thompson turns up the energy on several tracks, including the upbeat shuffle “Haul Me Up,” “Demons in Her Dancing Shoes,” the full-tilt rocker “Bad Again,” and “Big Sun Falling in the River,” a surprisingly upbeat breakup song. “I really like pop-song structure and emotion, which is direct and sometimes deceptively simple,” he says of “Big Sun.” “This one is an end-of-relationship song – bouncy, yes; happy, no.” To further make his point about the diversity of tempos found on Dream Attic, and all his work, he adds, “I do two kinds of songs: down tempo depressed songs and up tempo depressed songs.”

The experiment of recording an entire album live in front of an audience clearly worked. “What you want ideally is to be comfortable and be challenged,” says Thompson. “I’d rather be proactive and climb up to the hilltop, where you stand a greater chance of being struck by lightning.” Having dodged the lightning, Thompson was struck by inspiration, the result of which is now out on Dream Attic.

Toy From His Attic: Catch a great live version of “Bad Again” off Dream Attic:

As A Matter of Fact…

* While still in his teens, Richard Thompson founded British folk rock legends Fairport Convention.

* Thompson, hailed by Rolling Stone as “a perennial dark-horse contender for the title of greatest living guitarist,” released his solo debut album Henry the Human Fly in 1972. To date, he’s recorded more than 40 solo albums.

* Last year, Shout Factory Records issued the massive four-CD box set Walking on a Wire: 1968-2009, which Thompson (by his choosing) had nothing to do with. “Looking backwards is off the path,” he explained. “It’s a pause at the side of the road. But then, you look at the road ahead, and you wonder what’s around the next bend.”

* Thompson has North American tour dates scheduled through November 19 in Los Angeles, and then he begins a long European trek.