Hand of Kindness by Richard Thompson

Hand of Kindness, released on Hannibal in 1983, is the sound of Richard Thompson standing on his own again. The former Fairport Convention guitarist had spent ten years making records with his then-wife Linda Thompson, and when the duo came apart he went back to work: this was his third solo album and his first set of original solo songs since Henry the Human Fly in 1972.

Joe Boyd produced, and the record is folk rock with its sleeves rolled up: tough, lean and full of Thompson's barbed guitar, with an edge of dark wit in the writing. "Tear Stained Letter" is the one rock radio kept hold of, a rowdy, jubilant blast with the band charging hard behind him.

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