Celtschmerz is a live album

Live album

A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...

 by Richard Thompson.

Continuing his policy, begun with the Live At Crawley

Live at Crawley

Live at Crawley is a live album by Richard Thompson recorded in 1993 and released in 1995.Thompson is a widely bootlegged artist. He is vociferous in his opposition to bootlegs on the grounds that not only does the artist not gain by them, but that they also deprive the artist of control over the...

album, of releasing high quality alternatives to bootlegs

Bootleg recording

A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...

, Thompson released this live album

Live album

A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...

 in 1998. The album was recorded during his tour of Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 earlier the same year.

Starting in the early 1980s Thompson began to perform live solo and with an acoustic guitar. By the late 90s he was performing more frequently in this format than with a band. Celtschmerz captures him in this "unplugged" setting. Comparing Celtschmerz to 1984's Small Town Romance

Small Town Romance

Small Town Romance is a live album by Richard Thompson .Before and after the "Tour From Hell" to promote the Richard and Linda Thompson album Shoot Out the Lights, Richard played solo shows in the USA in 1982. Three of these shows were recorded for radio broadcasts...

shows how Thompson has evolved his solo acoustic guitar technique over the years.

Thompson's son Teddy

Teddy Thompson

Teddy Thompson is a British folk and rock musician. He is the son of folk-rock musicians Richard and Linda Thompson and brother of singer Kamila Thompson...

 was the support act on this tour and joined his father each night to perform some duets. Several of these are included on Celtschmerz - most notably "A Heart Needs A Home", which is associated with Teddy's mother Linda Thompson

Linda Thompson (singer)

Linda Thompson is a British singer. Born Linda Pettifer in Hackney, Thompson became one of the most recognised names—and voices—in the British folk rock movement of the 1970s and 1980s, in collaboration with her former husband and fellow British folk rock musician, guitarist Richard...

, and "Persuasion" which was co-written with Tim Finn

Tim Finn

Brian Timothy "Tim" Finn, OBE is a New Zealand singer and musician. Finn is most known for his music with New Zealand 1970s and 1980s rock group Split Enz, and later for his solo work, a temporary membership in his brother Neil's band Crowded House and his joint efforts with Neil Finn as the Finn...

.

Track listing

All songs written by Richard Thompson except where noted

1. "Turning Of The Tide"
2. "How Will I Ever Be Simple Again"
3. "Why Must I Plead"
4. "The Poor Ditching Boy"
5. "When The Spell Is Broken"
6. "Last Shift"
7. "Pharaoh"
8. "Keep Your Distance"
9. "Walking On A Wire"
10. "A Heart Needs A Home"
11. "She May Call You Up Tonight" (Steve Martin-Caro, Michael Brown)
12. "Persuasion" (Richard Thompson, Tim Finn
    Tim Finn
    Brian Timothy "Tim" Finn, OBE is a New Zealand singer and musician. Finn is most known for his music with New Zealand 1970s and 1980s rock group Split Enz, and later for his solo work, a temporary membership in his brother Neil's band Crowded House and his joint efforts with Neil Finn as the Finn...
    
    )
13. "Razor Dance"
14. "Beat the Retreat"
15. "Wall Of Death"
16. "Tear Stained Letter"

Personnel

• Richard Thompson - guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , vocals
• Teddy Thompson
  Teddy Thompson
  Teddy Thompson is a British folk and rock musician. He is the son of folk-rock musicians Richard and Linda Thompson and brother of singer Kamila Thompson...
  
   - guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , vocals on tracks 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 and 16
• Danny Thompson
  Danny Thompson
  Daniel Henry Edward 'Danny' Thompson is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist and businessman...
  
   - double bass
  Double bass
  The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
  
   on track 16
• Dave Mattacks
  Dave Mattacks
  Dave Mattacks is a rock and folk drummer. Best known for his work with Fairport Convention, Mattacks has also worked both as a session musician, and as a performance artist...
  
   - snare drum
  Snare drum
  The snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...
  
   and hi-hat
  Hi-hat
  A hi-hat, or hihat, is a type of cymbal and stand used as a typical part of a drum kit by percussionists in R&B, hip-hop, disco, jazz, rock and roll, house, reggae and other forms of contemporary popular music.- Operation :...
  
  on track 13