Front Parlour Ballads (2005)

Richard Thompson's voice remains ageless, his guitar chops remarkably fluid. But this set of largely unplugged performances on Front Parlour Ballads bogs down in stillborn ballads, vague metaphors, and fusty arrangements that sound too Olde English, even for him. He lightens up to revel in the imaginary tabloid gossip of ''Let It Blow.'' But the album's friskiest song, ''A Solitary Life,'' overplays the nastiness that has often served him well; like the album itself, it leaves a bitter aftertaste.