Real life intruded on Richard and Linda Thompson and turned Shoot Out the Lights into a harrowing masterpiece. The collection was difficult to create. Tracks from an aborted first attempt to record the album ended up on the Richard Thompson anthology Watching the Dark and the history of Linda Thompson Dreams Fly Away. It also became their final record together, lending extra poignance to such classically grim Richard Thompson titles as "Did She Jump or Was She Pushed" and "Wall of Death." The combination of Richard's inventive guitar work; his ragged vocals; and Linda's fragile, beautiful singing, all suffocatingly emotional, backed for the most part by longtime Thompson associates from Fairport Convention, make Shoot Out the Lights essential. --David Wolf