As I believe has been occasionally noted, New Zealand is not a large country.

So it seems all the more unlikely we should produce two internationally-regarded musicians, both from Hamilton, both named Chris Thompson. One of whom died last week.

That was folk troubadour Chris Thompson, intermittent visitor to Tauranga, whose posters proudly hang on The Jam Factory walls. It was not Chris Thompson who formed Mandrake here before his career took off in the UK, including with Manfred Mann’s Earth Band; he also co-wrote John Farnham’s ‘You’re The Voice’.

The folky Chris Thompson’s life was changed by playing support in Nelson for the UK-based folk legend Julie Felix. (Legend? She hung out with Leonard Cohen on Hydra in the 1960s ...)

That led to him travelling to England, where he spent 18 months touring the British Isles as guitarist for Felix’s three-piece backing band. That in turn led to recording at Abbey Road with producer John Paul Jones; and playing with Pentangle bass player Danny Thompson (unrelated) and folk pioneer Davy Graham.

Masterpiece 

In the early-1970s Chris recorded a self-titled debut album, initially lost and ignored but reissued by an American label in 2001 and now regarded as something of a masterpiece.

I’ll leave it there. Chris Thompson continued to do fascinating musical things. He toured with both Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee and Stevie Ray Vaughan; he made many more albums, including with his flute-playing wife Lynne Thompson; he wrote the song Hamilton; he toured the US and Europe.

Chris was one of the finest acoustic guitar-pickers New Zealand has produced. Let me finish with a snippet from the Allmusic.com review of his reissued first album: “Early-70s London was not exactly lacking for phenomenal folk guitarists, but even amid the likes of Bert Jansch, Nick Drake, et al, Thompson must have stood out … his fingerpicking technique rivals that of anyone on the scene at the time ... the New Zealander achieves an intensity of tone that only an artist like Jansch could match”. Thanks for the music Chris.

New releases

To close things off, a couple of new releases from Tauranga. Firstly, rising phoenix-like from the ashes of ultra-groovy punk-popsters The Knids is newly formed duo Billy Two, comprising Knids Michael Baxter and Corrine Rutherford. They have already released two songs, ‘Trim The Fat’ and an ode to Coz’s cat, ‘Ronnie’, ditching their poppier side for a stripped-back punk aesthetic.

Newly formed duo Billy Two is Michael Baxter and Corrine Rutherford. Photo: supplied.

Also out is ‘Ode To The West’ by Audio Storm, 15 tracks from Kingsley Smith, ex-Knightshade, Tryptofunk and more, co-creator of rock musical ‘Shadow & Light’. It is big and dramatic. It is extravagant and grandiose, with massed guitars, thunderous drums, keyboards, choirs, portentous singing, the whole shebang. It is very skilful and accomplished, despite simplistic paranoid lyrics with dubious political views.

However, really worth seeing are the accompanying videos. Oddly, they’re not on YouTube, just the Audio Storm Facebook page. Made with AI, they are the usual morphing flythroughs but considerably more sophisticated, striking and varied. Surprisingly cool.

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