It's enough to make you weep. If you're a guitarist, you'll weep because you know you'll never match the beauty that Richard Thompson manages to wring out of six strings. If your heart isn't made of stone, you're bound to weep at any number of gems from this three-disc retrospective. If "Waltzing's for Dreamers" doesn't produce instant and copious tears, I don't know what will.

Steve Champeon