Jim Moray/Richard Thompson - 17 May 2004: Cambridge, England

Disc 1

  1. Sprig Of Thyme
  2. Sweet England (Trad.)
  3. Lord Bateman (Trad.)
  4. Poverty Knock (Trad.)
  5. Two Sisters (Trad.)
  1. One Door Opens
  2. Watch Me Go
  3. Outside Of The Inside Intro
  4. Outside Of The Inside
  5. Cooksferry Queen
  6. Crazy Man Michael Intro
  7. Crazy Man Michael (Thompson/Swarbrick)
  8. Crawl Back (Under My Stone)
  9. Down Where The Drunkards Roll
  10. Alexander Graham Bell Intro
  11. Alexander Graham Bell
  12. Gethsemane
  13. 1952 Vincent Black Lightning Intro
  14. 1952 Vincent Black Lightning

Disc 2

  1. Should I Betray You?
  2. Hokey Pokey
  3. Persuasion
  4. For Shame Of Doing Wrong Intro
  5. For Shame Of Doing Wrong
  6. Cold Kisses
  7. Sibella
  8. Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed?
  9. I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight
  1. (Requests)
  2. Oops!...I Did It Again (Sandberg/Yacoub)
  3. (Requests)
  4. Wall Of Death
  5. Beeswing
  6. Don't Sit On My Jimmy Shands
  7. Word Unspoken, Sight Unseen
1-5
Jim Moray, recorded live at the Cambridge Corn Exchange in Cambridge, England on May 17, 2004
6-35
Richard Thompson, recorded live at the Cambridge Corn Exchange in Cambridge, England on May 17, 2004.

A gig I was lucky enough to attend, so the usual remarks about bias apply. Jim Moray's opening set is wonderful; he seems to be gaining in confidence as a performer, and his voice seemed more powerful than the last time I caught him live (with the OysterBand's Big Session in Newcastle). Sweet England and a wonderfully mournful rendition of Poverty Knock were perhaps the highlight.

Richard's set I was a bit more ambivalent about - his musicianship remains as stunning as ever, but there's a layer of ironic detachment from his material that seems to be increasing with the years. Nevertheless, there's much to enjoy here. One Door Opens makes a great opener, and Watch Me Go is the pick of the new material. He makes a fair stab at Crazy Man Michael, a song that'll always be indelibly associated with Sandy's voice. The alternate lyrics to Hokey Pokey are sounding much more assured, and Sibella was a setlist surprise (and works surprisingly well in an acoustic setting). On the down side, Should I Betray You? is just plain awful.

As for the sound quality, this is my first venture into recording. The lineage is:

Source:
CSB > Nomad Jukebox 3 > SoundForge 7.0 > CDR

Unfortunately one of my binaurals is malfunctioning, so this is a mono recording. Nevertheless, I'm fairly pleased with the way it came out, at least for a first effort. I've listened to ropier audience tapes, although this'll almost certainly not be for the casual fan.