Tom McRae Live

Hurray! My Tom McRae Live 2007 album arrived yesterday. Just listening to it now, and it sounds every bit as sharp and powerful as you’d expect.

Track list:
1. Walking2Hawaii, La Cigale, Paris
2. For The Restless, The Limelight, Belfast
3. A&B Song, La Cigale, Paris
4. Ghost Of A Shark, La Cigale, Paris
5. End of The World News (Dose Me Up), The Limelight, Belfast
6. Got A Suitcase, Got Regrets, Folken, Stavanger
7. One Mississippi, La Cigale, Paris
8. On And On, La Laiterie, Strasbourg
9. Deliver Me, Shepherds Bush Empire, London
10. Only Thing I Know, Debaser, Stockholm
11. Silent Boulevard, The Limelight, Belfast
12. Boy With The Bubblegun, The Limelight, Belfast

I could obviously suggest many other songs I’d like to hear, but this is a decent spread from his four albums with some material like ‘Ghost of a Shark’ that I’ve not personally heard very often (contrasting with songs like ‘Got a Suitcase…’ that I seem to hear all the time). The interpretations tend towards acoustic but if anything less quiet and sparse than you’d expect from the albums, with rich backing instruments from Olli Cunningham and Oli Kraus and a rounded sound. Tom is in strong voice and belts out some of the more up tempo material like ‘A&B Song’ and ‘End of the World News’ and there’s some electric guitar in there.

If you’ve seen him live you’ll know what to expect. This brings back memories for me, though I have to say we made a far livelier audience on ‘End of the World News’ than the shambolic lot on the album.

It has a fairly cheap cardboard sleeve, but since this is a direct release from Mr McRae unmediated by a record contract I assume it means more money gets to the artist. Go buy it! Other than that there’s nothing to quibble about. Very pleasing.