Welcome to another evening in the “Room Out The Back” at The Plough.  Tonight’s gig is a chance to draw breath between the Glastonbury jaunt and the Hawkshurst Happening.  One thing for sure the forthcoming outdoor adventure would be hard pressed to offer up such copious quantities of mud.  Remarks were made about mud from the gear being auctioned on e-bay !

Anyway, the support of The Tea Project was in the form of a trio guitar, bass and drums, which unleashed some fairly effective playing with one standout track in the middle of the set - a slower mellow affair - apologies didn’t get the title.     

The Ray’s set begun with a little workout before things got properly underway with the reliable “Running Down”.  Matters took a bizarre turn when they delivered a version of “Ain’t That Peculiar” which concluded with Ken confessing to being a Soul Diva at heart ! Anyone else out there recollect a fab West Country trio “The Mechanics” who also used to take this and shake it around ?  This excursion was followed by a new Whaley number, as yet an untitled slow reflective piece about the encroachment of age.  I look forward to this getting “bedded” into the set over the following months.  If this is an indicator of further newer material the future could offer up some fine moments.

Set List ?   What set list ?  There is no set list !   Yep, numbers were decided on in a fairly random manner, but the delivery of each and every one was far from random.  We got numbers as old as “Morning Song” through to “Fragile World” (which really kicked courtesy of Simon W) and “Now”.  The latter two being from the pen and mind of Simon H - well, we all should know these facts by now !  The catchy “Silver Ring” came along and had me wondering whether perhaps this would have been worthy of some radio play to push the band.  Surely, Bob Harris would have been a receptive target ?

Throughout the evening the dexterity of the band kept to a high and even standard.  They finished in storming fashion with a fine outing for “Swedish Detective Movie” and verily tore through the signal cover of “All My Tears”.

All too soon another evening’s fare had been duly dispatched.  With a reminder for the Melton gig two days hence and a reminder that the Holiday Season would mean that the next Tuesday Offering would not be until September.  Best go and enjoy the Summer then - although you’d be hard pressed to call it Summer.  Someone’s chuffin’ carbon footprint has definitely stirred up the Meteorological Gods good and proper. 

Writing this after a fairly stable 48 hours should have meant that the Hawkshurst event should have passed off without Biblical Sheets Of Rain or dramatic lightning strikes.  Hopefully, some other devotees will write up both the Plough’s gig on the 5th and the Hawkshurst set.  Come on all you budding scribes let’s get some other people’s take on all matters of a Green Ray nature.

Reviewed by Richard Gould