Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

There is no band from Rockall and indeed such a thing would be impossible as Rockall (Rocal in Irish and Rocabarraigh in Scottish Gaelic) is an uninhabited and uninhabitable rock 250 miles west of the Hebrides that features every day in the Shipping Forecast! But Rockall now hides the identity of Calum and Rory Macdonald who, as any Scottish music enthusiast will tell you, are members of stadium rockers Runrig. Metaphorically Rockall is an interesting half way point between North America and North Uist and thus a midway point between rock 'n' roll and the ceilidh house. On this album the brothers Macdonald try to capture the excitement of rock 'n' roll and fuse it with their Celtic heritage without falling into pastiche or cliche. The title track sounds a little like Dire Straits playing in the style of The Shadows and other comparisons could be made with Bruce Springsteen's 'The River' or pretty much anything by Big Country. Thus they are strong on melody with the English lyrics tending to be to the point and the Gaelic lyrics being available in translation on the website. There is no doubt that anyone with any interest at all in Runrig will enjoy this album and those who are unfamiliar but who enjoy good old AOR rock music with a Celtic flavour will enjoy it too. While the Macdonalds have a Christian faith this is not at all an explicitly Christian album so do not expect to be able to use it evangelistically but if you like good melodies and clean lyrics this is as bracing as a walk in the Highlands on a spring day.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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