Dirty Linen Magazine, USA
Written by T.J.McGrath
Reprinted from the Dougie MacLean web site
Inside the Thunder
Inside the Thunder is Dougie MacLean's latest album and one of his best. It's a delectable palette of colors and moods, infused with his own personal passions and affinity for land, honesty and justice.
His love for Scotland and the changing old ways that are quickly vanishing into the mists is inescapable.
Like many of MacLean's previous folk albums, these songs are delivered and sung simply, usually on acoustic guitar, with melodies and words that sometimes turn wistful and melancholic, and at other times are blissfully uplifting and rejuvenating. A song like "Not Look Down" could very well be a self-help manual for getting to the top of a steep, craggy spiritual climb or a message for survival after a life-altering tragedy.
Turning his attention to his family and friends, "Beside You" comforts all who have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with MacLean during his long, wayward journey, and he reassures and soothes with "I will not let go. I will not let go. " From solid to shaky ground, "Song for Johnny," is Maclean's sensitive and powerful eulogy for his dear friend Johnny Cunningham, one of Scotland's finest musicians. "So we let another good friend go and we break our hearts with wonder/It seems we never learned to play it slow, we just danced inside the thunder." MacLean's own vintage 1947 Ferguson tractor, "Wee Fergie," makes a rare percussive appearance on "Strathmore," an anthem to the simple joys of working the land and bringing in a harvest. Reaping the rewards of an honest day's/month's/year's struggle to find true meaning and salvation is a recurring theme in many of MacLean's songs.
Shifting gears once again, we find a simple love song. Not just another love song, mind you, but a real loving lullaby to rock you to sleep when the wind is howling overhead."Home" is an easy declaration of finding the right place at the right time. "You have found a home in the center of the circle/Your heart is heard forever". The song arrangements are carefully constructed with subtle orchestration built around MacLean's melodies, and there's a slow and teasing build-up to most of the choruses, which usually are calls to action or pleas for understanding.
Jamie Maclean, Dougie's son, deftly handles the production, engineering, and mixing on the album and plays several instruments such as guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, and percussion, all cleverly added for the ebb and flow of the overall MacLean signature sound. Greg Lawson (violins, viola), Owen Nicholson (lap steel guitar), Ali Ferguson (electric guitar), Chris Agnew (bass), Ross Ainslie (whistle), and Gordon Duncan (bagpipes) also make noteworthy contributions to the album, and give it depth. Inside the Thunder has plenty of flashes of sturm und drang about how unsteady and unpredictable our lives are, but in the end we are showered with rays of healing and signs of hope to help us march on and on.
Inside the Thunder
Dougie MacLean is a Celtic-infused singer-songwriter who has established one of the strongest cult followings of any performer on the contemporary scene. His recordings over decades span a wide variety of styles. Inside falls squarely in the singer-songwriter mold with modest production dominated by MacLean's voice and guitar.
A couple of tracks are solely voice and guitar.
As producer, Jamie MacLean does a sensational job, also playing a veritable orchestra of instruments, as many as seven on one song. The violin is left to Greg Lawson, and Gordon Duncan handles the bagpipes on Eternally You. At first hearing, many of the songs pass as personal love songs, but most transcend the personal. They unfold to heal the heart of the listener. A particularly outstanding song, Strathmore, captures the spirituality of the harvest in a very human scale. MacLean also captures the political in Into the Flames a song that could be a parable about certain contemporary events. Another arresting political song is It's Not For me which in light of recent announcements could be one that Bill Gates might learn.
Inside the Thunder reveals to the uninitiated why MacLean deserves a cult following and those already his followers will remain in the fold. There’s something entrancing about his singing and the enchanting Celtic-styled melodies.
Forgive me for saying it’s Enya with substance. Be careful or Maclean will hypnotize you!
I stumbled across Dougie MacLean by accident and was hooked the first time I heard him. Like Mary Black and Eva Cassidy, Dougie would not be considered a part of the "sporting lifestyle" genre, but the fact is that his haunting, beautiful melodies bring to mind the outdoors and its natural beauty. He is an aclaimed musician - coming from the Tay Valley in Perthshire Scotland. His songs r... [Read More]
