Search - Runrig :: In Search of Angels

...in with the new

Stephen Webber | Bristol, UK | 08/31/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The first album to feature new lead singer, Canadian Bruce Guthro, starts with a bang as Maymorning launches you into the album with loud guitar and drums. This is followed by "The Message" with its combination of bagpipes and guitars. Personal favourites for my are "Life Is," "Big Sky" and "A Dh'Innse Na Firinn." Despite being a native Scot, I don't speak Gaelic (very few of us do). However even the songs sung in Gaelic have the ability to reach inside and grab something. I've been a fan for over 14 years, since they featured in a documentary on Scottish TV, and their music gets better and better. For those of you who are looking for some good old fashioned rock and roll with strong Celtic roots, then look no further. But be sure to check out the newer albums, "The Stamping Ground" and "Proterra.""

Compare with Stamping Ground

matt.mingkee | Brooklyn, NY United States | 01/08/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"both are TOTALLY different

Stamping Ground is like heavy metal (like Engine Room, The Ship)

however, this one is more relaxing, reminds me these 2 albums from Neil Young: Mirror Ball and Are You Passionate

there're several tracks are in Gaelic, and I don't understand at all (I'm an Asian), but I still can feel the feeling

my favorites are:

The Message (like the war pipe running around)

Ribhinn Donn, Travellers (pretty relaxing, like hymn)

Big Sky (imagine when you're on a beach or on open field, but I think the music running is like "Mr. Disappointment" (esp the whispering)

A Dh'Innse Na Firinn, All Things Must Change (pretty generic American Country sound)"

Another Landmark

Andrew D. Lossing | Coquille (nowhere-ville), OR, USA | 06/08/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I only recieved my CD today, but the music quickly grew on me, so, with the rhythms in my head, I'll write my first impressions. I had some reservations about buying this one - I love Runrig, but from the sketchy details I'd heard and read about this album, wasn't sure whether it would be one of their best.



This is Runrig's first album after their biggest and most potentially devastating change in line-up, the departure of lead singer Donnie Munro. Donnie's fine voice was a large part of what made Runrig - strong and pure, brave and lyrical. When he announced his departure, things were thrown into a state of temporary dismay. Late in the course of auditions for a new lead singer, Bruce Guthro came along, and was accepted, though he actually came into this album rather late. All the same, the sound is excellent. Bruce's voice has a different feel, there's no denying it, but the hope and fire of Runrig is definitely still there.



Reading through the discography before listening to the music (while it downloaded to my Xbox, oddly enough this house's main music system), I quickly became inspired with the words. There is a strong theme to this piece of work, and it's a theme only Runrig can do well; the weighted hope and understanding of our smallness in the big world around us, while at the same time singing the hopes larger and larger. It's obvious the band shake-up went into the feeling behind this work, but the forthrightness with which Runrig owns up to their unsureness is refreshing and reverberating.



The photos accompanying the booklet are at first slightly off-putting, such as the telegraph pole of the cover, which seems just a bit odd. But when you've experienced the matter of the lyrics and the music, it makes perfect sense, as it's often the simple and everyday, but tradition-loaded, symbols, such as a telegraph pole, which have the capacity to inspire Runrig, and through them, you and I.



This is a fine album, with some of Runrig's best songs, such as Maymorning, a song which became tied with the emotions of the new Scottish parliamentary elections. Big Sky also stands out as an intensely musical piece, and A Dh'Innse Na Firinn has a fine fiery Celtic beat. All in all, this album is a delight, and while I do miss Donnie's sound, the sound of the band's youth, just as I did with Proterra, their latest album, I'm inspired, and as Maymorning boldly declares, I'm alive!"