MacIntyre, the one-time curator of the Mull Historical Society, has ditched the antiquity of the Western Isles for the glitz of the big city.
This, his first album under his own name, oozes with venom at the vacuity of the media driven, war mongering Britain of today. Opener “You’re A Star” sets the tone sneering ‘TV hosts write their own epitaphs’ while the later pop-nugget “Famous For Being Famous” tells its own story. Guest appearances from the Girl’s Choir of Tobermory High School and Tony Benn highlight the diversity of this set. The sea shanty stroll of the title track tells the story of a love affair gone wrong, while the glam rock of “Stalker” belies the dark, claustrophobic lyrics.
The finale, “Pay Attention To The Human” is an impassioned plea for peace, warning against the ‘Death of a Nation’. The song features a poem by Tony Benn, as the veteran humanist advises ‘To work together in both Peace and Love / We must break free and be ourselves’. This album sees MacIntyre put himself centre stage, and he seems all the better for it. A reinvigorated piece, keen to put the world to rights without forgetting its roots.
