Dougie MacLean - Real Estate (1988)

Dougie MacLean - Real Estate (1988)
EAC Rip | APE, image+cue, log / 227 mb | Mp3 CBR 320Kbps / 103 mb | 10 tracks | Covers
Scottish Folk | Dunkeld Records DUN 008 | RAR 3% Rec. | Time: 39:46 | FileSonic, FileServe, Uploaded

Of all Dougie MacLean's albums, this one strikes me as the most varied in tone and the one with the most interesting covers of Celtic songs, plus a few originals. Anyone who likes Celtic music should find this album a good introduction to MacLean's style, Scottish/Celtic folk-based to which he has added a variety of elements, including some rather bluesy electric guitar, a digiridoo, and other seemingly odd items. But it works.




Of all Dougie MacLean's albums, this one strikes me as the most varied in tone and the one with the most interesting covers of Celtic songs, plus a few originals.

Anyone who likes Celtic music should find this album a good introduction to MacLean's style, Scottish/Celtic folk-based to which he has added a variety of elements, including some rather bluesy electric guitar, a digiridoo, and other seemingly odd items. But it works.

So there's a little somthing for those who like rock as well as bagpipe and fiddle work for the Celtic traditionalists.

I heard most of this album when MacLean was doing a concert tour in the States in 1989, and have been looking for this CD for quite a while. I don't recall if the explanation for the songs are in the liner notes or if he explained them on stage, it's been a while since I actually read the back of the album. Most of the songs have a historic background that makes them a lot more understandable if you know what they're really about. They are not that clear standing alone.

MacLean does most fiddle and vocal work, although he's fairly accomplished with a number of instruments. His work always has a kind of rough edge in both composition and performance, but it does lend a kind of perverse authenticity to it, rather than it seeming to be easy formula for mass consumption. You get the feeling he's really putting his all into it.

In short, this is "modern" Celtic music at, if not it's very best, a high level of art and achievement.

A Customer, Amazon




Dougie MacLean is one of Scotland's premier singer/songwriters. A past member of the Tannahill Weavers and Silly Wizard, MacLean has used his songs, including "Caledonia," "The Singing Land," and "Solid Ground," to capture the natural beauty of his hometown on the border between the Highlands and the Valley of Strathmore.

MacLean first attracted attention as a teenager when he formed a band with future Silly Wizard members Andy Stewart and Martin Hadden. While performing as a street musician in Kinross in 1974, MacLean was invited to join the Tannahill Weavers. He remained with the group for three years before he moved to Germany and launched his solo career. For a while, MacLean also performed in a trio with Alex Campbell and Alan Roberts. MacLean's breakthrough came with the release of the album Caledonia in 1979. Returning to Scotland in 1980, he spent six months as the replacement for fiddler Johnny Cunningham in Silly Wizard. Although he temporarily returned to the Tannahill Weavers, he resumed his solo career in 1981.

In addition to his busy schedule as a touring singer/songwriter, MacLean has been an influential record executive, having founded Dunkeld recording studios and record label with his wife, Jennifer, in 1983. Among the many tradition-rooted Scottish musicians who have recorded for the label, whose slogan is "Scotland's new heritage music," are Sheena Wellington, David Allison, Gordon Duncan, Hamish Moore, and Frieda Morrison.

A tour of the United States in 1989 was conducted in conjunction with Fiona Ritchie's National Public Radio show, Thistle & Shamrock. The following year, MacLean returned to the U.S. for a 17-concert tour with other Dunkeld artists. In 1995, MacLean played guitar and sang harmony on country artist Kathy Mattea's Good News album and toured as the opening act for Mattea's North American tour. Several of MacLean's songs were heard on the soundtrack of the film The Last of the Mohicans. In 1993, MacLean served as music director of the TAG Theater Company's production of A Scots Quair. A 40-minute documentary on MacLean's life and music, The Land: The Songs of Dougie MacLean was aired by the BBC.

Tracks from MacLean's three albums on the Plant Life label were assembled on the 1997 album The Plant Life Years. A sampling of tunes from MacLean's albums on Dunkeld were included on the 1995 album The Dougie MacLean Collection. MacLean's subsequent noteworthy releases have included Riof (1997), Perthshire Amber and Live from the Ends of the Earth (both 2000), Who Am I (2002), Inside the Thunder (2006), and the limited-edition EP Muir of Gormack (2007).

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