Under the Blue is a record of songs written mainly by Alan Reid (of The Battlefield Band). It is full of pictures and stories. The title comes from the chorus of the opening track, 54 Winters, about an old man reliving his army days fighting in southern Europe. In the song he is now marooned in the pub, never able to move out into the comparatively cold air of home. Covenanter, on the other hand paints a vivid picture of a Civil War man on the run about four centuries earlier. Some of these pictures can be very unsettling. Rob van Sante features more prominently on a remarkable poem by Joe Corrie which he set to music as A Cage Load of Men: "..like a truck load of cattle, sixteen crushed on a time, the yawning abyss beneath them .." – how’s that for a description of a crew of miners going on shift? 

One of the loveliest tracks is the waltz tune Atlantic Bridge. Alan on keyboards and Rob on guitar are ably assisted by Alasdair White (fiddles) and Tom Napper (octave mandolin). It will probably never light any watch towers but is good on the ear and well put together. I wonder what the Campbells of Campbell’s Sisters thought of Alan’s words of idle amazement about them? (".. Eloquent in French and Spanish, sweary words an a' ..") It is as vivid as a Polaroid or a video.

One of the two songs not written by Alan but by J. Campbell is A Jug of Charlie’s Wine. This is a good funny song about a mythical home brew and its wonderful effects. The final track also bids farewell to a now historic feature of the coast – The Last Lighthouse Keeper. Like the rest of the CD, it doesn’t aim to roar through the ears and out again. It just quietly makes its’ point and leaves you thinking.