A meeting over a bottle of wine in the Lake District sparked the partnership between the Battlefield Band's Alan Reid and Rob Van Sante; Under The Blue is its outcome, offering a dozen tracks exploring a wide variety of themes, to the extent that there is really no theme as such, just a clutch of songs and instrumentals that are all worth listening to.  A fair proportion of the songs and many of the tunes are from Alan's prolific and often humorous pen - check out the entertainment of "Campbell's Sisters"; the familiar scene evoked by "54 Winters", and the cross-media "Ballantrae" based on the Stevenson novel.  Incidentally "The Cailleach With The Crash Helmet" is not the old lady getting her cooker delivered to the croft in the TV ad, but another equally spry senior citizen encountered in Brittany.
"Stovies", of course, need no explanation to the gastronomically aware, and it's high time they were celebrated in tune.
All in all, a satisifying dish served by two top professionals.

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