Proterra

Artist: Runrig
Label: Import [Generic]
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 766482921447
EAN: 0766482921447
ASIN: B0000C24OX

Release Date: 2003-12-02

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Tracks:

Old Boys
Proterra
Day of Days
Empty Glens
Gabriel's Sword
From the North
Toll Dubh (The Dungeon)
There's a Need
Faileas Air an Airigh (Shadow on the Sheiling)
Heading to Acadia
All the Miles
Reiteach (The Reiteach)
Angels from the Ashes

Customer Reviews:

From empty glens..........2006-08-08

comes a new piece of fire. Proterra is Runrig's latest studio album, soon to be augmented now by another one in 2007 - eagerly awaited, there's no need to say. Proterra's four years in from the drastic change that came when Donnie Munro left, and his role as lead vocalist was taken over by Canadian Bruce Guthro. The album "In Search of Angels" was the first to feature Bruce, and while it is a powerful album, fraught with the feeling of brave but unsure embracing of life which has always been a trademark of Runrig, its songs were those of the "older" Runrig, the more self-complete and exclamatory anthems, "younger", you could say, which were the finest point of the band in Donnie's time. Beautiful as those songs were, the band has changed, and Bruce's was not the talent to voice those same feelings.

But if anything at all, Runrig's members are consummately skilled musicians, and they knew how to alter their sound to fit what they had become. Proterra is the most successful fruit of that work so far. It's songs are written a little sparer, but no less in emotion or impact - they are more the spartan wording of the skilled poet, not saying it all, but saying enough, and saying it well, that the words linger in the heart, shaping themselves until the end realization becomes the listener's, until we become participants in the message, not merely listeners. Bruce delivers these slightly laconic lyrics with a natural flare, more suited to it than to the emotive youthy outpourings of Donnie's day.

Along with the shift in writing comes a change in music. On the whole the rhythms are just as driving if not a little more so, and very carefully perfected here. The guitars in Day of Days, the backing vocals in From the North, the entire performance of tracks like The Old Boys, all are stunning in their sheer excellence. But it's not just skill - the meat remains, and reverberates, especially after a few listens. I've owned this album for about nine months, but still listen to it at least weekly in its entirety, every time I feel the need for inspiration, for affirmation of my own convictions in the power of the land and of the rural people, in a life both simple and profound, too, with all the deep-tugging instincts and emotions that stem from it.

Proterra means "for the land", and that is what this album certainly is; for the land, the memory of the land as it too-often fades before progress and industry, and for the people who still know it and work it, who structure their own lives around it. I am glad to have a foothold in that culture, for it grounds a person like nothing else.

A couple of the songs on this album were written with September 11th's tragedy in mind, and subsequently performed in New York as well - I believe that was Runrig's first foray into the U.S. Before that, America had been almost entirely ignorant of the band's existence, which is a sad thing. With our common and even cherished Celtic roots, our widespread appreciation and enthusiasm towards Celtic music (witness the spread of bands like Wolfstone and Capercaillie), and just generally our interest in art of other cultures, the United States is the perfect place for Runrig's sound. I hope that their sound will be heard by the millions who like myself live and work in rural America, and that their words will hit home. Hope has always been a cornerstone of Runrig's outlook, and it will remain so.

Well up to the usual Runrig standard.......2003-12-15

The latest release from Runrig is very welcome delivering a range of tracks showcasing instrumental skills eg Heading to Arcadia, 'traditional' sounds and lyrics (which are to some considerable degree wasted on an antipodean)and classic Runrig sounds eg The Old Boys, All the Miles.

Although it might lack some of the drive and urgency of some earlier releases it is superb early morning (ie now at 1.00am) listening.

Whether better or not than previous releases is a matter of preference, it is a welcome addition from a class act.

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