40 years since their debut album The Proclaimers are still writing creative, poignant songs. They refuse to rest on their laurels when they could easily and forgivingly call it a day having built up a healthy pension fund from hits likes of Sunshine On Leith and I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).

RIP ROARING

With You May Offend, The Proclaimers are still keen on niggling, pointing the finger and detailing their observations of modern day injustice, hypocrisy and the frailties of influential people.

Blasting out of the pit lane the album opens with the rip roaring Knock it Down with Craig’s lyrics calling out how, “Our collective conscience is proven nonsense…….It’s about the impotence and the hypocrisy of Western countries, not just Britain.”

These songs are not like the anthemic sing a long tunes that made their name. The music is loud and the content is hard hitting and near the knuckle. If you have been lucky enough to catch them live over the past 40 years you will know that they are far from the easy listening chaps popular with middle of the road radio media . They rock! As does this album.

HARD HITTING

Another hard hitting song, But It Is, has the simplicity in its message like Lennon’s Imagine. It’s accompanying video depicts an ageing Lennon and Yoko in the white room. It’s gentle opening erupts onto another romp of a song with an echoey guitar and orchestral backing.

Easy Rhyme keeps up the pace with remnants of solid 70’s rock. Picking out some familiar riffs might be a challenge but it shows Craig at his most lyrically poetic.

A silly slip of the pen
A liver spot on the hand
A thought let out on remand

The title track may have a melodic film soundtrack quality but it expresses the fear we have of the level of surveillance covert and overt we are all subjected to. “Rational thought needs to be cured“’ they claim, and “Just by giving out the thoughts in your head / You may reach a point where some will wish you dead.” As Craig succinctly says on his thoughts on free speech, “You can now say things that you couldn’t have said 50 years ago. But there’s also things that you could have said 50 years that you can’t say now.”

Punk rock may have rammed thoughts of abandoning stale rock music but the bludgeon evoked in A Little Bit Late shows that The Proclaimers had, and still have, rock’n’roll in their blood as they bemoan fading if not forgotten memories.

POIGNANT MESSAGES

The Grooming may get audiences swaying with mobile torches lit but there is a deep message of the dangers of false patriotism and a belief of military power long gone. There are several times on this album that the lyrics niggle at established thoughts; A Little Bit Late, Anything and Talent Show do this.

There’s No Plan sums up what many have felt about life in modern day Britain. Those with power and influence, pass on the blame while the humble servants of the country plod on regardless, trying to make sense and repair the mess others have made.

The swaying finale, When You Get There, touches on the uncertainty of the future; the only certainty being popping your clogs and the wilt in your kilt. One of those famous Proclaimer melodies helps pass that message on. Like the rest of the album, the poignancy of the lyrics is hard hitting and thought provoking. In places they are not so much as angry with what they see around them, but are seething, and the pulse driven grooves enhances that.

Their 13^th studio album’s 12 tracks were written in Edinburgh and recorded at Monmouth’s legendary Rockfield Studio with producer Dave Eringa. The tight and accomplished musicianship of Steven Christie (keyboards), Garry John Kane (bass), Zac Ware (guitars) and Clive Jenner (drums) and guest guitarist, Manic Street Preachers’ James Dean Bradfield are clear.

TIMELESS

It would be easy for The Proclaimers to look to the past and dwell on their success with tried and trusted music, but they don’t. You May Offend is very much of the now. The tunes they are well known for are timeless. They’ve stood the test of time and will continue to do so. You May Offend sees The Proclaimers seeking to add to that legacy.

“We’d rather make more new records that actually say something.” And they have achieved that with aplomb.

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