Album review: Jim Malcolm, Sparkling Flash

The "flash and glorious roar" of thunder that marked the singer Jim Reid's passage into heaven is described here in one of Jim Malcolm's remarkable Scots albums.

The Perth musician's warmly articulate vocals and teasingly complex guitar breathe fresh life into traditional lyrics, writings by Souter, Burns and Tannahill and, keeping them company, his own songs.

With instrumental imagination from Old Blind Dogs and sweet vocal harmony from wife Susie and daughter Beth, this is a substantial contribution to the revivication of contemporary Scots culture.

Download this: Fly We Tae Some Desert Isle

This article was first published in Scotland On Sunday, 24 July, 2011