Marching Mystery

Dougie MacLean | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 7, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Celtic Corner
• ASIN: B00000J7UN
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #161,375 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Deepest Part of Me

2. Marching Mystery

3. It Belongs to Us

4. All Together (Fiddle Tune-Butterstone Village Hall)

5. Holding Back

6. Hearts Can Never Hide

7. Broken Wings

8. The Land

9. When the People Speak

10. Expectation

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The antidote to stressful living, September 24, 1999

By 

dajp "dajp1" (York, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Marching Mystery (Audio CD)

I can feel my blood pressure dropping with the first few notes. These songs are the work of a fine craftsman, with simple melodies, and lyrics from a more honest and direct world almost forgotten under the panic of modern city life. Beautiful, accomplished (though never flashy) arrangements and playing.

Get this one first. Then if you like the arrangements, get Riof. If you prefer just voice and guitar, buy Craigie Dhu. Then buy Singing Land. (Amazon, why don't you sell Singing Land?)

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dougie is a true master at what he does..., July 17, 2001

By 

NotATameLion (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Marching Mystery (Audio CD)

Marching Mystery is yet more proof that, as far as musicians go, Dougie MacLean is a real treasure.

I have four of Dougie's albums now, and I have yet to have one of them not blow me away in admiration and amazement. This man is truly a genius.

"Marching Mystery" is an album full of original songs written by Dougie. It has always struck me that as great as Dougie's arrangements of traditional songs are, his own tunes are just as amazing. Some of his best songs are to be found here.

The title track is probably one of his best songs. It is a masterful march-like tune that sticks in your head for days. The liner notes state that it is "dedicated to the 78 ancient chess pieces that were discovered in 1831 on Uig Sands on the west coast of the isle of Lewis after a storm had washed away a portion of the sandbank. They were discovered by a local who, it is said, thought he had intruded on an assemblage of elves or gnomes."

The other songs are all beautiful as well. Some of my personal favorites are: "Deepest Part of Me" (one of Dougie's typically beautiful love songs); "Broken Wings"; "Expectation" (which is the final song on the disc--and all of Dougie's CD's have excellent final songs); and "Holding Back" which is possibly my favorite song on the disc. The song begins with these wonderful lines:

"It's in the darkness of believing, It's in the shadows where we have to stand. Beside the loving and the grieving, O I'll never understand. It's in the way it has to reach us, It's in the restless of the shifting sand-- And all the truth it has to teach us, O I'll never understand."

What more could one say...except that I recommend this disc most highly.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fading Mystery, February 29, 2004

By 

Ian Brottone (Delaware) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Marching Mystery (Audio CD)

I followed Dougie and his band in the early 90's when he employed the services of some truly great musicians, namely, Davie Duncan (Backing vocals, harmonica and acoustic) and Chris Smith (Drums, vocals and percussion)amongst others. I travelled over from the Staes to watch their performances at Celtic Connections and picked up a couple of tours stateside. I had the pleasure of meeting the band, who I have to say were much more approachable than the man himself!

I have seen Dougie recently but I regret to say that he has never managed to capture the magic his band produced of over a decade ago.

If you are going to buy an album, I suggest Marching Mystery or Indigenous.