Sunshine on Leith

The next album in my ongoing list of "Favorite Albums". If you missed Part 1 (Grace) you can read it HERE, Part 2 (Gordon) HERE, and Part 3 (Rainy Day Music) HERE.

Sunshine on Leith is the next featured album in my series of favorite albums. This isn't quite as popular choice as my last few picks. This album was released in 1988 by the identical twin brothers from Scotland. Recently on one of the TV music channels they featured some of the live shows from SXSW and I was pleasantly surprised to see the brothers Reid still playing the live shows. I honestly have to say that I haven't followed these guys before, after, or even during their popularity garnered from the single released from this album "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)." I do however remember this song getting some play at stag dances in High School, though I don't think I got the album until after the release of the movie "Benny & June" (1993) which brought the song and it's odd video from the movie into the homes of middle America. I like that movie, with Johnny Depp acting as Buster Keaton-y as possible and Mary Stuart Masterson playing the female lead with all her psychological eccentricities. I watched it the other day and was surprised that Julianne Moore was one of the characters I remembered, while not knowing who she was at the time - and both William H. Macy & Oliver Platt are both always fun. Anyway, it wasn't until the movies release that I purchased the Proclaimers album. It quickly became a standard disc for start to finish play amid my collection, especially on a long road trip. Recently the show "How I Met Your Mother" featured the single of "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" stuck in one of the characters Fiero, so that on road trips they were only able to listen to the song over and over - I don't think I could handle more than a few times before being driven insane with repetition. Another song from the album "I'm On My Way," was featured in Shrek. This is just good acoustic folk rock with some religious overtones thrown in. I seem to remember reading somewhere that they are kids of a minister of some sort and there is definitely reference to that type of thing throughout the album. I tried their next album when it came out and I don't remember getting into it very well, but "Sunshine" has remained a staple of my music collection since I purchased it. I highly recommend it, even if you just download "500 miles" out of nostalgia for the one-hit-wonder reminisce. As of May 2006 "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" had remained in the iTunes download chart since December 2004. Their 1988 album Sunshine on Leith sold over 25,000 copies in 2005.

I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)|The Proclaimers
Then I Met You|The Proclaimers
Sean|The Proclaimers
I'm On My Way|The Proclaimers

Must be nobody has tried to download, cuz the links were off. I fixed them now, but hmmm.