Colin Macintyre

The Isle of Mull has contributed much to popular culture despite its relatively small size. Used as a backdrop for several Hollywood films of varying quality, including Entrapment and Highlander, it is still perhaps best known as the location for that classic BBC drama Balamory. But Mull has given us much more than hills and brightly painted houses. It has given us Colin Macintyre, and for that fact alone we should eternally grateful.

Today, Colin is undoubtedly the finest pop singer-songwriter that most people have never heard of. Signed to EMI back in the days when record labels still invested in new talent, he released two fantastic records early in the century under the faintly ludicrous name: the Mull
Historical Society. He was then promptly dropped by EMI, but undaunted, has gone on to release several more albums under his own name, each containing charm and originality in spades.

He has gained a more than sizable following along the way, many of whom are in attendance tonight at the Electric Circus. Colin gamely ignores visual setbacks and manages to produce a solid and enjoyable performance. He now has a back catalogue large enough to produce a set entirely consisting of engaging songs, each one bristling with energy.

Xanadu and I Tried, two of his earliest singles, still sound fresh and inventive, like a Scots Ben Folds who knows the knack of writing a killer melody. Some of the manic intensity which was once the hallmark of his early shows is lacking tonight, but even The Who in their pomp might have struggled in such a tight venue.