They're best known for one song:
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles), as featured in
Benny and Joon in 1993, and though the identical twin brothers faded from the public eye in the US, 500 Miles was
lovingly parodied by Homer Simpson in 2001, and
the brothers appeared on Family Guy in 2006. That song was
featured in Comic Relief 2007, and that rendition was
the number 1 song in the UK for three weeks. Given this focus on a single song that was
first released in 1988, you might want mark The Proclaimers as a one-hit wonder and leave it at that. But
David Pollock, writing for The Guardian, wants you to reconsider:
The Proclaimers are a lot better than you probably remember.
The Proclaimers sell out annual tours in their home country of Scotland, and their song
Sunshine on the Leith is the "tear-tugging"
anthem for the
Scottish Hibernian F.C.. In 2007,
The Proclaimers' back catalog became the score to a "jukebox musical", written by
Scottish playwright, television writer and novelist Stephen Greenhorn. That musical, Sunshine on the Leith, is even
set to be made into a film, as of June of this year. And then there are the 9 studio albums from the past 25 years.
Craig and Charlie Reid started out in a different direction from many of their musical peers. Instead of following their love of punk rock from the late 1970s, they embraced Scottish folk and "the pure badness" of Jerry Lee Lewis (their description).
They were immediately compared to the Everly Brothers, and the brothers said they'd make
the Housemartins look fashionable. The brothers wrote two albums in two years:
This Is the Story in 1987 [sample tracks:
Over and Done With,
Misty Blue video,
Letter from America video], and
Sunshine on Leith in 1988 [sample tracks:
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) original video,
Then I Met You video,
I'm On My Way video].
Both albums were hits, and they toured the world for their second album. In 1993, Benny & Joon featured I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles), which was
nominated for Best Movie Song in the Mtv Movie Awards in 1994, the same year their third album came. That album,
Hit the Highway [sample tracks:
What Makes You Cry video,
Let's Get Married video, and
the title track, live on Conan], didn't do as well as their prior albums. Then the brothers hit a rough patch, disappearing for seven years.
Proclaimers : The Real Proclaimers is a 28 minute documentary by BBC Scotland's EX:S in 2001, when Craig and Charlie were on their comeback tour. Their fourth album was titled
Persevere, which was paid for in part by IBM's use of the track Over and Done With. The
Rolling Stone review of the album claimed that it "kicks off with a chord nicked directly from
Pleasant Valley Sunday," but
There's a Touch isn't an upbeat nod to The Monkees. The review was positive, highlighting the "pop-country touches" on
One Too Many (ignore the video, please), the "Sixties AM radio" sound of
How Many Times (30 second sample), and wrote that
Everybody's A Victim "may make you wanna do a jig, if not don a kilt," though it's more of a political country song than a dance number.
Their next four albums came out like clockwork, every two years. With
Born Innocent, they may "have lost some of the sense of giddy fun," but by writing more mature songs, they "transcend the perception of them as a novelty act." [Sample songs:
title track live video,
Blood on Your Hands live video,
He's Just Like Me, and
a 22 minute song-and-interview segment on Canadian TV] The 2005 album,
Restless Soul, didn't pan out so well, even with
a self-proclaimed "biggest fan in North America". [Sample tracks:
When Love Struck You Down,
I'm Gone live with a short interview, and
That's Better Now, from the same live set]
After their last two albums were self-released on their own Persevere label, the brothers signed with Universal for their album
Life with You, which was also released with a 2nd CD of live and acoustic tracks. The album included their cover of
Whole Wide World (video), written in 1974 and recorded in '77 by
Wreckless Eric,
one of many covers of the song. "This might be a ride through familiar territory but The Proclaimers specialise in steadfast song writing and this is sure to satisfy their legions of fans.
They're easy to dismiss, but with an open mind this album is difficult to dislike." [more sample tracks:
title track,
In Recognition,
S-O-R-R-Y]
"That
Notes & Rhymes, the eighth long-playing offering from the identical twins, delivers more of the same is recommendation enough. ...
[An] elegant combination of country, pop, bluegrass and soapbox pontificating...." [Sample tracks:
Love can Move Mountains video,
title track video,
Sing Our Cares Away (acoustic)] Their 2009 album was followed by their newest,
Like Comedy, released earlier this year. The debut single,
Spinning Around in the Air, was set to video as
Matt Lucas' directorial debut, with
a home video of a 50th anniversary party turning rowdy. Mojo called the album "
a stronger set" than the 2009 album, highlighting
Whatever You've Got (video) and
I Think That's What I Believe.
If that wasn't enough, there is a LOT of live footage online,
bunches of crowd-shot videos from BelgiumMarleen, and there are plenty of pro-shot videos, too, like
a half hour set from 2006 for T in the Park,
a 45 minute set at SXSW in 2009, and
over an hour live set from earlier this year.
MySpace also has most of the brothers' albums and singles streaming in full.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 10:07 AM on September 25, 2012 [18 favorites]