Roddy's Record Review

Once upon a time it was hard to believe Roddy Woomble could tie his own shoe laces or button his own shirt, let alone write and record his own solo record.

The highlight of his career had been lying on stage, screaming wildly into the microphone, one shoe on his foot, the other somewhere to the right of his head, while Rod Jones jumped limply over him. This was of course in the good old days of Idlewild.

So imagine my surprise when Roddy, believed to be on something of a hiatus after Idlewild's last album didn'’t quite live up to... well, whatever it was that the album before that didn't quite live up to, announced his solo project. Roddy it seems, had collected a bus load of Scottish musicians, including bandmate Rod Jones, Karine Polwart, Ailidh Lennon and David Gow of Sons and Daughters and Michael Angus of Foxface, amongst others, and headed for the Yorkshire countryside to begin working on what would become his debut solo release, My Secret is my Silence. Strangely, I now have visions of the film Withnail and I.

Produced by John McCusker, this rather quaint picture of a recording session has created a unique British folk album, somewhat reminiscent, perhaps not entirely coincidentally, of a bleak winters'’ night in front of a roaring fire, in the company of friends, glass of whisky in hand.

I have to admit that, Roddy, you have surprised me. You might now look, and quite possibly smell, like a young version of Last of the Summer Wine's Compo, but your first solo album isn't half bad.