Nearly forty years after This Is the Story introduced Craig and Charlie Reid to the world, The Proclaimers could quite reasonably spend the rest of their career trading on one of the most recognisable back catalogues in British music. Instead, their thirteenth studio album finds the brothers doing precisely what they have always done best: looking at the world around them, deciding what annoys, puzzles or moves them, and writing songs about it.
You May Offend is their first album since 2022’s Denture’s Out and was recorded at the legendary Rockfield Studios with producer Dave Eringa. The Reids are joined by their regular band of Steven Christie on keyboards, Garry John Kane on bass, Zac Ware on guitar and Clive Jenner on drums, while Manic Street Preachers’ James Dean Bradfield makes guest appearances on three tracks.
If anyone expected the brothers to mellow with age, the opening few minutes quickly dispel the notion. ‘Knock It Down’ comes charging out of the speakers with an almost punk like urgency. Beneath the infectious chorus is something considerably less comfortable, Craig Reid addressing what he sees as the impotence and hypocrisy of Western governments. It establishes one of the album’s recurring themes: anger at the gap between what society says about itself and what it actually does.
That idea continues into the excellent ‘But It Is’. Beginning relatively gently before opening into a big, euphoric chorus, it contrasts an uplifting melody with lyrics concerned with injustice and the uncomfortable realities people would sometimes rather deny. It is a particularly good example of something The Proclaimers have always understood: a serious song doesn’t necessarily require solemn music.
‘Easy Rhyme’ maintains the momentum, a muscular slice of guitar driven rock which also demonstrates that the familiar Proclaimers mixture of folk, country, soul and rock ’n’ roll remains intact. There is little attempt here to sound contemporary for contemporary’s sake. The Reids long ago established their own musical identity and appear perfectly content to inhabit it.
The title track changes the atmosphere. ‘You May Offend’ is a deceptively melodic meditation on free speech and the consequences of expressing an opinion in an increasingly polarised world. Even the title is deliberately ambiguous: is it a warning that you may cause offence or an invitation giving you permission to do precisely that? It is typical of the album that the Reids pose the question rather than wrap it up neatly for the listener.
The pace picks up again with the short, sharp ‘Till The Ink Dries’ before one of the record’s most striking songs, ‘The Grooming’. Here the subject is not sexual grooming but the grooming of young men through nationalism, militarism and romanticised ideas of patriotism. Beginning with the image of a young teenager on Remembrance Sunday, the song follows that idea towards its bleak conclusion. Musically restrained in comparison with some of what surrounds it, its impact comes from the story being told.
There is some welcome release in the second half. ‘A Little Bit Late’ barrels along with rock ’n’ roll energy, while ‘Anything’ is barely more than two minutes long and all the better for it. Throughout You May Offend, there is remarkably little excess. Most of these songs arrive, make their point and leave. ‘The Talent Show’ offers another change of pace, its gentler, nostalgic feel providing breathing space before ‘There’s No Plan’ returns to the frustrations of contemporary life. Its stomping rhythm carries a characteristically sceptical view of those in authority and the suspicion that, behind the confident pronouncements, nobody really knows what they are doing.
As the album approaches its conclusion, the mood becomes more reflective. ‘In A Year Or Two’ considers the passing of time and its ability to alter perspective, before ‘When You Get There’ brings proceedings to a beautifully melodic close. Mortality and the prospect of an afterlife might appear unlikely material for an uplifting finale, but in the hands of Craig and Charlie Reid there is humour as well as scepticism. It is a fitting ending to an album concerned not only with the state of the world but with ageing, memory and what ultimately awaits us all.
What is perhaps most impressive about You May Offend is its refusal to become a heritage exercise. The temptation must be enormous. The Proclaimers have ‘Letter From America’, ‘Sunshine on Leith’ and, of course, ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)’ waiting whenever required. They don’t need another song, let alone another album. Yet Craig and Charlie Reid clearly don’t see it that way.
There are familiar ingredients throughout You May Offend: those unmistakable voices, instantly memorable choruses, acoustic guitars rubbing shoulders with muscular rock ’n’ roll and lyrics delivered without disguising their Scottish identity. But nostalgia isn’t driving the record. These are songs concerned with what the Reids see around them now.
Producer Dave Eringa gives proceedings considerable punch without polishing away the rough edges, while the band sounds like exactly that, a band, rather than two singers surrounded by session musicians. James Dean Bradfield’s contributions also fit naturally into a record whose louder moments occasionally share something of the Manic Street Preachers’ combination of melody and righteous indignation.
Not every listener will necessarily agree with every argument the brothers make. Given the album’s title, one suspects they would be disappointed if they did. The point is that, approaching four decades since their debut, The Proclaimers still believe popular music is somewhere you can actually say something.
You May Offend is angry in places, funny in others and unexpectedly tender when it needs to be. Most importantly, it sounds like an album made because Craig and Charlie Reid still have something they want to say, rather than because another record was contractually required.
Forty years in, The Proclaimers remain unmistakably themselves. And they still have plenty to say.
You May Offend is available in all good record stores and on all major streaming platforms.
Reviewer: Adrian Cork
On: 27/09/2026
