The 19 tracks on the newly-repackaged Red Sky span a wide range of musical styles - everything from folk to rock, blues to country - enhancing Ralph McTell's reputation as a versatile and talented songwriter.

His perceptive lyrics are good enough to stand alone as poetry, but combine them with his finely-honed gift for melody and you have supreme examples of the songwriter's art. Fin is a beautiful evocation of Paris and art house movies; Saucers (Aquamarine) was inspired by the pet-name given to McTell's mother by his father, on account of her big, blue eyes. Red Sky At Night looks at the plight of a bankrupt sheep farmer trudging the hills with his "droop tailed dew dropped drizzled dog".

Updated: 09:22 Thursday, June 02, 2005