Tweed", which calls for Scottish independence without sacrificing friendship with the rest of the UK. The Thatcher government of the 1980s galvanised Gaughan politically. He had never hidden his strong socialist beliefs and all his albums had included songs by such writers as Hamish Henderson, Ewan MacColl, Dominic Behan, Ed Pickford and Leon Rosselson. Now, however, he felt that "It was quite clearly time to stop reporting and start participating" and his next album, A Different Kind of Love Song (1983) was, he said, "a full-frontal onslaught, basically an anti Cold War polemic". All of its songs, which were performed in a variety of styles ranging from acoustic folk to electric rock 'n' roll, exuded political commitment. Gaughan also extended his political activism to areas other than singing. He instigated the setting up of "Perform", an organisation which aimed to facilitate co-operation across the folk music world, he joined the agitprop theatre group 7:84 and during the UK miners' strike (1984–85) he was Chair of the Leith Miners' Support Group. Gaughan recorded three solo albums over the next few years: Live in Edinburgh (1985) (his first solo gig following a 6-month lay-off due to losing his voice), True and Bold (1986), a collection of songs about mining and Call It Freedom (1988), which was similar in style and content to A Different Kind of Love Song. He also collaborated with the jazz percussionist Ken Hyder on an album of free improvisation, Fanfare for Tomorrow (1985), and sang and played with other artists on a tribute to Woody Guthrie, Woody Lives! (1987). 1990s By the early 90s Gaughan was again feeling the need to work regularly with others, so he invited seven other well-established Scots musicians to form a group called Clan Alba. The original line-up consisted of Gaughan, singer-guitarist Davy Steel, harpists Mary Macmaster and Patsy Seddon, multi-instrumentalist Brian McNeill, piper Gary West and percussionists Mike Travis and Dave Tulloch. The group made its debut at the 1992 Edinburgh Folk Festival and performed at other festivals across the UK and Europe over the next two years, during which time Gary West left and was replaced by Fred Morrison. In 1994 Clan Alba recorded an eponymous double CD, which Gaughan produced at Redesdale Studios, but the group disbanded the following year after problems with the marketing of the record. Resuming his solo career, Gaughan recorded two further albums during the decade.