A DUNFERMLINE-BORN man who has just released his first solo music album has something in common with the Beatles.

Back in 1971, Alan Forrester's then band The Myths were invited by Decca to put down some tracks but things didn't work out.

Alan laughed, "In 1971, Decca Studios took us down twice - they didn't promise anything but we failed! We actually sang in the studio with the Moody Blues in the studio next to us.

"We did two songs and didn't have a drummer and we ran out of time trying to drum to it.

"But the Beatles were also turned down by Decca and didn't get through, so there you go!" Alan (59), who now lives near Kincardine, released Four Corner Journey on 30th August, and is "absolutely delighted" with the response to the debut effort.

The four-track album, which Alan describes as "folk-rock contemporary Scottish music", has been released on a number of websites, including Amazon, iTunes, Last.FM, Play.com and Deezer, and one of the tracks, Newfoundland, has been receiving airtime on Radio Newfoundland, Canada.

Going back to music was "unfinished business" for Alan, who was latterly public relations manager for Stirling University.

He said, "I put in my job and was going back to what I knew." Alan, a former Woodmill High pupil, started singing in his teens, forming his first band at 15.

He recalled, "One of my friends suggested I started a group - he was joking but I took it seriously!

"We were called The Myths and we played in youth groups, churches and meetings - and we even got to go to Czechoslovakia in July 1966, though we had to put in our visa as members of a country dancing group!

"We also changed our name to The Whale for the two weeks we were there. We went round with folk musicians, country dancers, a brass quartet from the villages.

"It was still the Iron Curtain then and years later a journalist told me that it was all considered very subversive and we could have been jailed!" These days, he plays with a six-man band called Steamer Lane, which will be releasing a single called "No Fair At All", coming out soon on Steamer Lane Records and published by EMI.

But to have his first commercial album, he says, feels "absolutely fantastic and kind of surreal" after years of just playing and performing in folk clubs, hotels and festivals.

Alan, who plays guitar, piano, "a little bit of bass and percussion", said, "I've got people in the US and Canada listening to it and giving me great reviews.

"It's been good because it's been a learning process for me.

"I'm absolutely delighted at the response and the radio director at Radio Newfoundland has said that if I have any new material I can go back to them."