Good, honest music never goes out of fashion...
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The hipsters --- Deacon Blue --- 2012 (Demon)
I've always had a special place in my heart for Deacon Blue. Many will know them only from their hit singles, like “Dignity”, “When will you (Make my telephone ring)” and the other, bigger ones from the second and more popular album, such as “Real gone kid” and “Wages day”, but I think both their first two albums are cohesive works in their own right, and each tells its own story. That said, I bought “Ooh Las Vegas” on vinyl many moons ago and have yet to listen to it. I could blame this on the fact that I no longer have a turntable (except the USB one from last Christmas, which I have yet to even unpack!) but that would be unfair: I just never bothered, and I really don't know why. This is only their seventh album in a career spanning twenty-five years, but as Urban Hatemonger once opined: quality before quantity. Even at that, this is their first new album since 2001, which, if you do the math, makes it eleven years between albums. Has the spark gone over that period, or as Deacon Blue as infectiously enjoyable and almost innocent as they used to be?
There's an opening to the album that almost evokes the first track ever released by them, the opener on “Raintown”, a short little track called “Born in a storm”, with soft piano and lush synth, with Ricky Ross's inimitable vocal behind it in an understated little ballad to get us underway, then the title track comes in on strings intro, sharp and punchy before the drums kick in and we get into that old Deacon Blue rhythm. There's always been a great sense of enthusiasm and honesty about this Scottish band, whether they're extolling the virtues of living your life to the full, railing against governments and politics, or having their hearts broken. You always feel like what they write is from the heart, and it seems the more real for that.
“Stars” kicks up the tempo a good bit, with a lovely rippling piano line counterpointing the melody, and Ricky in fine form, backed as ever by Lorraine McIntosh, while things slow right down again for “Turn”, with a great power and drama about it, some really nice strings and strong percussion, piano sprinkled through the track in little segments, the song seeming to draw a picture of the difficulties in relationships ---
”You walk, I'll run, you talk, I'll fight, you shout, I'll cry” --- and “The rest” bounces along with a great sense of optimism.
Seeming to look back to their early days, “The outsiders” features a sort of time-delayed whispered backing vocal, and reminds me of the likes of “Ragman” and “The very thing” from the first album, or “One hundred things” from the second. You can't help but be uplifted by the whole theme of the song with more bright optimism, shot through with a certain sense of reality and the idea that innocence and naivete have been replaced by pragmatism and experience, but the initial wonder of young adolescence has not been completely extinguished. A stadium rock anthem, “That's what we can do” keeps things moving nicely, with a great keyboard line and some punchy drumming.
The first ballad, then, utilises an almost Phil-Collins-In-The-Air-Tonight drumbeat, but “She'll understand” is nothing like that song, featuring an almost duet between Ross and McIntosh, which as ever works very well, and the music paints a scene of tension and regret but softened by memories of past good times. Nice harkback to the debut with some cool harmonica --- hey, it may be on the synth but it sounds great. More reflections on past loves in “Laura from memory”, a mid-paced half-ballad sung with that rapid-fire delivery Ricky Ross has made something of his trademark.
There's almost Elton John in “It will end in tears” as the tempo kicks right back up again, and we end on another ballad, with some more nice duetting as “Is there no way back to you” closes the album very well. Very dreamy and laidback, and setting the seal on what may not be actually seen as a comeback album, but one which will prod people and remind them that Deacon Blue are still around.
TRACKLISTING
1. Here I am in London town
2. The Hipsters
3. Stars
4. Turn
5. The rest
6. The outsiders
7. That's what we can do
8. She'll understand
9. Laura from memory
10. It will end in tears
11. Is there no way back to you