Monday, May 23, 2011

False Attitude, Real Rubbish - #29 Deacon Blue - Raintown

Has there ever been a song that you liked, but didn't really know why?

I know there have been a few for me. One of them is from the next album in this list, and another features on this album.

I think it must have been my mum's influence when I was merely a young gun, but I've always liked Dignity by Deacon Blue. As I say, I'm not sure why, as I'm pretty sure that it's not really all that, but something about it drew me in, and I've always been a huge fan of it. However, I've never got around to actually listening to any of their other work – until now.

Hmm. I really don't want to be overly critical of Deacon Blue, but it's difficult not to be. Ok, so Dignity is still a good song, but the rest, well, the rest is fairly poor to be honest.


I don't know what it is about this that leaves me feeling so cold towards it. Is it the tunes themselves, mostly cheesy pop melodies that float around in the background? Maybe.

Actually, it's a combination of the two singers. For songs that have such little about them, Ricky Ross (Scottish – would you believe?) churns out the vocals like a distressed animal. It's not screechy or anything, it just sounds like he is trying so hard to sing with attitude that he might have a hernia at any moment, or pass a pine cone. Lorraine McIntosh (thanks Google) doesn't fare any better really, she just does exactly the same as him, just a little higher.

It's not all bad though. Chocolate Girl isn't terrible, and like I said, Dignity is a good, solid pop song. It's just a shame that the rest of the album contains absolutely nothing of interest.

When discussing the band with someone the other day, this is the description I was offered. "Man sings and parades around like the Messiah, while his wife screeches in the background."

Now I can't comment on the parading, I haven't seen enough of them to know what they would do live, or even on their videos. But I'm not in a hurry to find out either. Raintown? Worst album I've looked at so far.

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