Following a long tradition of no-nonsense, honest-to-goodness Scottish pop groups, Deacon Blue emerged blinking into the sunlight in 1987 with their Raintown album, a lush, slow-burning rock/pop/soul collection that spent over a year on the chart without ever getting higher than #14. The top ten hit Real Gone Kid catapulted them into the top ten and propelled second album When The World Knows Your Name to number 1 in 1989. As the 1990s dawned the band flew in the face of the all-conquering indie-dance crossover by releasing the Four Bacharach & David Songs EP which reached #2 on the singles chart. Nevertheless, next single Your Swaying Arms (from third album Fellow Hoodlums) was treated to a remix which attempted to make it sound like Primal Scream’s Loaded, and 1993’s Welcome To Wherever You Are was a headlong dive into the dance-rock whirlpool created by the likes of U2 and INXS. Splitting after 1994’s Greatest Hits album, lead singer Ricky Ross launched a mildly successful solo career while partner Lorraine McIntosh turned to acting, holding down a role in BBC Scotland’s soap opera River City for some time. The band reunited five years later for a tour and a handful of new tracks for a compilation Walking Back Home. A full-length comeback album Homesick was released in 2001 (which, annoyingly, isn’t on Spotify) and the band continues to tour to this day, finally releasing a sixth album The Hipsters in 2012.
01 Loaded (Single, 1987)
02 Raintown (From Raintown, 1987)
03 When Will You (Make My Telephone Ring)? (12″ single, 1987)
04 Dignity (12″ single, 1988)
05 Real Gone Kid (12″ single, 1988)
06 Wages Day (single, 1989)
07 The World Is Lit By Lightning (from When The World Knows Your Name, 1989)
08 Love And Regret (single, 1989)
09 I’ll Never Fall In Love Again (from Four Bacharach & David Songs, 1990)
10 The Look Of Love (from Four Bacharach & David Songs, 1990)
11 Your Swaying Arms (7″ Remix) (from 12″ single, 1991)
12 Fellow Hoodlums (from Fellow Hoodlums, 1991)
13 Your Town (single, 1992)
14 Fall So Freely Down (from Whatever You Say, Say Nothing, 1993)
15 Will We Be Lovers (single, 1993)
16 Hang Your Head (single, 1993)
17 I Was Right And You Were Wrong (single, 1994)
18 Bound To Love (from Our Town: The Greatest Hits, 1994)
19 Bigger Than Dynamite (from Singles, 2006)
20 The One About Loneliness (from Singles, 2006)
21 The Hipsters (from The Hipsters, 2012)
22 Laura From Memory (from The Hipsters, 2012)
