The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
How Raintown took the charts by storm
Thirty years ago on Monday, Deacon Blue – fronted by Dundee-raised Ricky Ross – released their debut album Raintown. Michael Alexander looks back on its impact
Author Ian Rankin remembers 1987 well – it was the year his much-loved creation Detective Inspector John Rebus first made his appearance in print. But it’s also significant for another reason.
The Fife-born crime writer was living in London when he came across a “marvellous” debut album which had just been released by Scottish band Deacon Blue, fronted by Dundee’s Ricky Ross.
30 years on
Three decades after Raintown appeared “like a breath of fresh Scottish air”, the novelist will celebrate the anniversary of its release when he presents Deacon Blue: 30 Years of Raintown, which airs on BBC Radio Scotland on Monday.
The album, released on May 1 1987, spent 77 weeks in the UK charts, peaking at 14, and became one of the most popular records of the 1980s. Rankin remembers it fondly. “Living in London, as I was in 1987 when Raintown came out, it was a breath of fresh Scottish air with a little bit of rain thrown in,” he said.
“Everything, from the cover, that photograph showing a slightly rainy Glasgow, to the songs inside just spoke to me of home. A place that could be, yes, wet and cold – it could be atmospheric – but also a place with an awful lot of soul.
“And that took me right back to the music of my youth, to the country I grew up in – a place of industry and hope.”
Lead singer and former school teacher Ricky Ross, 57, grew up in Dundee’s Downie Park area, just across the Kingsway south of Caird Park golf course. He is interviewed in the documentary alongside his wife and fellow original band member Lorraine McIntosh, drummer-turned-sports presenter Dougie Vipond and keyboardist Jim Prime. There’s also input from the record’s producer Jon Kelly.
The album, which referenced the band’s Glasgow roots and the struggles of urban inner city life, featured famous images by photographer Oscar Marzaroli on the cover – the view of a rainy day over Glasgow’s West End (with the Finnieston Crane featuring prominently) and, on the rear, a long-exposure capture of the Kingston Bridge blasting through the city centre.
However, it was the quality and energy of songs such as Dignity, Loaded and Chocolate Girl which catapulted the band to fame – not to mention the distinctive production values made possible by Kelly’s insistence that the record be recorded at George Martin’s famous Air Studios in London.
Ricky said: “Raintown was the song that we cut first. I remember it being played back on the big speakers and Peter Felstead, our manager, coming in. It did sound great.
“Dougie (Vipond) had this amazing classical percussion stuff that he’d got and there’s this amazing kind of drum that comes in – this brilliant kind of orchestral bass drum – and all these little things were suddenly in the mix, the live energy that was on it.”
First play
The first DJ to play the title track was Johnnie Walker on BBC Radio One. He said: “Lorraine’s vocals towards the end of that song are just fantastic. I mean she’s kind of soaring like a seagull in the sky.
“The production is really good. It’s very fresh. It’s very vibrant.
“But I think it’s the strength of the songs and the vocals from Ricky and Lorraine and the confidence they had which just comes over, plus the fact it just has a magnificent theme.”
Raintown was set against the industrial decline and seemingly permanent rain of Thatcher’s Scotland.
But times were changing and the gloom was dispelling. The hope and enthusiasm emerging from the era was increasingly being reflected in joyous, celebratory music.
Dignity, for example, is about a man at the bottom rung of the labour market who saves up to buy a boat to enjoy the freedom of the Scottish Highlands and islands.
Scottish revival
With other bands, including Hue and Cry and Aztec Camera, releasing material at the time, there was a renewed emphasis on intelligent songwriting, laced with Celtic passion.
Among them was Dundee band Danny Wilson, who had just released their debut album Meet Danny Wilson a fortnight earlier.
Songwriter and singer Gary Clark said: “Scotland in the 80s musically was a really interesting place. It was quite eclectic. There was Deacon Blue, Hue and Cry. Before that there was Orange Juice, there was The Associates.
“But none of the bands really sounded like each other. Deacon Blue have got a really unique Deacon Blue sound. And that’s the thing about that album Raintown – they had that sound right from the beginning.”
Deacon Blue: 30 Years of Raintown is on BBC Radio Scotland at 4pm on Monday and on BBC Radio 2 at 10pm on Monday May 8.
It was a breath of fresh Scottish air with a little bitofrain thrown in