Howling At The Moon - The Punk Panther's Album Reviews

After an impressive, thoughtful and at times bleak debut album  that still saw the band as something of a "cult" act, the next album, 1989's  When The World Knows Your Name  saw them in full commercial mode as they cracked the charts with three big hit singles from the album.  The album had a generally more upbeat, rocky feel to it - piano and guitar to the fore and the dual vocals of  Ricky Ross  and  Lorraine Macintosh  the instantly recognisable point.  The three hits were the singalong, piano-driven pop of  Wages Day , the similarly jolly and even catchier  Real Gone Kid  with its "ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh" backing vocal and the Caledonian blues rock of  Fergus Sings The Blues  (the most "Scottish" of the songs on the album) in which Ricky Ross questioned his Scottish validity to sing the blues. All three were deserved, radio-friendly hits.   The album's opener,  Queen Of The New Year ,  was also in the same upbeat mould, as also was bassy, slightly fun

After two critically-acclaimed albums  (the second containing three big hit singles) this,  Deacon Blue 's third album, was, in some respects, their best.  It was their most mature in many aspects, and it was certainly their most blatantly  Scottish.  Glasgow and Edinburgh place-name checks abound and there is plenty of Caledonian imagery in the lyrics.  As on  Raintown , the album begins with a short-ish, sparse ballad in  James Joyce Soles  before the Scottish vibrancy of  Fellow Hoodlums   with its references to  "breeches", "Tizer", "macaroons", "Hampden", "Partick", "Cowcaddens", "Buchanan Street"  and " the Clyde ". It has a good bluesy rock sound to it too.  Your Swaying Arms   is a lilting, slow and appealing number with dual vocalists  Ricky Ross  and  Lorraine Macintosh  (now husband and wife) on fine form and a melodic, shuffling backing.  The mournful  Cover From The Sky  has Macintosh on le

Deacon  Blue’s widely respected debut album, from 1987,  took a while, at the time, to seep into widespread acceptance.  It was a year to eighteen months before many, including myself, came to learn to appreciate this excellent Scottish group. Deacon Blue are a pretty difficult group to categorise - they are not rock, yet they have rock influences, use drums, keyboards and electric guitars. They are not soul, yet they often employ soul sensibilities and have Motown and soul influences. They are not punk, or new wave, or post punk. They are, actually, quite unique in many ways. Their influences are wide - Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Prefab Sprout, Elvis Costello, Motown, classic soul.  Their lyrical preoccupations are Scottish life in general and the supposed toughness of it at times, relationship ups and downs and people’s psychological idiosyncrasies and the three cornerstones mentioned in their classic song, Dignity - faith, work and home. Their two vocalists are now

After three pretty accessible albums,   Deacon Blue  returned with their most downbeat, under-stated album. Drowned in synthesisers, muffled, grungy guitars and vocals often a bit low in the mix it was certainly not one that sticks in the mind.  However, it is a grower. I remember first hearing it back in 1993 and being really underwhelmed. Now, though, all these years later, I find it has more appeal. There are hidden secrets in it, but it needs many listens. Even the cover has the band looking shadowy and indistinct, behind a window.  Your Town  begins in what is to be typical style - muffled, industrial clunky guitar, lots of synth backing, Ricky Ross's trademark vocals mixed down, but a most appealing groove all the same.   Only Tender Love  has a rumbling solid bass intro, a good drum sound and an alluring vocal. It is probably the album’s most catchy song. Haunting backing vocals at the end. Still pretty intense in its overall sound, though. There is a fog over this album, li

  Firstly, I have to say that this album suffers a lot from astonishingly poor sound-production.  You have to turn it down quite a bit (and I like my music loud), but on the big chorus, orchestrated bits, it sounds very clashing and tinny.  There is not, for me, enough clear electric guitar, enough subtle bass guitar, enough "proper drumming" and the vocals are distant and indistinct. The latter is such a shame as Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh's vocals  are  Deacon Blue, to a great extent.  Anyway, after an eleven year absence,  Deacon Blue  returned with this album and, production apart, it is a good one.   Here I Am In London Town  is a typical Deacon Blue low-key, plaintive album opener, with  Ricky Ross 's vocal over a solemn piano and subtle string backing.  The Hipsters  is a catchy, anthemic Deacon Blue song, with big orchestration and a catchy chorus. It is here that the production really blights the song. When the chorus kicks in, Ross's voice is too f

  Unfortunately, this album suffers from the same poor production as its predecessor, The Hipsters, from 2012.  Quite what possessed either  Deacon Blue   or their producers to think that this showed their wonderful music in the best light is beyond me.  The opener,  Bethlehem Begins ,  has an infectious, rumbling drum intro and a great bass line too, but when it kicks in to its chorus, the usually strident vocals of Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh are practically submerged by the muffled, tinny backing. Such a shame because it is a really good song.  The funky, guitar-driven rock of   For John Muir   (a 19th century Scottish naturalist) is a bit of an improvement, particularly in the verses. Like the previous track, though, it when the full-on chorus arrives that the problems occur.  A New House  is an excellent, atmospheric, very typically Deacon Blue song, suffering from the same chorus section faults, but a captivating build up that sounds vaguely like  Peter Gabriel 's  Solsb

  Deacon  Blue's music, much as I love it and have done since 1987,  has been blighted in recent years, for me, by poor production and an over-loud when not necessary, unsubtle, treble heavy sound.  I love Ricky Ross's songwriting and his and Lorraine MacIntosh's voices, though, so I will never give up on them. When this album started I thought "here we go, more dodgy production" but I have to enthusiastically admit that the album shakes that off quickly, track by track and gets better and better. It ends up as a beautifully cohesive piece of work.  City Of Love   starts quietly and then bursts into that now familiar Deacon Blue aural assault of tinny synthesisers and a slightly programmed feel. I guess I just have to put up with it now, as I said, the production has been like this for several years. Despite that, the song, as always, has something, the vocals are uplifting and the melody catchy.  Hit Me Where It Hurts  breaks the mould somewhat, though, with a ni

  As with the previous two "later era" Deacon Blue albums,  questions can be asked over the tinny, overloud, often crashing sound that the production gives them.  This is not quite as bad as the others, slightly, but it has to be said that the production on the first five studio albums the released was miles better than on these recent ones. I love the songs on all these albums, but they don't get listened to as much as they should due to the off-putting production. I just feel a different sound would have made these albums so much better.  On this album, turning it lower means you miss out on quite a bit in its soundscape, but turning it up louder means it sounds like a tinny mess. It is just not right, in my opinion, but therein lies my quandary, because the songs are bloomin' great. I will always have a great affection for Deacon Blue, so any misgivings will always be pushed aside. The Believers   begins with some typical Deacon Blue piano and the sweeping keyboard

So , only a year after their last album, Deacon Blue are back with a somewhat gloomy, eight song, thirty minute offering that, although it has a vastly improved sound (only in places, however), has a downtrodden, slightly muffled ambience to it that hasn't caught my imagination as yet.  The album was intended to be a companion piece to the City Of Love album. I guess the thing to do is play them both together.  The opener and the title track,  Riding On The Tide Of Love , starts with a drum sound straight out of Bob Dylan's Rainy Day Women.  The orchestrated Kate Bush-esque  She Loved The Snow , for some reason, puts me in mind of something Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel did around 1975, it's on the chorus refrain.  Nothing's Changed  is archetypal later-era Deacon Blue - nothing has changed, indeed.  The valedictory  Look Up  should really have closed the album and  Time  continues the dense. gloomy feel to the album.  The soulful  Send A Note Out  is a slow one but