| Raintown | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Deacon Blue |
| Cover: | DBRaintown.jpg |
| Released: | 26 May 1987 (UK)[1] February 1988 (US) |
| Recorded: | Air Studios, London December 1986 - February 1987 |
| Genre: | Pop, rock |
| Length: | 41:48 (Standard) 47:06 (UK CD version) |
| Label: | Columbia |
| Producer: | Jon Kelly |
| Next Title: | Riches |
| Next Year: | 1988 |
Raintown is the debut album by Scottish pop rock band Deacon Blue. The album, written largely by lead singer Ricky Ross, was released in the United Kingdom on 26 May 1987. It proved a commercial success and has to date sold around a million copies, peaking in the UK Albums Chart at no. 14 and remaining in the charts for a year and a half.[2]
The album, widely praised as Deacon Blue's finest work, has the overtones of a concept album relating to the struggles of urban life in the inner city. The city being unmistakably Glasgow, referenced by the roots of the band and by the images by photographer Oscar Marzaroli on the cover of the album: the view of a rainy day over Glasgow's West End (with the Finnieston Crane featuring prominently). The rear cover shows a long-exposure shot of the M8 motorway carving through Glasgow city centre (taken from Charing Cross), with the Mitchell Library and Elmbank Gardens on either side.
The short intro, "Born in a Storm", melodic and interspersed with an unmistakably gloomy atmosphere created by the name, launches into the title track "Raintown", a natural extension of this plot. The weather remains a feature of the atmosphere of the album, reflecting the epitome of the Scots word dreich. Played out in the course of the album is the struggle with money ("Loaded"), unemployment, dreams of something better ("Dignity", "The Very Thing"), culminating in an angry attack upon urban life ("Town to Be Blamed"). The album does feature lighter experiences though, with the love songs ("Chocolate Girl") and "Love's Great Fears" - a track that Ross has often cited as his all-time favourite, featuring a slide guitar outro by Chris Rea.
In an interview given to the Daily Record in 2012, songwriter Ricky Ross explained the rationale and reasoning behind the writing of all of the songs on the album.[3]
On 27 February 2006, Raintown was reissued as part of Columbia's Legacy Edition series. The re-issue was expanded to 2 CDs. The first CD featured the original 11-track album. The second CD featured alternate cuts of all 11 album tracks, as well as the two original CD bonus tracks "Riches" and "Kings of the Western World".
The new edition did not include the varied bonus cuts (remixes and b-sides) that were found on the singles from the album.
Another reissue was released on 22 October 2012 by Edsel Records as part of a catalogue reissue program for the band's first five studio albums. This set contained all of the B-sides and remixes associated with the album, as well as also including the Legacy Edition bonus disc.[4]
Spin called it, "a listener's delight, yet a reviewer's frustration — no easy comparisons, no simple descriptions, no trendy affiliations, because few other acts make such surprisingly timeless, sophisticated, and genuinely emotional pop music these days."[5]
All songs written by Ricky Ross, except where noted: