Raintown
Deacon Blue Record Mirror 30th May 1987

The single 'Dignity', and its heartfelt. anthemic originality, may be central to the Deacon Blue manifesto, but 'Raintown' is far from a moralising clutch of hard-luck tales. It is an old-fashioned but refreshingly mature approach to pop music. Ricky Ross, singer and songwriter, isn't averse to stalking conventional lyrical territory. His talent, though, lies in an unconventional viewpoint on the politics of life and love, laced with (frequently black) humour.

Deacon Blue's issues, fortunately, never veer towards the weighty; the often- forgotten art of pop songwriting being very much alive and kicking, with good tunes aplenty. Deacon Blue may span a wide spectrum of pop and rock noises but, oddly, their poppiest inclinations are missing, tipping the balance slightly off- centre. A minor reservation though. In my book, the best debut since the Commotions' 'Rattlesnakes'. Lesley o'Toole