FEATURE:
Your Constant Heart
Looking Ahead to the Thirty-Fifth Anniversary of Deacon Blue’s When the World Knows Your Name
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I do not know whether….
IN THIS PHOTO: Deacon Blue seen here posing in the studio for the Daily Record on 10th February, 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: Mirrorpix
Deacon Blue have any special plans for the thirty-fifth anniversary of their second studio album, When the World Knows Your Name. Following the acclaimed and remarkable Raintown of 1987, the title of their second album is very apt. The Scottish band very much were a band on many people’s radar. Released on 6th April, 1989, this is one of my favourite albums from my childhood. With standout cuts like Real Gone Kid, Wages Day, Fergus Sings the Blues and Queen of the New Year alongside gorgeous cuts such as Sad Loved Girl and Your Constant Heart, everyone needs to hear this. With lead songwriter Ricky Ross together with Lorraine McIntosh, James Prime, Ewen Vernal, Graeme Kelling and Dougie Vipond, the band released a true classic. The group are still playing and going strong. Sadly, we lost Graeme Kelling in 2004. His guitar brilliance is key to the album’s sound and success. A remarkable musician much-missed! I am going to dive deeper into When the World Knows Your Name. Their second studio album almost plays like a greatest hits collection. Opening with a remarkable four-song run of Queen of the New Year, Wages Day, Real Gone Kid and Love and Regret, Deacon Blue were wasting no time ensuring that their second studio lands in the memory as soon as possible! It is a shame there have not been podcasts or deeper looks into a wonderful album. I want to compile some feedback and reaction to 1989’s When the World Knows Your Name. Pop Rescue had their say in 2015:
“This 13 track album opens with the snare drum intro of fifth and final single Queen Of The New Year. Guitar, bass and bass drum join in to create a chugging platform for Ricky Ross‘ crisp vocals to effortlessly take us through this track. It’s definitely a foot-tapper. Ricky is joined by the soft backing vocals of Lorraine McIntosh (the pair throw in some great ‘hoo hoo hoo‘s) and a fun little fiddle section. This song gets faster and faster as it draws to a close, in what seems like a drums and vocals vs fiddle play-off. This was a moderate hit in 1990, reaching #21 in the UK.
Next up it’s Wages Day, the second single. This track sounds a little familiar – and it’s catchy use of pianos against a strong up-tempo beat, keeps it bouncing along. Ricky’s vocals is strong and confident again, and the contrast between him and Lorraine’s occasional backing vocal contributions really help to keep the song up-beat and light.
This is followed by lead single and big hit, Real Gone Kid. I remember this song well, and I had it on my Brit Awards ’89 double cassette album – although sadly they didn’t win anything. This song is fantastically up-beat – Ricky and Lorraine have a much more even balance of vocals – and Lorraine’s vocals really given a central role. Again the ‘ooh oh ooh oh ooh oh’ feature, and the piano is scattered throughout, all building up to a brilliantly rocky vocal duel at about 3m 15s in. This catchy track gave them a #8 UK hit – which by that time was their biggest. It also contains a great lyric mondegreen ‘And a plate of Baboons‘ turns out to be ‘And the paperback rooms‘ – my 80’s childhood is shattered.
In contrast, Love And Regret follows, with delicately tinkling piano but then suddenly we’re into rock ballad territory. Chugging guitar and beats lead us into the verse, which instantly reminded me of Starship‘s 1987 Mannequin-themed hit Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now meets John Waite‘s 1984 hit Missing You. This was the 4th single from the album, but it scraped into the top 30, reaching #28 in the UK.
Fifth track, Circus Lights feels a bit like a filler, if it wasn’t for the chorus lyrics of ‘you wanted to display your charms on this bright night‘, and it’s mention of Christmas, it would pretty much forgettable. Otherwise, musically it just kind of ‘happens’ with little real redeeming moment.
This Changing Light is a bit of a contrast, roaring in with electric guitars. Ricky’s vocals sit comfortably alongside these, and he, Lorraine, and these guitars play cat and mouse through the chorus, giving quite a nice catchy and building-up moment. The song has a mellow moment around 3mins 15, where Ricky takes centre stage, with support from Lorraine’s backing vocals.
Next up is a short 1m 11s track titled Sad Loved Girl, which sees Ricky pitched against a piano and double bass and not much else. Lorraine offers up some dreamy backing vocals. This is a delightful little track, that really stands out as being unlike anything else on this album. It’s short, and very sweet.
Fergus Sings The Blues follows this, and this track was the album’s third UK single, and it reached #14. From the off, there’s a great little bass and piano line. There’s almost an echo of disco here, but thankfully they keep themselves on the 80’s rock-pop mould side of it. There’s some great brass going on here – thanks to trumpets and trombone. Again, Lorraine’s here with some perfectly placed backing vocals. Mr 80’s Obligatory Saxophone gets to do a little sultry outtro.
Next up it’s The World Is Lit By Lightning – a great title. This track is laden with synths and is less rocky than some of their songs. Again, there’s plenty of piano, and some brass moments. Ricky is briefly joined by Lorraine for some vocal parts, but the vocals are a little quiet in comparison to the music. The use of contemporary keyboard sounds seems to dominate, leaving their vocals a bit buried.
Silhouette is quite a simple little track, seeing the return of the double bass, ‘woo hoo’ vocals, and a light sprinkling beat and guitar section for the chorus. This song really helps to show off Ricky’s vocals, but thankfully lets Lorraine take a lead at about 2mins.
This is followed by One Hundred Things, which really is quite a nice up-beat track. Vocally, musically and even lyrically (that ‘case of old photographs‘ is back again) feels like a companion track for Real Gone Kid. The track has a great musical and vocal pace to it – leaving it feel catchy and as if it should have been a single.
Up next is penultimate track Your Constant Heart, which brings the pace down again. This is definitely well in the 80’s stadium pop-rock genre. Musically it feels a bit busy with a lot of background layers going on, which includes guitar and harmonica. Ricky’s vocals vary from sounding like he’s singing on stage to singing in a cupboard.
The album closes with the brooding drums and piano of Orphans. This is almost lullaby-esque. Ricky’s vocals feel raw here, aided perfectly by the softer backing vocals of Lorraine and a swelling synth. I could easily imagine this being sung by Sinéad O’Connor instead. This is a wonderfully gentle ending to an album”.
There is a great article from Glasgow Skyline that goes into detail regarding When the World Knows Your Name. Raintown is a stunning debut album. Deacon Blue’s second album was bigger and more ambitious. Perhaps more hit-driven. Recorded between the U.K. and U.S., we are still hearing singles from the album played on the radio to this day. You can catch the band on the road. You can guarantee that cuts from their epic second studio album will be featured in the set:
“If one word could describe When The World Knows Your Name then surely it would be 'Bigger'. Raintown had given the band a great start, critical acclaim, a solid fan base and famed live shows had seen their hard work pay off. But despite their success, one thing eluded them, the 'Hit Single'.
Ricky Ross had a clear vision that the follow up to Raintown would be singles driven. From the outset there was a desire to break away from the mould of Raintown, work with multiple producers, in different studios. A bigger sound with more production.
Originally to be titled "Las Vegas" the album was frustrating to make. The bands producer was ill delaying production in the UK, whilst disappointing sessions in America with 2nd producer David Kahne saw the recording drawn out over an entire year.
Disappointment was short lived though, Real Gone Kid delivered the band their first hit, peaking at number 8 in the UK chart and gaining worldwide radio play.
The success of Real Gone Kid had given them the dream start to the When The World Knows Your Name campaign. On it's release the album went straight in at number one knocking Madonna's "Like A Prayer" off the top of the charts. Tour dates across the UK were selling out in a matter of hours. University halls and student unions were long gone, this time it would be arenas, this time it would be 'Bigger'.
Most of When The World Knows Your Name was recorded with Warne Livesey at the helm. Livesey started playing music in London amidst the punk and new wave revolution of the late seventies. Originally a bass player in many bands and on the session scene he soon realised that his main passion was for recording. Although self taught he soon established himself as an up and coming engineer, working with producers such as David Lord, Rhett Davis and Robin Miller. Through his work with the Specials he broke into production by recording projects for their ground breaking two tone record label and other indies such as some bizzare.
Additional recording was done with American producer David Kahne, these sessions did not go well. With the band finding the producer too hands on and disliking the sound and direction the recordings were taking. Most ot the recordings were abandoned with only Silhouette surviving.
Deacon Blue also produced themselves taking to the controls to record Orphans.
When The World Knows Your Name spawned five hit singles, but it was often mentioned in interviews that the band and CBS had visions of releasing as many as six.
Circus Lights had been part of Deacon Blue's live set since October 1987. Early 1988 the band played the song on Scottish Television on the FSD show. Soon after, the band played the famous Glasgow Barrowlands Ballroom, to the amazement of the band, the fans knew all the words.
So shocked, Ricky Ross was even caught on mic shouting "I don't believe this!" to the rest of the band.
So it comes as little surprise that Circus Lights was once lined up to be the follow up single to Real Gone Kid. These faxes from Edinburgh based design company Bridges & Woods dated 20th December 1988, show the proposed artwork for the 7" single.
The keen eyed will notice that although the single never made it, the artwork did, it was re-used for the eventual follow up single Wages Day months later”.
The dynamic and chemistry between the band makes When the World Knows Your Name such a compelling listen. Primarily written by Ricky Ross (with co-writing by James Prime and Ewen Vernal), I think one of the most compelling and powerful elements of the album is the greater use of Lorraine McIntosh’s astonishing vocals. As Mat Snow infamously observed it up in his Q Magazine review, she “adroitly feminises the band’s texture and so saves us on more than one occasion from being flattened by an excess of overwrought macho breast-beating”. Maybe it is a little cruel and short-sighted in some ways…though it is clear she adds something very special and distinct to the album. Turning thirty-five on 6th April, I wanted to spend some time with When the World Knows Your Name. We know that the band were named after a Steely Dan song. If some overlooked Raintown or did not connect, When the World Knows Your Name took them to a new level. Steely Dan’s Deacon Blues talks about this lovable loser observing that the U.S. college football team of Alabama were called The Crimson Tide. He wanted a similarly grandiose name. I think about Steely Dan and the fact Deacon Blue’s second album relates to fame and growing attention around them, By 1989, the world definitely knew their name:
CALL them Deacon Blue!