DEACON BLUE - RAINTOWN - VINILO ORIGINAL 1988 PRIMERA EDICION CBS RECORDS COLUMBIA USA

Deacon Blue,toman su nombre de una canción de Steely Dan, canción preciosa por otra parte, pero eso es otra historia. La criticas de la época al editarse el disco (1987) hablaban de un cruce entre The Waterboys, imagino que por la intensidad en determinadas canciones, y Prefab Sprout, imagino por los juegos vocales chica-chico en otras. Pero ni eran los Waterboys y ni mucho menos Prefab Sprout, eso no le quita mérito a este disco, vamos a dejarlo claro, es más creo que las comparaciones le hacen más daño que otra cosa.
 Yo conocí el disco por su primer single “Dignity”, que no paró de sonar por todas partes en aquel 1987, y es un de esos discos que yo llamo “bonitos”, desde la preciosa portada, con una fotografía de la lluviosa Glasgow (la “raintown del título del disco), hasta las canciones que los componen, con esos coros de Lorraine McIntosh, que provocaron la comparación con Prefab Sprout. El disco no baja el nivel en sus once cortes, aunque mis favoritas son “Dignity”, “He Looks Like A Spencer Tracy Now”, “Loaded” y “Love’s Great Fears”. Deacon Blue siguen en activo pero nunca volvieron a recuperar el nivel de este primer disco.

Track listing:

All songs written by Ricky Ross, except where noted:

Original 1987 album

1."Born in a Storm"– 1:33
2."Raintown" – 3:50
3."Ragman" – 3:08
4."He Looks Like Spencer Tracy Now" – 3:50
5."Loaded" (Prime, Ross, Kelling) – 4:29
6."When Will You (Make My Telephone Ring)" – 5:05
7."Chocolate Girl" – 3:18
8."Dignity" – 4:00
9."The Very Thing" – 3:34
10."Love's Great Fears" (Ross, Prime) – 3:42
11."Town to Be Blamed" (Ross, Prime) – 5:19

Raintown is the debut album of Scottish pop band Deacon Blue. The album, written largely by lead singer Ricky Ross, was released in the United Kingdom on 1 May 1987. It proved a commercial success and has to date sold around a million copies, peaking in the UK album chart at 14 and remaining in the charts for a year and a half.

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 famous 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) and, on the rear, a long-exposure capture of the Kingston Bridge blasting through the city centre at night.

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 searing slide guitar outro by Chris Rea.

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.