The Best of Scotland

It's not all bad Scotland (some of it is though):

Deacon Blue versus The Blue Nile

Joe writes: I have been thinking about Deacon Blue recently. They were my favourite band for a while, until Aztec Camera released Stray. Real Gone Kid features on a current TV advert. I recently gave their classic debut album Raintown on vinyl to a friend for his birthday then ended up discussing Deacon Blue versus The Blue Nile with another party guest. While I know The Blue Nile are great, what I loved about Deacon Blue is how ambitious they were. Ricky Ross was trying to be the Scottish Bruce Springsteen. Personally I prefer artists who aim high and fall short than those who aim lower and reach their target.

Dignity was Deacon Blue's anthem and fan favourite. It's a nice story song that held a lot of appeal for me as a teenager. Maybe Dylan or Tom Waits could have got away with it.

Here's The Blue Nile with The Downtown Lights:



Here's how Aztec Camera won my heart with the Stray album, from which came Notting Hill Blues:



When Will You (Make My Telephone Ring) was Ricky trying to be the Scottish Harold Melvin. If he didn't quite get there in terms of performance, I really think he did in terms of songwriting. I'd love to hear this song covered by a true soul artist:

And for good measure and comparison, here's If You Don't Know Me By Now by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes:

Deacon Blue also helped Bacharach & David get the appreciation they deserve with the 1990 release of the Four Bacharach & David Songs EP, which reached no. 2 in the UK chart. As well as The Look Of Love and I'll Never Fall In Love Again with Hal David's wonderful couplet rhyming "pneumonia" with "phone ya", it also brought to light a couple of lesser known B&D songs, including this Are You There (With Another Girl), as recorded by Dionne Warwick:

Finally, here's a recent live version of Dignity that I found both heart-warming and a little sad:

I'm looking forward to seeing Roddy Frame playing tonight

Joe writes: Roddy's band Aztec Camera were my favourite act once upon a time, and my favourite Aztec Camera song is probably Stray. It's the title track from their highly ambitious fourth album. Half the songs are Clash-influenced protest rock (Mick Jones features on Good Morning Britain). The other half (my favourites) are Chet Baker-influenced pop jazz ballads about being lonely in London, of which Stray is one. I have no idea what I'd make of this album if I heard it for the first time today, but having heard it for the first time in my formative years, I still love it.

Somewhere in my heart

Phil writes: My other son, Ben, wondered, slightly tongue in cheek, if he was a bit sad for booking a ticket to see Roddy Frame. But this is a classic pop song that stands the test of time and, incidentally, one of the first songs that my sons introduced me to:

a cover of Somewhere In My Heart

Joe writes: Another blog has just posted a pretty straight and decent cover of Somewhere In My Heart by Mystery Jets, and as I'm now officially a Mystery Jets fan (or a Young Love fan anyway), it seems only right to post it here.

Soon I will do a post about the three Aztec Camera albums everyone should own.

Mystery Jets - Somewhere In My Heart (iTunes)