'The Hipsters' ...on Deacon Blue

Excuse me for writing about something other than my MA or anything to do with English Language Teaching, but I thought I would post about a gig that I went to last night.  I went to the New Theatre, Oxford, to see scottish popmeisters Deacon Blue on their 25th anniversary tour of their debut album, 'Raintown'.  Tenuous link: lead singer and writer, Ricky Ross, used to be a teacher in Scotland.  I have included two videos below.  One video I made in South Korea in 2007 and one is a recording from last night's gig.  I didn't record the whole thing, just a couple of songs.

Not content with merely churning out the old hits, this time the band have gone back into the studio to record a brand new set of songs - there first for 111 years, and put them together on an album entitled, 'The Hipsters'.  There is more than a hint of irony in the title, as Deacon Blue have never been particularly 'hip', being slightly older than the average pop stars when they first started out and releasing music that was more Radio 2 fodder than the more 'hip' Radio, 1 even back then.They do actually claim that long departed, original guitarist, Graeme Kelling, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2004, was the only hip one amongst them.  The new album is surprisingly good, certainly compared with the average Homesick, which accompanied their 2002 comeback or the 'Best Of - Singles' package that accompanied their 2007, 20th anniversary tour.

I have been an unembarrased fan of Deacon Blue since they first re-recorded 'Dignity' in 1987 with 'more hooks' in order to make it a more radio-friendly single.  The Jon Kelly produced 'Raintown' was released in April 1987 and contained the hit singles, 'Loaded', 'Chocolate Girl', 'When Will You Make My Telephone Ring' as well as the aforementioned 'Dignity'.  I bought each and every single they released subsequently, following them through to their second album, 'When The World Knows Your Name', when coincided with their commercial peak - ticket sales for shows in Glasgow's SECC in both May and December 1989 broke the world record at the time for the fastest sell-out - most notably do to 'Wages Day' and the woop-woop of Wayne Rooney fave, 'Real Gone Kid', although the album version is not the best version of that particular song.  Much better were 'Queen Of The New Year, 'Love and Regret' and 'Fergus Sings The Blues', a latter being a wonderful paen to Ross being Scottish but having one eye and certainly all of one heart firmly fixed on the transatlantic music, such as Blues and Soul, that came out of the United States.  I saw them play live for first time at the Hammersmith Odean, as it was called then, in December 1989, then again around Christmas time, 1991.

Following 'WTWKYN' they released an ep of 4 Hal David and Burt Bacharach songs, from which the lead track, 'I'll Never Fall In Love Again' which hit no.2 in the singles chart.  A great song and an OK version by the band.

I continued my love affair with the band through third album, 'Fellow Hoodlums', which I prefer to 'WTWKYN' but still can't beat 'Raintown' in terms of emotional intensity.  'Your Swaying Arms' and 'A Brighter Star Than You Will Shine' are particularly good tracks.  I referred to the title track when I revisited Glasgow earlier this year for the IATEFL conference, with it's nods to Glasgow city centre landmarks, such as St Enochs and Buchanan Street.  Since then I have called the bloggers that I follow and mention on this blog as 'fellow hoodlums' without really implying that there anything of the kind.

I was disappointed by their fourth album, 'Whatever You Say, Say Nothing', which apart from a terrible title, saw them 'trying' to be 'hip', having dance remixes and slices of poorly executed Prince-style R'n'B.  It contain the fantastic 'Only Tender Love' and 'Bethlehem's Gate'.  I saw them in Leicester DeMonfort Halls.  But I wasn't too upset by a decision to call it a day.  That was 1994.

I completely missed the release of 'Love Hurts', which didn't chart, and the subsequent 'Walking Back Home' compilation in 1999, buying it much later.

Then nothing, until 2002's comeback, 'Homesick', which had one decent song, 'Everytime You Sleep' and a couple of others worthy of mention, 'This Train Will Take You Anywhere' and 'Silverlake'.  It also contained the lamentable 'A is for Astronaut' which I remember them showcasing on BBC's 'Watchdog' and I felt embarrassed to have ever liked them.

Fast forward 5 years, and hindsight is a wonderful thing.  I was beginning my career as a teacher of English as a Foreign Language, in South Korea, when I learned of their 2007 tour.  I had 2 concert performance CDs from that tour shipped out to me and it rekindled my love, culminating in me using two aforementioned tracks from WTWKYN for a personal video I made in a freezing cold Seoul, New Year's Eve 2007 - see below. 

A review of the Oxford gig follows.

There is no denying the popularity of Deacon Blue amongst what are now middle-aged 40-50 year olds who, likewise, have never been hip.  Like me, those that bought 'Raintown' back in '87, of which there seemed to be many tonight who were familiar with the songs from that debut, have never strayed far from loving the band.  Songs like 'Ragman' and 'Loaded' still resonate today, to borrow a line from 'Born In A Storm', 'like they always did.'   Ricky might complain of being old, but he is in good company.

The gig kicked off with three tracks from the new album, and the title track, 'The Hipsters' sounded really good.  'That's What We Can Do' is another singalong that went down well.  'Your Swaying Arms', from 'Fellow Hoodlums' is the first classic track, an underrated single with a memorable bassline - here supplied by Lewis Gordon.  'The Day That Jackie Jumped The Jail' is an odd track, as Ricky Ross narrates the story of the eponymous 'Jackie', Glasgow landmarks and  '30,000 fireworks taking the piss out of Princes Street Garden'.  New single, 'The Outsiders', again, refers a little to Deacon Blue's claim to being 'unhip' and it's before this that former guitarist, Graeme Kelling, gets a mention.  'Your Town' comes along suddenly and is performed without megaphone, as did 'The Outsiders' which has Ricky singing both parts of the distorted call and response in the verse from the recorded version.   When Maria-McKee inspired 'Real Gone Kid' kicked in, however, you knew that it remained the most familiar track.  There is just something special about Lorraine McIntosh's 'Whoo-hoo's'.  'Spencer Tracy' is nice, with Dougie's 'bongo patting', although I think most here might have prefered, for a slow-paced Raintown track, to hear 'Chocolate Girl' at this point.  That track gives way to Lorraine strapping a guitar and then not really playing it while she warbles the straightforward, hymn-like, Ricky-less 'Cover From The Sky' from FH.  'Love and Regret' is padded out to include harmonies from the audience, while Laura from Memory is dedicated to a departed family member.  

Born In A Storm brings us right back to the start of Raintown, which as can be seen below, is naturally followed by the title track.  I first heard a slowed down piano version of this track as a b-side to the Dignity EP, when it was re-released in January 1988.  This Jim Prime lead song about Glasgow still resonates deeply with me and it was appropriately bucketing down with rain outside during the whole gig.  'Loaded' is also have padded out, as it gets infused with Woody Guthrie's 'I Ain't Got No Home'.  Another crowd pleaser, 'Fergus Sings The Blues' is introduced by a rambling story about the 2014 Commonwealth Games.  Lorraine's vocals again are shown off to be a perfect complement to Ricky's rasping chords, during new track, Stars, as she floats her harmonies above her husband's.  The night ends with an encore which predictably includes the wonderful singalong, 'Dignity' and an embellished, throwaway, 'Twist and Shout' - not their best song by a long way, because it's source is too obvious, although they at least acknowledge that by doing the 'original'.  That leaves a melancholy Dylan cover, 'Forever Young', with everyone up front on vocals, with which to say goodnight.  25 years in the making, Deacon Blue's anniversary live show truly hits the mark. Home. Faith. Work.

Set List:

Here I Am In London Town

The Hipsters

That's What We Can Do

Your Swaying Arms

Ragman

The Day That Jackie Jumped The Jail

The Outsiders

Your Town

Real Gone Kid

The Rest

He Looks Like Spencer Tracy Now

Cover From The Sky

Love And Regret

Laura From Memory

Born In A Storm+

Raintown+

Loaded / I Ain't Got No Home (Woody Guthrie)

Fergus Sings The Blues

Stars

She'll Understand

Dignity
Wages Day

Twist and Shout / Twist and Shout (Phil Medley/Bert Russell) 

Forever Young (Bob Dylan)

+ Born In A Storm/Raintown

IATEFL 2012 - Virgin In A Wilderness of Teachers, Writers, Speakers

"So, it's (nearly) April and the things you say don't 
seem as certain as on Hogmanay".  So sang Glasgow band, Deacon Blue on one of their lesser known tracks, Twist & Shout, in 1991.   I've added a new blogroll to this two year old blog, which I have titled 'Fellow Hoodlums', which is the album from which the song 'Twist & Shout' came.   In addition, the title track has been going around my head all week as I walk through the city centre, with its mentions of the Clyde, St Enochs, Buchanan Street etc.  I consider it appropriate to use this title because I met a load of new bloggers at Glasgow in the past week. Deacon Blue are famously from the city and it kind of refers to the comment made by closing time plenary speaker, Derek Dick (aka Fish), about us being 'rock 'n' roll teachers', not the kind of teachers he used to dislike as a kid.  This twist of opinion towards (presumably school) teachers came when his teacher, 'Jimi' Hendrix called a Genesis album, 'rubbish'.  I'll try not to say it made him shout, but oooh, i just did!  It was interesting to hear him describe writing 'Kayleigh', his most famous lyric, and getting that 'BAM!' feeling - like a hand grenade to the heart - both in the plenary and in the pre-conference interview.

Fish was an inspired choice by iatefl president, Eric Barber, to close the conference.  Not everyone in the room would have heard of him but I, for one, remember purchasing 'Misplaced Childhood' by Marillion in the 80s and going back to 'Script For A Jester's Tear'  after that.  I subsequently bought 'Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors', Fish's debut album on cassette, soon after it came out, in 1990.  Fish sang 3 songs from this album - A State of Mind, Family Business and The Company. The latter, a self-described drinking song ended with getting the whole auditorium to dance like 'fairyland creatures'. OK, I cannot claim to be his biggest fan, far from it.  Plenty of my friends are bigger fans... but when Fish mentioned meeting Peter Gabriel, my favourite artist of all time, he made a reference to being disappointed to meeting Gabriel when he was young.  I had no such disappointment today, and you can see the photo below on this post.  Fish's closing plenary can be seen in full here.  The sound quality is not great on some of the songs, especially 'A State Of Mind'.  I have uploaded this song myself, along with closing song, 'The Company'. You can just about see me recording at around 56.55 into the BCGO video, around the 'russian choir/ballet dancers' bit and again around 57.36. Please check out the end of this post for my recording. ->

< Fish on stage at iatefl >

On the final day of the conference I made up slightly for a self-imposed half-day on the penulatimate day.  At least I managed to catch the plenary session this time, Professor James E. Zull.  Thanks to the brilliantly free, accessible and frequently updated British Council Glasgow Online site, however, I watched it from my hotel over an extended breakfast, whilst blogging my thoughts on the previous couple of days.  Fortunately Mr Dull's (excuse me, I apologise) Mr Zull's slow-paced delivery gave me many pregnant pauses with which to write stuff.  The Professor of Biology and Founding Director of the University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education (UCITE) at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) gave the penultimate plenary session.  It was actually rather good, a biological explanation via the brain for language learning.  But it was a direct contrast to Steven Thorne's lightning speed delivery in the previous plenary on Thursday.

Steven Bukin delivers a whole load of iPad ideas for the classroom.

Over in Leven, Steven Bukin demonstrated the many uses of teaching with an iPad.  Technology is great when it works and for the most part it worked for his presentation.  The clearest benefit of a teacher using an iPad to teach is the mobility it gives him or her to wander around the classroom and still control the whiteboard or projector, as Steven showed.   There are also a number of cool apps, synonymous with apple products generally as we know, which he also demonstrated.  Most of these are free or a couple of dollars, as he put it.   However, we must remember, that iPads should only be used if they are going to benefit learning.   It is not simple enough just to use them because you have access to them.  In some well-funded institution, there is the strong possibility of making a sweeping gesture and buying their students iPads to replace laptops - I'm thinking of places in the middle east in  particular.  They will become more and more widespread but we must always remember the use of them that counts.

I begun to watch Paul Louis in Dochart demonstrating the use of moodle to support English for Academic Purposes projects.  It seemed very well researched and well presented, but I left to join the lively discussion going on in Alsh.  Here, Silvana Richardson was presenting four sacred cows.  Nothing stirs language teachers more than trying to put tried and tested beliefs to the sword.  Here, she laid out her sacred cows as shown in the photo below.   Amongst many other opinions, I particular remember the statistic about 95-98% of students cannot 'infer meaning from context'.  She expressed this as borderline impossible unless the students are higher-intermediate or above.  This is startling, if indeed true, as the idea of building up knowledge and meaning of unknown words using the surrounding words is quite an established thing to do from an elementary level upwards.  As Silvana said, if you want Spanish students to know the meaning of the world 'table' you can ask them to look up the word in a translation dictionary 'messi' or you can give them an English dictionary with its description of  'A flat horizontal slab or board, usually supported by one or more legs, on which objects may be placed...' etc etc.

4 Sacred Cows from Silvana Richardson (Bell)

After Silvana it was a quick pop to the room next door to see my Celta trainer from three years ago, Carole 'Anne' Robinson.  This was about 'personalisation', getting more out of our students' with a number of simple methods.  Carole seems to like the Dogme approach and that 'emergent language' can come from the student.  She also recognises coursebook limitations and how the two might be reconciled.

What's the meaning of this, asks Carole 'Anne' Robinson?

The end of a fabulous, inspiring week for everyone!

Final thoughts. This has been one of the most enjoyable weeks of my life, something I tweeted as I came back on the train from Glasgow.  I've been in great 'company'.  Not just at the conference.  Everyone I have met in Glasgow has been very friendly - even the homeless and the drunks.  And no, I didn't receive aye fond 'Glasgow Kiss' at any point.    A Glasgow taxi driver even dropped me off the Holiday Inn and 30 minutes later returned having been across the city and back.  I had dropped my Unibus Pass - worth over £100 to me - he didn't accept my offer of a reward but I was incredibly grateful.         WHAT.AN.AMAZING.WEEK !

With Derek 'Fish' Dick

Here are 2 songs, 'A State of Mind' and 'The Company', by Fish, which I recorded with my own camera.