Today, BBC 6Music did a ‘Deep Dive Into Disintegration’. The whole day was dedicated to The Cure’s classic 1989 album; there were interviews with hip and trendy artists, people involved in the record's production and even a chat with their old neighbour - I kid you not.
The day also celebrated all things 1989, and as I don’t have a copy of Disintegration on vinyl (yet), I looked around my collection to see which album from the year I played the most.
There were lots of contenders; ‘Like A Prayer’ by Madonna, ‘Street Fighting Years’ by Simple Minds, ‘Wild!’ by Erasure, ‘Batman’ by Prince, but the winner, narrowly beating ‘The Seeds Of Love’ by Tears For Fears is ‘When The World Knows Your Name’ by Deacon Blue.
I loved Deacon Blue from the moment I heard songs from what would become ‘Raintown’ on a sampler tape in 1987. I got this album on the week it came out and played it to death.
Some of their biggest hits are on it, ‘Fergus Sings The Blues’, ‘Queen Of The New Year’, ‘Wages Day’ and the soundtrack to every 18th/Wedding/Anniversary party I attended that year, ‘Real Gone Kid’!
It is a toss-up between this and ‘Raintown’ as to which is my favourite album of theirs; I probably can’t pick; I adore them both.
If you haven’t heard the album before, give it a go. Come for the big singles and stay for the cracking album tracks, including my all-time favourite Deacon Blue song, ‘The World Is Lit By Lightning’.
Tracks To Try: Any of them.