Walking Back Home is an album by Scottish pop rock band Deacon Blue released in 1999. It was their first album since reforming that year after disbanding in 1994. A part studio/part compilation album, it contains nine of their earlier songs coupled with eight brand-new or previously unreleased songs.

Walking Back Home
Studio album by
Released11 October 1999
GenrePop, rock
LabelSony Music Entertainment
ProducerDeacon Blue, Jon Kelly, Steve Osborne, Warne Livesey
Deacon Blue chronology
Riches & More
(1997)
Walking Back Home
(1999)
Homesick
(2001)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

Track listing

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All songs written by Ricky Ross, except where noted:

  1. "Love Hurts" (Bryant, Acuff-Rose) — 4:24
  2. "Jesus Do Your Hands Still Feel the Rain" — 5:14
  3. "The Very Thing" — 3:35
  4. "The Day that Jackie Jumped the Jail" — 3:55
  5. "Love and Regret" — 5:02
  6. "Christmas and Glasgow" — 5:12
    • from the Oscar Marzaroli tribute album The Tree and the Bird and the Fish and the Bell
  7. "The Wildness" (Ross, Prime) — 5:48
  8. "When You Are Young" — 3:49
  9. "Love's Great Fears" — 2:44
  10. "Chocolate Girl" — 3:17
  11. "Plastic Shoes" — 3:40
  12. "A Brighter Star than You Will Shine" (Ross, Prime) — 4:38
  13. "Beautiful Stranger" (Ross, Prime) — 3:55
  14. "All I Want" — 4:44
  15. "When Will You (Make My Telephone Ring) [Edit]" — 4:21
  16. "Walking Back Home" — 5:01
  17. "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" (Bacharach, David) — 2:46
  • Tracks 1, 2, 6, 8, 11, 14, and 16 produced by Deacon Blue
  • Tracks 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 12, 15, and 17 produced by Jon Kelly
  • Track 5 produced by Warne Livesey
  • Track 13 produced by Steve Osborne

Personnel

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Deacon Blue

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Other personnel

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  • Mick Slaven — guitar on "Jesus Do Your Hands Still Feel the Rain", "Plastic Shoes" and "Love Hurts"
  • Brian Docherty — bass on "Jesus Do Your Hands Still Feel the Rain"
  • Gavin Wright — fiddle on "The Wildness" and "When You Are Young"

Song Commentary

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Quotes from Ricky Ross included in liner notes:

Jesus Do Your Hands Still Feel the Rain

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"'Jesus Do Your Hands Still Feel the Rain' was written for a film commission in 94 just as the band was about to fold. We did have a go at recording it but, in hindsight, didn't make the best job of it. The song was dropped from the film and despite visiting it occasionally in the years between I've never found a good arrangement. This time Ewen was on holiday and it seems to have made all the difference... Listen carefully and you hear him putting 10p in the phone as he drops in a bass part (turn it up very loud and you'll hear the organ at Blackpool Tower)."

Christmas and Glasgow

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"'Christmas and Glasgow' was recorded at CaVa — Robin Rankine must have been involved — and I'm sure Rachel Smillie played that whistle. It was only available before on the Oscar Marzaroli tribute record — you can see his work on this sleeve and a few others from our early days."

When You Are Young

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"'When You Are Young' was recorded as part of Fellow Hoodlums and played a good deal live at that time. Most of this is the original live take with Gavin Wright's fiddle added before we mixed."

Beautiful Stranger

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"'Beautiful Stranger' was recorded in a mill in Cookham and finished in Eden . . . that's in London . . . around 1993. It was only previously available to vinyl junkies . . . and predates any Madonna song of the same name and mentions the island of Gigha which no Madonna song I know ever did."

All I Want

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"'All I Want' started life as a possible track for the last studio album [Whatever You Say, Say Nothing] then got left behind. For technophobes this is from a rough mix, an old DAT and no one remembers when we recorded it or who pressed the red button — but it's as good as anything else here"

Walking Back Home

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"'Walking Back Home' was recorded at CaVa . . . that's in Glasgow with Ewen, Doug and myself and later Graeme and Lorraine overdubbing. Where was Jim? . . . I want to dedicate this to two of the people mentioned on the track: Warbeck and Linda . . . we all sang and we'll keep on singing."

References

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