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One of the many great travesties about how pop and rock music works is that people buy more songs by the young and naïve than the more mature and wise, hence drenching themselves in inexperienced philosophizing than the insight and discernment of our most useful artists. In some ways Deacon Blue’s Ricky Ross never fell foul of the nonsense pop as he came to his years of fame and million selling records in his late twenties. However, Pale Rider is unlikely to sell the millions that When The World Knows Your Name did and, now that less know Ricky’s name, they are going to leave an album on the shelf that really would be a helpful companion as they journey through living.

First though let us state that as an album, musically, this ranks alongside Deacon Blue’s finest work "Raintown." It is a songwriter at the peak of his craft, accompanied by a group of companions who know exactly how to embellish the songs with just the right instrumentation and honed carefully by the soundness of producer David Scott, mainman with "The Pearlfishers." Everything seems so caringly thought out, not to diffuse the raw honest muse but to actually enhance it and make it even more soulful. Though the title track takes the sparse approach, that works for Springsteen on Devils, and Dust_and The Streets Are Covered In Snow has a much fuller sound with a blistering guitar workout there is a sense of unity to the mood of the piece.

This all might have something to do with the content which seems to be the foundation to the structure. Ross is closer to 50 than 40 and he is dealing with the nature of that season of his life, empathizing with his peers and throwing out some advice to those far distant from it, knowing that they have no intention of listening but that someday they will know. Family is important and "I Know Its Only Sunday" is a song of thankfulness for ordinary moments with loved ones that hold within them the extraordinary. "Boys Break the Things You Love The Most" starts with the specifics of his wee boy breaking his favorite toy and takes us on a universal male confessional. "Kichijoji" is about the love of a vocation that takes you away from family and the longing to be with them just for a minute. Lessons of love are rife too, particularly in "If You’ve Got The Times It’s Gonna Take" which reminds us of the patience involved in a love worth achieving.

Loss is another recurrent theme. Ross lost his Deacon Blue guitarist and friend Graeme Kelling in the year he was writing _Pale Rider_ and it hangs over the album. "Streets Covered In Snow," "History and In the End" specifically address it the last of these being a poignant closer to the album. 

Ross’s opening lines on the album, from "She Gets Me Inside" a song covered by Ronan Keating, say a lot about where his muse inhabits right now – “Here’s song for the Maker/Maybe all the rest are just for display.” There is no throw away or shallow “display songs” here. Calvary is a strong image of a title and is maybe the most radio friendly song in the batch. Ironically about Christmas rather than Easter, it is a profound song that warns Christian believers from rushing straight to the cross and missing the wonder of the incarnation and the teaching in between the two main moments in Jesus life and the Church calendar. Ross’s faith is more and more in evidence but though strong in intent it is gentle in utterance. 

Writing for a living could make a songwriters'work go conveyor belt plastic but it seems to be the reverse for Ross. Not in quite a lengthy time has Ross been more open and subjective and yet more universal. There are no fillers here, no question marks. This one of the great pop albums of recent years. Marvellous! 
  
Steve Stockman  5/21/2005