Whatever You Say, Say Nothing

Whatever You Say, Say Nothing
Studio album by Deacon Blue
Released	1 March 1993
Studio	AIR Studios (London) The Manor Studio (Oxfordshire) Outside Studios (Oxfordshire)
Genre	Alternative rock dance-rock baggy pop
Length	43:17
Label	Columbia
Producer	Steve Osborne Paul Oakenfold
Deacon Blue chronology
Fellow Hoodlums (1991) Whatever You Say, Say Nothing (1993) Our Town - The Greatest Hits (1994)
Singles from Whatever You Say, Say Nothing
"Your Town" Released: 16 November 1992 "Will We Be Lovers" Released: 1 February 1993 "Only Tender Love" Released: 13 April 1993 "Hang Your Head" Released: 5 July 1993
Alternative Cover
Cover of US release

Whatever You Say, Say Nothing is the fourth studio album by Scottish rock band Deacon Blue, released in March 1993 by Columbia Records. It was the group's final original album before their initial dissolution in mid-1994.

Wishing to pursue a new musical direction, Deacon Blue recorded the album with the dance production team of Steve Osborne and Paul Oakenfold, hoping that the team's different background would provide a creative challenge. Oakenfold agreed to the project in hopes of changing the band's sound to something edgier, but recording sessions were fraught with disagreement and Oakenfold, who believed the group were uninterested in his ideas, lost interest in the project. Breaking with the band's earlier, more soulful and folky work, Whatever You Say is a visceral, guitar-driven alternative rock record with dance textures and driving rhythms. Lead singer Ricky Ross pens lyrics with more universal themes than on earlier records.

Promoted by the lead single and UK Top 20 hit "Your Town", Whatever You Say, Say Nothing reached number four in the UK Albums Chart,^[1] but was less successful than the band's earlier albums, and failed to chart in the United States. The album received an unenthusiastic response from music critics and the group's new direction baffled some of their fans. Some critics have described the album as a late entry into the dance-rock and baggy movements of the early 1990s. In support of the album, Deacon Blue toured Europe in 1993, with an elaborate stage set featuring scaffolding and corrugated sheets. The record was re-released in 2012 by Edsel Records as a two CD and DVD set.