NEWS

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30/01/12: CONFIRMED! DEAN AND IAN MCNABB - NEW!

Dean is very proud to announce that he may be playing a few songs before Ian McNabb’s set At The Red Door, West Kirby on 13 March.

The legendary former Icicle Works frontman has long been an influence and inspiration to Dean.

Check the Gigs Page for full details and the venue website. 

14/01/12: DEAN TO GET 'WET WET WET' WITH GRAEME CLARK AT THE O2 ACADEMY IN LIVERPOOL!

Dean will be supporting Graeme Clark, formerly of Wet Wet Wet, when his solo tour hits The O2 Academy 2, Liverpool, on 22 March. As well as opening, he will also be joining Graeme on stage during the main set.

For more details, plus a link to buying tickets, see the Gigs Page.

29/11/11: I WOULD FIGHT FOR YOU ALBUM OUT NOW FOR MUSIC4GOSH

I Would Fight For You - the charity album for Great Ormond Street Hospital, mentioned below, is now available to anybody who donates to the hospital fundraising charity Music4GOSH.

For details on the album, the other artists, and quite a bit about Dean, as well as how to donate and obtain your copy, check out Music4GOSH's website here.

02/10/11: DEAN FIGHTS FOR GREAT ORMOND STREET HOSPITAL

Dean’s version of the ballad I Would Fight For You from Bullets And Daffodils, has been chosen as the title track of a new charity album to be released in aid of the Great Ormond Street Hospital.

A new single version sung by Jay P McWinen from the stage show will also be released in aid of GOSH.

Below are some screenshots of the CD booklet featuring Dean's contributions (he's also contributed one of his earlier songs, Time To Heal, recorded with Wet Wet Wet). Click on each one for a larger version.

CD Booklet Front Cover	I Will Fight For You CD Booklet Page	Time To Heal CD Booklet Page

02/10/11: TWO GIGS NOW ANNOUNCED FOR DEAN AT WIRRAL INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESIVAL - NEW!

Further to our previous entry below, Dean is now doing two slots at The Wirral International Guitar Festival.

As well as the 6 November date below, Dean will be doing another date at the festival exactly 3 weeks later on Sunday 27 November. Both shows will be at Mersey Ferries' Woodside Ferry Terminal, and start at 11.30.

You can see a link for obtaining tickets on the Gigs Page.

19/09/11: BRILLIANT REVIEW OF ANALOGUE GRAVEYARD IN THE CHESTER CHRONICLE

Chester Chronicle's music reviewer Grahame Rhodes wrote the following really favourable review of Analogue Graveyard for the paper. You can read it online here, but the wording is reproduced below by permission of Grahame:-

DEAN JOHNSON: Analogue Graveyard (self-release, available through www.deanjohnsonmusic.co.uk)

ALBUM REVIEW by Grahame Rhodes

WITH his ongoing and highly successful Bullets & Daffodils project taking up much of his time – celebrating the life and works of Great War soldier and poet, Wilfred Owen – Birkenhead singer-songwriter Dean Johnson has found time to put out this fine collection of unreleased material, Analogue Graveyard – as he puts it on the sleeve... “these aren't out-takes – they are the best takes left off projects due to being too good!” It's a generous 18-track album, including contributions from song of his musical friends such as Mal Holmes of OMD, Henry Priestman, Graeme Clark of Wet Wet Wet, The Christians and Nick Harper.

Dean Johnson is much-admired in these quarters... a fine writer who deals in the 'hard knock' school of life and romance, and sometimes with admirable black humour, and he is never afraid of a political opinion. His sleeve notes shed light on the tracks... Dean opening up with recording details and anecdotes... to add to the enjoyment of his superb songs here. The guy should definitely be a lot more prominent and popular than he is!

The opening song is the lovely, haunting Journey Within, with Mal Holmes, a tune that was shelved in 2005 and finished this year in Germany, complete with a narrated Auden poem by Jo Moon; the following Silence Is Its Own Reply gained lots of attention when it originally came out. Initially containing an unreleased George Harrison lyric, but here we have the revised version minus said lyric... still a beautiful song and one of Dean's finest moments.

The pace changes for the excellent Upon My Soul with Henry Priestman and various members of Paul Carrack's band on board, this uptempo joyous version was shelved for Dean's Soul System album in favour of a bluesy acoustic version. From 2005, when Johnson admits he was not in a 'good place', comes the gentle Yesterday's Dream, recorded in a shed with Marc Joy... a song he loves himself and again quite haunting and beautiful.

New York Times tells a tale of “someone that came back from a long time ago and knocked me off my feet...” written on a rooftop with writer Gavin Martin and a naked woman! Johnson says in his notes this could be his best ever song and indeed it is a belter! He is joined by The Christians on the soulful Keep It To Myself, a band he often used to support on tour, and this was recorded in the Caribbean no less.

Other highlights are the ode to his home town of Birkenhead, Reality Town... with Johnson telling it like it is in a Northern working-class town; Mary's Song is one of my favourites, the version here is just the vocal and guitar track, minus strings and drums. He shows his sense of humour on the wry Police, Vets And Cookery, recorded live with Nick Harper, from his first major tour supporting Squeeze, that resulted in The Road To Hull album.

He accompanies himself on piano on the harrowing and sparse Eyes Of Childhood, before the very ELO-influenced I'm So Happy I Could Cry, recorded with Wet Wet Wet, and the chorus eventually ended up in another song, Cappuccino Angel. The collection ends with the great Ruby, here sung by Chris Braide... a lovely performance of a really fine song.

03/09/11: LANGUAGE TO REFORM AFTER 28 YEARS

Dean Johnson is to reunite with former Language drummer and co-founder Andy Golborne for the first time for nearly 30 years.

The duo will reform for part of Dean's set at The Wirral International Guitar Festival on Sunday 6 November at Woodside in Birkenhead.

Language were one of the biggest bands on the Wirral live scene in the early 80s, winning Radio Luxembourg’s best new band title.

Dean says, “The band went through dozens of line-ups but it really was Andy and me that were Language. This time around he is going to play guitar and sing so it will be a brand new sound. I’m very excited to revisit the songs again.”

For more about Language, check out this link: http://music-isms.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html

31/08/11: NEW SONG FROM DEAN

Dean has a new song out for the Save Ingleborough Road Playing Fields campaign. The campaign is to save the aforementioned playing fields (formerly owned by The Birkenhead Institute but now by Tranmere Rovers Football Club who use them as a training ground for youths) from development into houses.

The playing fields are actually a war memorial to 88 former pupils of the Institute who fell in The Great War. Amongst those remembered are poet Wilfred Owen and three holders of The Military Cross.

The song is called This Land Is Your Land, adapted from Woody Guthrie's original dustbowl classic. On the left below is the official video, and on the right is Dean singing it on a special edition of Spencer Leigh's On The Beat show on BBC Radio Merseyside, broadcast on Bank Holiday Monday 29 August. In true Dean style, he got all the studio guests singing along!

28/06/11: ANALOGUE GRAVEYARD NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD

We now have a downloadable version of Analogue Graveyard avaiable via this site. For full details and how to buy, see our Shop page. Both CD and download feature some very honest notes about each song from Dean himself.

Full track listing for both download and CD as below:-

1. Journey Within (with Mal Holmes, OMD)
2. Silence Is Its Own Reply (studio revised version of Harrison collaboration)
3. Upon My Soul (with Henry Priestman and members of The Paul Carrack Band)
4. Carousel (with Graeme Clark)
5. Yesterday's Dream
6. Come To Pass (with Graeme Clark)
7. New York Times (original audio verite version)
8. Keep It To Myself (with The Christians)
9. Reality Town
10. Mary's Song (acoustic version without strings and drums)
11. Running Away (with Mal Holmes)
12. Caffeine Society (with Graeme Clark)
13. Get Wot You Give (with Graeme Clark)
14. How I Became
15. Police, Vets and Cookery (live with Nick Harper)
16. Eyes Of Childhood
17. I'm So Happy I Could Cry (with Wet Wet Wet)
18. Ruby (sung by Chris Braide)

12/05/11: COMING SOON... DEAN'S NEW ALBUM, ANALOGUE GRAVEYARD

A TREASURE TROVE FOR JOHNSON-ITES!

18 super-rare unreleased gems from the archives, many of these tracks were held back simply because they were too strong to be mere album tracks.

These are the jewels in Dean's back catalogue, dusted down from the shelves of mythology.

A stellar cast of superstars, including Graeme Clark (Wet Wet Wet), Mal Holmes (OMD), Henry Priestman (The Christians), Chris Braide (Squeeze)… and that controversial Beatle-y thing, all feature in these hidden gems often thought lost forever.

Limited to 50 SIGNED COPIES, this historic release of recordings never heard before is available to order now for £10.00 inclusive of postage.

This is Dean’s first album of new material for 5 years. Be part of the event and claim a copy now! To purchase, click on the button below.

Below is the video to The Journey Within (with Mal Holmes from OMD), featured on this album...

03/02/11: DEAN'S NEW SINGLE GETS A NEW VIDEO...

A video for the single The Wilfred Owen Story (Welcome to Birkenhead) has been made by the the fast rising independent Australian film-maker Christopher John Warman (http://www.youtube.com/chriwarm). Chris's simple line drawings bring a wonderful softness to the song's story, but the images remain very strong.

We will be approaching several TV and Internet channels to run it, and Chris's images will grace the back projections of forthcoming Live performances of Bullets and Daffodils.

Below is the video...

20/01/11: NEW SINGLE FROM BULLETS & DAFFODILS IS IMMINENT!

The Wirral Globe has announced that Dean's new single will be The Wilfred Owen Story Part 1 (Welcome To Birkenhead).

The single features the voice of actor Christopher Timothy, narrating the story of Wilfred's early life in Birkenhead to music by Dean.

You can read the full article here (opens in a new window). The picture to the left is the single artwork. Click on it for a full sized version (also opens in a new window).

YouTube video can be viewed here.

15/01/11: DEAN GETS BACKING FROM MAYOR OF WIRRAL FOR WILFRED OWEN STORY CAMPAIGN

The Mayor of Wirral is backing the campaign for a permanent site to house The Wilfred Owen Story.