Album: Don't Stand Me Down
Artist: Dexys Midnight Runners
Artist: Dexys Midnight Runners
Born: Wolverhampton, West Midlands
Released: September 1985
Genre: Punk Soul
Influenced: The Pogues, The Levellers, Primal Scream, Jens Lekman, Cee Lo Green
Come On Eileen. The song that's filled a thousand dancefloors. That's all I knew, or ever really wanted to know, about Dexys Midnight Runners until fairly recently. What turned this around was listening to Pete Paphides' superb BBC radio series, Follow-up Albums. That helped me appreciate Kevin Rowland's artistic vision, as well as his endless ability to reinvent himself musically. Starting out as a punk rocker in a band killed the Killjoys, Rowland and Kevin "Al" Archer formed Dexys Midnight Runners, a reference to how amphetamines made them feel at Northern Soul nights, and came up with an original blend of punk and sixties R&B on their first LP, Searching For The Young Soul Rebels. The record's wonderful brass-heavy sound is captured in singles like Geno. Roland & Archer had a bizarre ethical code for the band: drinking before gigs was not allowed, fare dodging and shoplifting were OK. Fashion was also important, and for 1982 album, Too Rye-Ay, the band stopped looking like extras from On The Waterfront and donned some dungarees. The strangest fashion choice of all coincided with Don't Stand Me Down, when new line-up of Rowland, violinist Helen O'Hara, saxophonist Nick Gatfield and guitarist Billy Adams dressed up as Ivy League students and Wall Street bankers (see original cover above and cover of 2002 Director's Cut release below).
For the Director's Cut edition, "Kevin Rowland's 13th Time" was added as the opening track, a reference to Rowland's 13 arrests. He'd always been politically-minded and on Don't Stand Me Down he explores his feelings about his Irish heritage and about class politics in intricate detail. The original opening track, The Occasional Flicker, refers to a spark of passion that invigorates him throughout the album, and it's this single-mindedness that drove Rowland to use the success of Come On Eileen to create by far his most experimental record, which likewise cost a huge sum in studio money. On finishing the LP in 1985, he didn't allow the label (Universal) to release a single. This decision, along with the bizarre change in the band's look and the use of long periods of dialogue in the music, made the album bomb with the public and critics alike. This Is What She's Like runs for over 12mins, attacking the inauthentic language and politics of the aspirational middle-class, as a way of defining what his new lover is not like. The song's daring structure is impressive, shifting from dialogue to "a cappella" vocals to piano and trumpet interludes, and about 7-8mins in wonderful Beach Boys harmonies appear. One Of Those Things is another brilliantly original song and arrangement, this time allowing Rowland to hold forth on the current music scene and British attitudes to Ireland. There are also beautiful love songs (Listen To This, Reminisce Part Two) and Rowland's personal reflection on his roots (Knowledge of Beauty). The album isn't available on Spotify and the videos are not on YouTube, but you can watch many of the original music videos here.
Come On Eileen. The song that's filled a thousand dancefloors. That's all I knew, or ever really wanted to know, about Dexys Midnight Runners until fairly recently. What turned this around was listening to Pete Paphides' superb BBC radio series, Follow-up Albums. That helped me appreciate Kevin Rowland's artistic vision, as well as his endless ability to reinvent himself musically. Starting out as a punk rocker in a band killed the Killjoys, Rowland and Kevin "Al" Archer formed Dexys Midnight Runners, a reference to how amphetamines made them feel at Northern Soul nights, and came up with an original blend of punk and sixties R&B on their first LP, Searching For The Young Soul Rebels. The record's wonderful brass-heavy sound is captured in singles like Geno. Roland & Archer had a bizarre ethical code for the band: drinking before gigs was not allowed, fare dodging and shoplifting were OK. Fashion was also important, and for 1982 album, Too Rye-Ay, the band stopped looking like extras from On The Waterfront and donned some dungarees. The strangest fashion choice of all coincided with Don't Stand Me Down, when new line-up of Rowland, violinist Helen O'Hara, saxophonist Nick Gatfield and guitarist Billy Adams dressed up as Ivy League students and Wall Street bankers (see original cover above and cover of 2002 Director's Cut release below).
For the Director's Cut edition, "Kevin Rowland's 13th Time" was added as the opening track, a reference to Rowland's 13 arrests. He'd always been politically-minded and on Don't Stand Me Down he explores his feelings about his Irish heritage and about class politics in intricate detail. The original opening track, The Occasional Flicker, refers to a spark of passion that invigorates him throughout the album, and it's this single-mindedness that drove Rowland to use the success of Come On Eileen to create by far his most experimental record, which likewise cost a huge sum in studio money. On finishing the LP in 1985, he didn't allow the label (Universal) to release a single. This decision, along with the bizarre change in the band's look and the use of long periods of dialogue in the music, made the album bomb with the public and critics alike. This Is What She's Like runs for over 12mins, attacking the inauthentic language and politics of the aspirational middle-class, as a way of defining what his new lover is not like. The song's daring structure is impressive, shifting from dialogue to "a cappella" vocals to piano and trumpet interludes, and about 7-8mins in wonderful Beach Boys harmonies appear. One Of Those Things is another brilliantly original song and arrangement, this time allowing Rowland to hold forth on the current music scene and British attitudes to Ireland. There are also beautiful love songs (Listen To This, Reminisce Part Two) and Rowland's personal reflection on his roots (Knowledge of Beauty). The album isn't available on Spotify and the videos are not on YouTube, but you can watch many of the original music videos here.
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