Dexy's Midnight Runners: Classic Or Dud

I think for precisely the Soul/Stax/Northern Soul influences cited by Dr. C, 1980s Americans wouldn't have found Dexy's accessible because of the soul influences but in spite of them. Americans don't have the same tradition of Blue Eyed Northern Soul as the British (we have the original) -- I have always been curious about Nothern Soul, actually. What is it?

Dexy's only made sense to me in the context of British post-punk -- artists like the Jam, Secret Affair, Magazine -- because Kevin's Rowland's vocals and attitude make the overall effect come off more like the Boomtown Rats than conventional soul artists. He sounds more angry than hurt. 1980s American angry was more along the lines of JFA and the DKs and, you know, so Dexy's wouldn't necessarily appeal to that audience, either. And Dexy's do the weird, 2-part song thing that we American's don't usually understand (like in "Geno," the Jams's "Little Boy Soldiers;" Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" . . . ) Ok there are exceptions, but it usually presents a major stumbling block.

Classic, by the way. I never, ever, ever tire of of Don't Stand Me Down. I think 25% of my ILM posts mention it.

(Here is where I can put in my plug for Kevin's solo album "The Wanderer" --no, not that horrible covers record from a couple years ago but a county and western album from 1988 or so. Has anyone on the face of this earth besides me ever heard it?)

I was just listening to this right now, being as I'm listening to Too-Rye-Ay, and now my memory of this song is the exultant sing/dance/shoutalong to it at the ending of Tom E's wedding FAP in London last October -- and Mike Daddino dancing on a chair to boot.

Yeah, pretty damn classic.

I can essentially stand by what I and the lovely Msrk S said.

A question unanswered here is: why do Geezers love Dexy's?

Classic - Come on Eileen is one of the greatest pop songs ever written, and each of their albums is my favourite in a different way. If forced I might opt for Don't Stand Me Down as their masterpiece, but that's only because it's the last one I listened to. One of my favourite bands...

New Dexys album in 2012. Involves Mick Talbot.

http://thequietus.com/articles/06562-new-dexys-album-in-2012

Obviously there's been talk of this before but it feels like something might actually be occurring this time...

Kind of extcited and very nervous for this. I did like the two new songs on the best of and that demo they put on Myspace a few yeas ago was pretty cool so I'm hoping this will of a similar quality. The reunion show I saw them do in 2003 was the best gig I've ever been to, so much love for this band.

Guitarist is this fellow:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Hubbard

Seems like quite a lineup.

http://new.assets.thequietus.com/images/articles/6562/kev_1310344176_crop_420x300.jpg
http://www.boxofficefootball.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Arshavin-Meerkat.jpg

"Here is the influence "Don't Stand Me Down" had on the course of popular music.

None whatsoever.

You are all stupid scum and deserve to die, but that's another story."

http://www.hungoverdrawn.co.uk/dexys/03.html

only the plinth remains.

Chris Roberts all over the MFing money

Dug this out last week (I took a long time to find the DVD edition when I bought it. It should have been made obligatory)

The improvements (missing tracks added, general sonic improvements) and the fact that there were at least two singles that should have been issued, means that this was designed by KRowland to be a 'neglected masterpiece'.

As it was, the LP version was dominated by the conversational bits. It needed more songs, and now it has them.

At the moment, I am listening to "The Projected Passion Revue" on Spotify, I recommend this.

wd have to listen to it separately, i will never contradict K. Rowland's decisions on anything

Well, he decided it should come out, so yeh.

As it was, the LP version was dominated by the conversational bits. It needed more songs

I dont agree with this at all.

Well, that's how it seemed to me at the time.

(Yeah, that does read a bit Geirlike: purely my opinion there, probably should have played it more at the time.)

.. buat having "Kev Rowl's 13th dream" opening it now makes so much more sense, why did they not have it there in the first place? Running time issues?

BECAUSE IT'S PERFECT AS ORIGINALLY RELEASED

otm, 13th Dream a huge opener. Occasional Flicker makes sense, sort of, as statement of intent, but it's slow burn.

Quietus article mentions it, but in case Londoners do not know, Rowland DJing at How does It Feel on Saturday. I enjoyed it last time - he plays some 70s soul, sings along a bit (led crowd in acapella continuation of 'Let's Go Round Again'), generally A Good Time (though I spent large part of evening working myself up to say thank you for all the music, meant a lot to me etc etc to him). Will try to get along, but may have to persuade girlfriend. Not her crowd.

sorry xp otm, nv offtm

how often does he do this?

once every couple of years I think. This is the third time.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c1/Dexys_Midnight_Runners_Don%27t_Stand_Me_Down_Director%27s_Cut.jpg/220px-Dexys_Midnight_Runners_Don%27t_Stand_Me_Down_Director%27s_Cut.jpg http://www.strikeforce.com/imagesprites/vs.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/31/Dexys_Midnight_Runners_Don%27t_Stand_Me_Down.jpg/220px-Dexys_Midnight_Runners_Don%27t_Stand_Me_Down.jpg

maybe in two years i'll go

er, the director's cut looks way better at cd size, the original only works at vinyl size, so y'know

only saw the 12 minute This Is What She's Like Video (dailymotion + adverts, couldn't find a full youtube, soz) a few months ago – really show how great that look is/was.

The CD+DVD version sold for around £10 recently on ebay.

There's two on there now, but for £84 or £40, maybe waiting would be best...

I always thought the Creation issue was just fine. The "poor mastering" or whatever always struck me as total revisionist horseshit, an outgrowth of KR's tendency toward self-loathing (just as the "MY DEAR FRIEND VINCENT CRANE, RIP" stuff on the original DSMD reissue seemed way over the top in retrospect -- probably had more to do with the fact that the dude died and struggled with manic depression all his life than the fact that he was one of Kev's soul brothers).

Love the guy, but he's not the guy I go to for a strict accounting of the past.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6016/5931169483_b81253c34d_b.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6027/5931732896_f3f588d26d_z.jpg

KR looks like Alan Partridge in the pic from the opened-up booklet

I've always loved Don't Stand Me Down but the Director's Cut made it an even better album for me. Kevin Rowland's 13th Time works so much better as an opener than The Occasional Flicker. I seem to remember in the sleeve notes Kevin said he didn't want it on the original issue as he thought some of the drums were slightly out of time, didn't hear it myself. Not many moments in songs make me smile as much as him telling his joke half way through the song, especially the other band members reactions.

The DVD is essential, This Is What She's Like is so much fun but it's the performance of Listen To This that sums up just why I love them so much.

i've only ever heard the director's cut, haven't much tried to get into anything else they've done, but i fuckin love this to death:

You ever hear the one about the, ah, middle-class idiots, who sort of spend all their time analyzing their own emotions? And writin bullshit poetry? You know, that we're supposed to read? I mean as if we're fuckin interested.

where would that This Is What She's Like video have been seen at the time? i mean it's 12 minutes long and yet the single edit of the song was 3 minutes!

Absolutely nowhere, that's where.

Which was (one of) the problem(s).

New record.

I'll admit I was scared, but on a first listen it sounds tremendous. And their LPs are always growers, right?

Very Growers.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dexys-Midnight-Runners-Dont-Stand-Me-Down-CD-DVD-2002-Directors-Cut-/200749223250?pt=UK_CDsDVDs_CDs_CDs_GL&hash=item2ebd960d52

A reasonable price (at the moment), you guys!

I'm really addicted to Nowhere is Home at the moment, his vocals sound so strong. Really quite excited for the album now. Some days I think they might just be my favourite band ever.

Is the book about them by Richard White worth reading?

This was them last night. They were brilliant.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_Y2DL6vt9VM/T6RUOlDT7sI/AAAAAAAAEIk/--7CABupVH4/s887/1336159526568.jpg

How were the new songs?

It just gets stranger and stranger.

In G2 today, a confused piece by Barney Hoskyns about Southern rock (i.e. Allmans, Skynyrd) which basically says that Southern rock is great but actually it's not because of the area's history of racism. Great logical thinking there.

I don't get either why the Grauniad has suddenly decided to have a downer on Amazon. Lots of drivel both in print and on the website about poor benighted booksellers being put out of business by Amazon, it stops new writers coming through EXCUSE ME! Haven't I had a book out for the best part of a year? And who is stocking it in their shops? Precisely one in central London and it's not just me either - all you see when you go into Waterstones is the same old bullshit, celebrity kitchen nightmares and lots of loss-leader discounts. Take away the discounts and you have Daunt Books. Whereas Amazon actually stocks my book and that's where nearly all my sales have come from. If places like Waterstones were serious they'd tell their Finance & Marketing departments to go take a hike and actually take chances on stocking books by new or unknown writers. Rave reviews in The Wire and Mojo, called the best music book of 2011 in the Telegraph of all places - but none of that means anything to the chains - finance say shit, Waterstones jump on the shovel.

So I don't actually give a toss about how much tax Amazon are or aren't paying; they sell new writers, and bookshops do not, and until that changes bookshops have no right to have a go because they should be doing a hell of a lot more for the likes of us.

Wurgh? I don't know what happened there, some strangeness with my phone - It seems to have quoted some text by Marcello on a thread from a while back. Sorry about that.

ANYWAY I've lived with "One Day I'll Soar" for a week or two now and it has grown on me as much as - more than - I'd hoped. It sounds like Dexys, which is a great start. It's closest in feel to "Don't Stand Me Down" but there are some delicious flavours of classy '70s soul: some WIllie Mitchell feeling here, some Philly business there. Like DSMD it doesn't have anything as hooky as "Come On Eileen" or "Geno" but the songs insinuate themselves very nicely. As ever with Dexys, you wind up feeling you have learned quite a lot about Kevin, sometimes maybe too much, but I find there are quite a number of laugh-out-loud moments on here too.

I adore the thing he does with the in-song conversations, and I don't know of anyone who does anything even vaguely similar. Do you?

I am now extremely excited about seeing them play the whole thing on Tuesday, especially with Nate's positive report here.

Sorry I didn't reply. The new songs really were great, although the un-song conversations were a bit strange to see live - KR leaning on the other guy's shoulder and whispering in his ear; singing to pictures of a girl projected onto a screen, and then acting out scenes with the same girl later on.

Also, seeing them play an extended version of Come On Eileen made me appreciate what a great song it really is. Overplayed to death, but actually a brilliant song.

Blatant self-promotion post but my 7000 word, 12-page interview/feature on Dexys is the cover story in the new Uncut.

http://www.uncut.co.uk/sites/default/files/imagecache/magazine_small/2012/04/u181-uncut-cover-uk-crop.jpg

Still only £4.80!

Going in I was a bit unsure about the new album & wondering whether my head was in the right place for latest part of the journey of K Rowland, but that was spectacular, an amazing evening. Really really fun, charming & the band are in great shape. Cathartic.

obvs highlight was This is What's She's Like, but Old – 'I'm getting old! What can I do? Absolutely nothing!' - was immense.

Sounds great, wish I could have gone to see them this time round. The show I saw them do in 2003 was maybe the best gig I've ever seen.

I saw them in 2003 too - I don't think it was quite up there with that, but haha yeah that's a v high bar, those shows were something else.

I went there not really knowing what to expect, just thought they would be doing a straight forward hits set I guess. I did not expect all the sketches and little details they added to those songs. It was funny, moving and just ridiculous at times. This Is What She's Like (like you said) was the big highlight for me but really the setlist was perfect. Love this band so much.

yeah, this has a lot of those same elements - drama, intensity, self-mockery - & carried some bits over - like the 'how can I stop the burning?' Kev/Pete-as-Policeman routine (which was amazing again).

Haha, yeah that bit was amazing! I really love the album and would have liked to see it performed live but sadly I'm travelling in New Zealand and think by the time I get back to the UK the tour might be over.

& something I only saw recently - 9 minute Too-Rye-Ay era rework of There, There My Dear, w/ press-ups. So good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SQ1lHZP0es

just didn't realise they were playing the roundhouse on Friday, think I might go again. Interested to see:

Sadly, Madeleine Hyland is unable to do the shows, but we are delighted that Siobhan Fahey will step in to play the female role. We’re sad that Maddy isn’t with us, but really feel good about Siobhan’s involvement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5tDsR52Yjk#t=10.678776

This 1980 live recording shows a British "soul" band. The singer, Kevin Rowland, cries out his frustration being an Irishman living in England

whoa that there there my dear video is awesome!

YES it is

at this point, I'll do some press-ups

STOP

GO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmMPQ8H-ioo

Taken from the album Let The Record Show: DEXYS DO IRISH AND COUNTRY SOUL

Rowland DJing at How Does It Feel again in April:
https://www.howdoesitfeel.co.uk/hdifkevin.html
I missed the last one, but (as per me above) have been a couple of times and it is great fun.

spanning from Toots And The Maytals and David Bowie to T Rex and the Stooges, Kevin also sang along with some of the songs, making the night more like an intimate gig than a regular club.

I'm guessing he might get a bit more obscure in his choices than that, but sounds like fun anyway

That's a draft lyric for the first verse of "Come On Eileen"