Dexys: one of those things
Let’s talk about the passion again. It will not have escaped the attention of those who study the music media for comings and goings that Kevin Rowland and Dexys have returned to the limelight with a new album “One Day I’m Going To Soar”. There have been a couple of interviews, a stomping set of five star live shows showcasing that new record and an appearance this week on Later With Jools. For those who know Dexys merely as the “Come On Eileen” band who soundtracked school discos, there is sure to be much frowning, shoulder-shrugging and so-whatery accompanied by comments about what the band are wearing (Dexys were always at the cutting edge of satorial elegance) rather than what the band are playing.
But for those who have spent years going back time and time again to albums like “Don’t Stand Me Down”, “Searching for the Young Soul Rebels” and even the often overlooked Celtic Soul Brothers’ thump of “Too-Rye-Aye”, the prospect of “One Day I’m Going To Soar” is an exciting one. Aside from Rowland’s solo albums (the second of these, “My Beauty”, released by Alan McGee’s Creation), there hasn’t been an album of new music under the Dexys (nee Dexy’s Midnight Runners) moniker since 1985. There were reunion shows in 2003 and occasional sightings of Rowland as a DJ, but no work attempting to match or even better what was in the back-catalogue has arrived until now.
It will be interesting to guage the reaction to the new material beyond the heartland of older music writers who grew up with Dexys myths playing out in their imagination. Oh, how we lapped them up: the team of hard-chaws exuding pugilist charm in On the Waterfront reefer jackets and caps that met in caffs and went running together, the band who went from Top of the Pops’ fixtures in dungarees, berets and stubble with “Eileen” to release “Don’t Stand Me Down” and confuse the hell out of everyone with a much different sound and preppy, classic Madison Avenue, pre-Mad Men advertising executive tailoring (the attire was always an important part of the Dexys’ story), the stories which emerged from Rowland’s infamous Reading Festival appearance in 1999, which he talks about here.
But it was the music as much as everything else which fired up your imagination. 1980s’ “Searching for the Young Soul Rebels” wasn’t a debut album so much as a statement of intent, Rowland and his soul warriors channeling the spirit of veteran soul men like Otis Redding and Jackie Wilson, the romantic passion of Van Morrison and the brassy soul of deepest Birmingham into a set which burned brightly.
Two years later, “Too-Rye-Aye’s” barrage of fiddles, brass and impassioned genius (that would be Rowland aiming for the stars and getting there) made for a wonderfully rough-house affair with Rowland’s fascination with Van Morrison back when Van was decent continuing to form a startling Caledonian soul album. Brave, bold and audacious, “Don’t Stand Me Down” was the high water mark of Rowland’s soulful odyssey. Surprisingly mellow and countryified in places, “Don’t Stand Me Down” was, oddly, badly received on its release in 1985, but is now regarded as something of a lost treasure. “One Day I’m Going To Soar”, then, has a lot to live up to.
After the jump, you’ll find an interview I did with Rowland back in 2007 when he came to Dublin to do a spot of DJ-ing. He talked about etiquette, burlesque and, yes, Van the Man. He also talked about the new songs he had written and how important it was not to rest on his laurels.
“It’s good to move on, it would be pointless to be singing about nothing or performing old songs that don’t mean anything to me. I’m someone who has to express exactly what I feel. Anything else just won’t do.”


