I was surprised by the thinness of the Dexys back catalogue. Only 5 albums and a massive gap between 1985 and 2012. In my mind Kevin Rowland has been bothering us with his high opinion of himself almost constantly since 1980. That's good though because I need something quick to clean the palate after 20 odd Jethro Tull albums. Rowland's vision here was a very brassy, Northern Soul sound and the look was donkey jackets and woolly hats. They pull it off pretty well too. First up on the album is 'Burn It Down' which was originally recorded as 'Dance Stance'. Now, 'Dance Stance' lent it's name to a Big Noise on the late eighties Tamworth music scene, their career well documented in the Tamworth Herald's 'Music Box' column. Dunno what they were like although it is entirely possible that they were Dexys-derivative. They did end up on the rebooted Opportunity Knocks with Bob Monkhouse (for the kids out there, he was like Jimmy Carr, but even oilier, and Opportunity Knocks was like Britain's Got Talent, but with talent). 'Burn It Down' is chippier and more foul-mouthed than its radio-friendly single predecessor and starts with that old trick of simulating someone going along the radio frequencies. We hear 'Smoke On The Water', 'Holidays In The Sun' by the Pistols and 'Rat Race' (I think) by The Specials, before Rowland shouts out some stuff and then rather tetchily says "For God's sake, burn it down" and the song starts. His "shut your fucking mouth" really does drip with malice. He doesn't seem like a nice person and he probably doesn't care if you think so. The opening to the slow paced 'I'm Just Looking' has Rowland whispering unintelligibly into the microphone in what I found to be an utterly repellent fashion. Main breakthrough single is 'Geno', notably mostly for the trademark "Brrrrrrrrrrr's". There's some frenetic xylophone work on 'Seven Days Too Long' that is reminiscent of the theme to John Craven's Newsround. There's some interesting song titles here: "The Teams That Meet In Caffs", "Tell Me When My Light Turns Green" and the falsetto delivered upbeat pop of "Thankfully Not Living In Yorkshire It Doesn't Apply". Rowland sees fit to inflict his poetry on us before the end. 'Love Part 1' (no part 2 of course, there never is). He swears a bit, sounds pissed off and backs it with some smokey jazz sax. Of course it's not as profound as he'd like to think. They do finish well though. 'There There My Dear' goes overboard on the trumpet stabs and brrrrs and sounds the absolute business.
Side 1
Burn It Down
Tell Me When My Light Turns Green
The Teams That Meet In Caffs
I'm Just Looking
Geno
Side 2
Seven Days Too Long
I Couldn't Help It If I Tried
Thankfully Not Living In Yorkshire It Doesn't Apply
Keep It
Love Part 1
There, There, My Dear
A real hazard of being in a chart band in the UK in the eighties was that you had to show your face on the Saturday morning kids shows. And the inevitable question that the unimaginative snotty-faced youth of the day would ask is "Where did you get your name?". It drove the likes of T'Pau and Duran Duran up the wall to the extent that they may have wished they'd called themselves The Carol Decker Ensemble or Simon and the Effeminates. Anyhow, I have no memory of Dexy's turning up on Saturday Superstore and maybe that's because the derivation of the name may have caused the uber-professional Sarah Greene to quickly move the conversation on. Possibly a less easily foreseen consequence of being a pop-tart is that your most famous song becomes first name on the team sheet when compiling your Wedding Disco Cheese playlist. 'Come On Eileen' has become tedious in the extreme, and is one of those songs that not only does Dave Double-Decks wheel out at the first opportunity, but is also very much a girls song (the blokes get Hi Ho Silver Lining and had better be satisfied with it). A real handbag-dancer, although as I have noted once before, no-one quite knows what to do when it comes on. So now we have the Oirish Ragamuffin look, dungarees, neckscarves, plimsolls and generally looking a bit unwashed. The brass is at least partly replaced by fiddles by drafting in The Emerald Express, which seems to have been created specifically for Rowland's grand plan. However, deny it if you like, but he could churn out a good pop song and the opening 'The Celtic Soul Brothers' has nothing wrong with it at all. The other notable entry on this album is Van the Man's 'Jackie Wilson Said'. Dexy's do make it their own, even if Van's fingerprints are all over it. Possibly just as famous for the performance on The Pops where a large photo of darts player Jocky Wilson was used as the backdrop. I think we can assume that there were some wags operating in the BBC set dressing department. Here's a weird thing, I think French keyboard-noodlers Air ripped off part of the piano riff on the rather chaotic 'I'll Show You' for 'Kelly Watches The Stars', although it's probably a fairly standard musical structure. Sometimes his ambition overtakes him on that song and on 'Until I Believe In My Soul'. Just too much going on and Kev really does like the sound of his own voice, which is unfortunate. Oh. And on Spotify, 'Love Part II' turns up. Just as bad as Part I.
Side 1
The Celtic Soul Brothers
Let's Make This Precious
All In All (This One Last Wild Waltz)
Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile)
Old
Side 2
Plan B
I'll Show You
Liars A to E
Until I Believe In My Soul
Come On Eileen
Is it a tribute to some of Rowland's favourite artists? Namely Van Morrison, Lou Reed and Warren Zevon. Here's the case for the prosecution. Exhibit A: Opening track 'The Occasional Flicker' contains a lot of spoken rambling in the style of Morrison, along with plenty of soul-jazz fusion. However it is irritating rather than inspiring and he might be sharing a discussion of a urinary tract infection when he starts going on about his problem with a 'burning sensation'. Exhibit B: 'Knowledge Of Beauty' includes "bom bom bom" bits that are almost identical to Reed's 'Satellite Of Love'. Exhibit C: Zevon's piano phrase from 'Werewolves Of London' is lifted almost wholesale on 'One Of Those Things'. There's way too much chit-chat going on here, and (coming from the general area myself I feel I can comment on this), his Brummie accent isn't the most attractive. Rowland clearly fancies himself as a poet, and maybe he's not that bad at it, but this is supposed to be a musical endeavour he just succeeds in giving the impression that he takes himself far too seriously. There's things to enjoy. 'Listen To This' captures some of the original energy of 'Soul Rebels' and 'The Waltz' foreshadows the style of the rather good them tune to TV sitcom 'Brush Strokes' - 'Because Of You'. But this was the last album for 27 years. The 'look' portrayed on the cover is described as 'Ivy League'.
Track Listing
The Occasional Flicker
This Is What She's Like
Knowledge Of Beauty
One Of Those Things
Reminisce Part Two
Listen To This
The Waltz
Now, for an embarrassing admission of poor planning and research I realize that the last two albums are not available as yet on Spotify, so here I must end. For some artists I might buy the missing albums, but Dexy's don't deserve it. If I get a chance in time I'll add them. But this is where it ends for now.
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