Reviews (page 2 of 6)
Finally got a Dexys album to see what they're all about. Unfortunately, they're not impressing me at all. They're basically operate in one of two modes on this album. Either they're chasing the sound from Come On Eileen, or they're making (What is to my ears) bog standard 80'd bar blues. Like, they straight up ripped off Werewolves of London's riff for One of Those Things. Can we leave that poor song alone and stop sampling/ripping it off for a song that is nowhere near as good? So yeah. Perfectly fine 80's bar blues, but that is not a genre that is going to get me excited for the music. Dexys probably belong on the list, but 3 albums is egregious. Just keep the album with Come On Eileen on the list and call it a day.
For a brief moment in 1982 it seemed that you couldn’t move for roving bands of scruffy herberts dressed like tramps in ripped dungarees and neckerchiefs, playing fiddles and proclaiming (apparently completely seriously) that they were the only people who’d ever heard of Jackie Wilson. Anyhoo, after a couple of hits they vanished before resurfacing three years later with their third album. On the plus side, they’ve managed to put on some smarter clothes and slimmed down the band to a more manageable four members. As a result the music is a little more laid back with less of the previous faux Irish too-ray-ay malarkey. On the negative side, we still get too much of Kevin Rowland’s peculiarly affected honking singing style and some left field snippets of conversation dropped in between the songs. There’s also a very odd track complaining about everything on Radio One sounding the same (mate, other stations are available, and maybe you should have tried listening to John Peel instead of the Breakfast Show). This would have had more impact if it hadn’t just been a blatant copy of the riff from Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon (who had to be credited on later releases of the album). Tramp-tastic!
9 albums to go. But a third Dexy’s? Was the guy who put this list together in the band? I consulted chat: You’re not wrong to be baffled — three Dexy’s albums in that book does feel like a practical joke played on anyone who’s ever thought, “Yeah, one was probably enough.” Here’s the best possible justification — not a defence, just an explanation of how this happened. ⸻ The short answer The 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die doesn’t just reward greatness. It rewards narrative significance, genre disruption, and critical reappraisal — sometimes to an eye-rolling degree. Dexy’s tick all three boxes. ⸻ The long, reluctant explanation 1. Searching for the Young Soul Rebels (1980) This is the one that actually earns its place. • Fuses punk urgency with Northern Soul and R&B • Politically charged, working-class, confrontational • Sounded nothing like its peers at the time Verdict: Fine. Fair. No argument. ⸻ 2. Too-Rye-Ay (1982) This is where things get… generous. • Hugely influential in image (Dungarees! Fiddles!) • Spawned one of the most unavoidable singles in pop history • Represents a hard pivot from soul-punk to Celtic pop romanticism The problem: Its inclusion is less about album depth and more about “this moment mattered culturally”. Verdict: Dubious, but you can see the editorial logic squinting. ⸻ 3. Don’t Stand Me Down (1985) This is the critic’s pet. • Initially ignored, later reappraised • Kevin Rowland’s emotionally naked, rambling, almost anti-commercial vision • Now framed as a “misunderstood masterpiece” Translation: It failed, therefore it was brave, therefore it must be important. Verdict: This is the most contentious one — it’s here because critics love a redemption arc. ⸻ Why this feels so wrong Because the book often behaves like: “Influential + British + awkward + critically rehabilitated = mandatory inclusion” Which is how you end up with: • Three Dexy’s albums • While genuinely towering artists get one (or none) • And whole genres get tokenistic coverage ⸻ The real, unspoken reason The book has always had a UK-centric, rock-journalist bias, especially toward: • Post-punk adjacent acts • Artists who “took risks” • Albums that allow critics to feel clever for liking them Dexy’s are catnip for that mindset. ⸻ Final ruling ⚖️ • 1 album? Absolutely. • 2 albums? Questionable. • 3 albums? Editorial indulgence bordering on parody. If the list were rebuilt today with stricter standards, Too-Rye-Ay or Don’t Stand Me Down would be the first to go — and no one outside a Mojo roundtable would lose sleep.
Oh my god why is every song either a spoken word interlude or 10 minutes, pick a lane.
Reading reviews I also agree that the fact that all three of the band's albums being on the list is a bit ridiculous. I'm hoping this one is the worst of the three though, shame I got it first. This album is just deeply okay, not horrendous but not something I'd ever listen to again. Would have been happy giving it a three but it sounds unfinished in many places, the gaps in the middle of 7+min tracks give off the air of being still in the editing process.
Didn't need more Dexys tbh. Weirdly feted by some sections in the UK, but between Kevin's drone and *that* bastard song you hear at ever wedding, it's baffling they made this list once.
Not my thing musically and I don't dig the vocals for an entire album. Come On Eileen is fun at parties but it's not on this album. Not completely bad, but for me, definitely not "must hear before you die".
Is it a forgotten classic? Sorry Kevin, no it’s not.
This band did not need 3 albums on this list.
Not awful, but it's just not very interesting is it? Every song feels like it drags on forever, whether it's 12 minutes long or 3.
Ok, 3 albums by these guys is wild. They’re pretty much one hit wonders and they’ve already used up all their lightning in a bottle at this point. It’s no surprise they didn’t release a single off here, the only memorable track is Werwolves of London. A truly ridiculous inclusion to the list.
The music was uninteresting and the lyrics were incomprehensible.
Not for me
Nope this could've been unheard before I die
Don’t Stand Me Down by Dexys Midnight Runners was an awful listen for me from almost the very beginning. The first track immediately took me out of the album — the vocals sounded like straight gibberish and came across as pretentious rather than artistic. The instrumentation itself is fine, but nowhere near good enough to make up for whatever is going on vocally. Then the song drags on with an extended talking section that feels completely unnecessary, adding minutes of dead air to an already frustrating experience. By the second song, I was already losing patience. It takes forever to actually start, and while there’s eventually some decent energy buried in there, the extended sections and more talk-singing ruin any momentum it builds. Honestly, if they had cut the first couple tracks and opened with the energetic section from song two, the album might have had a chance. Instead, it just keeps indulging itself. Three songs in, I realized I genuinely don’t like Dexys Midnight Runners. I can absolutely see why they’re remembered as a one-hit wonder, because this album is nowhere close to “must listen” territory. Knowledge of Beauty is Werewolves of London. The constant talk-singing becomes more irritating with every track, and none of these five-to-seven-minute songs justify their runtime with anything substantial. Reminisce was the point where I completely lost patience and started skipping ahead. Listen to This was the one moment that actually gave me something enjoyable to latch onto, but that may only be because the rest of the album set the bar so low. Then The Waltz arrived as another seven-minute endurance test that I couldn’t even finish. Overall, this album was a miserable experience for me. Bloated songs, pretentious spoken-word sections, irritating vocals, and very little payoff throughout. Outside of a few fleeting moments of energy, I found almost nothing worthwhile here. 0 stars.
Fuck off Eileen
Wow - that was unbelievably bad. No wonder they disbanded
Very boring, and actually kind of annoying. I'm surprised it's on this list.
This bloke is a 🚬
Nice
😯
Solid stuff. I liked it.
People didn't like this at the time???? People don't like this currently???? What the fuck???? How can you listen to this and not have a good time? I get the sentiment of "oh the singer sounds a little weird I don't like that" but seriously... The point of this project is to hear "all kinds of different things that you might not normally have heard." And this is definitely that. The weird conversational pieces, the pastiches and even the wholesale lifting of Werewolves of London, the 12 minute long song that's basically just a bit... There's so much beautiful guitar work in this album! The keys, my god! What the hell! You guys really, REALLY didn't think it was funny that the song where they rip off Werewolves of London while lamenting that everything on the radio sounds the same is like, extremely funny? Maybe you're not paying attention? Come on. You, yes you. Did you start using this site so you could hopefully roll into yet another classic rock album you've already heard a million times so you could give it a five out of five and smugly write a blurb about how "nobody really gets it like you do, not anymore?" Try being a little more adventurous. Try being a little more curious. Try to understand and try to seek meaning. I think this site telling you to "rate albums" after hearing them one time is also bogus. You can't give a proper rating after hearing something once. Anyway, open your damn mind. Don't just write things off. LISTEN!!!
I would say it's flawed in a very charming and lovely way.
Really amazing album first listen
"Don't Stand Me Down" offers a precious blend of the acoustics, including a great piano usage, and vocals that are in place. The first few tracks are especially lovely in terms of emotion, while the later part of the album is increasingly mournful. The music is rich, well-crafted and has a great balance of gentleness and liveliness. Pretty much every track has a complex and interesting composition. I also highly enjoy the random chatting stuff accompanied by good music as in "One of the Signs". This, along with songs 1, 2, and 7, would be my picks from the record, while the others, being a bit off the mark, are still good. It isn't an easy choice between four and five, but I'll go with the latter for the delight in the nuanced music of the album. Maybe it doesn't keep the the excellence all thoughout the runtime, but the better parts truly stand out, they are rich in good music choices and vary among themselves, making this album a decent entry om the 1001 list. Sort of 4.5 but leaning to 5 on the scale used here; a marvelous work by the Runners.
Kochani, nie znam tego albumu, ale przesłuchałem kilka utworów i chyba będzie piąteczka. Pierwsza dla nowego dla mnie albumu XD Bardzo miła muzyka. Są fragmenty szybsze i wolniejsze. Podobają mi się te wstawki mówione. No ogólnie nóżka mi się ruszała w rytm muzyki. Zdecydowanie zapiszę sobie ten album, a nawet z czystym sumieniem będę polecał go przyjaciołom i rodzinie.
I did not expect to like this album as much as I did. It had multiple suites, all of which were very creative and unique, but were also great. The spoken words were a nice inclusion, but I would have preferred less of them. However, it makes this album one of a kind, and there really is nothing exactly like it.
This was better than the other DMR I got, like I don't understand why this one is so maligned. This one is more daring and tries to be interesting and for the most part succeeds. Too Rye Ay has Eileen and then a bunch of mediocre songs.
Felt a bit "and album too fat" nice moments tho'.
I was not expecting to see Dexys Midnight Runners on this list, even less for something other than “Too Rye Ay.” I also wasn’t expecting to enjoy this album as much as I did, from the solid swampy grooves to the spoken word ramblings. Once I got over the uncanny “Werewolves of London” rip, the sassy lyrics of “One Of Those Things” became my favorite moment on the album, followed by the sweet, Van Morrison-esque ballad of “Reminisce Pt. 2.” This is the sad thing about breakout hits: they sometimes obscure an artist’s equally powerful, but less catchy, creations.
What a fascinating and strange listen. Think it might be brilliant, but not totally sure. Love that Kevin Rowland constantly reinvents himself, this album being a case in point, and did he invent the album skit?
Quit nice. Verrassend
This album is very funny, so so enjoyable at many times. And I would actually consider it better than what it is if the songs were not that long (many times because of the spoken monologues, which are not actually interesting enough for me to consider them a good or decent addition to the album). The length consumes a lot of the energy of some songs, and some of them are not that great to be so long. It just makes them reflect what lacks of them. But, surely, there are some interesting moments, as well as those violins that I love hearing combined with the popish New Wave of the band. It makes it feel so bright and cheerful that it makes of this album a very lively musical experience, so full of joy.
I’ve now listened to two (of the apparently three) DMR albums on the list. And neither is the one with their only American hit song. And contrary to the ratings on this website, I’ve really enjoyed both of them very much. I got their first album about six months ago and found it to be a great soulful mix of songs. I was a bit apprehensive today, reading a bit about this album ahead of listening. Lots of spoken parts? A commercial and critical bomb when it first came out? Yes, the spoken parts were a bit much (but also there wasn’t a whole lot), and I can understand why this didn’t sell back in 1985 after everyone would expect another Come On Eileen. But it was a hell of a lot of fun to listen to today. Musically it was all over the place in great ways (loved the Warren Zevon appropriation) and the vocals, while messy, just exude emotion. Standouts were Knowledge of Beauty, One of Those Things, and The Occasional Flicker. Respect to This is What She’s Like, even if it was all over the place. I’m not sure I’ll give it five stars, but I just might.
feels like im on acids
Very nice
I thought this was a veryyy interesting album. Some really cool songs. Some parts that dragged. As a Zevon fan, I dug the Werewolves of London sampling. The Waltz is a great finish. Might revisit soon
Pretty good!
I love Dexy’s. Screw all those arseholes who don’t. The second track on this slams, and even dips into a Beach Boys-esque homage. Then they improve werewolves of London. Ya gotta dig.
Really great stuff! Brilliant mix of humour, interesting music and a wonderful voice
I kinda get what he’s trying to achieve with the conversations but it unfortunately takes away from what are some really top tunes! Still great though.
I was only familiar with 'Come On Eileen' and the aesthetic of overalls and straw hats. I like 'Come On Eileen' a lot. It has a lot of variations, all of them good. It sounds sweet with a longing for love that sounds genuine. A lot of that I attribute to Kevin Rowland's unusual vocal timbre. This album is pretty far, musically, from the big hit single from their previous album. Most of the songs are long, most of them are chill. There's a lot of time spent on conversations that are meandering, and often funny, over a groove. All the aspects I like about Come On Eileen is present here, although the pop structure isn't. This is a hodgepodge of Blue Eyed Soul and New Wave with string arrangements. A third of the lyrics I couldn't parse through Rowlands thick accent. Doesn't matter. The melodies of the songs are so good, and his vocal melodies are even greater. I don't think I'd have ever listened to this without an extra push. I thought it was great. In it's favor, it's a good album to just put on and listen through, rather than cannibalize its best tunes for playlists.
Have heard of Dexys Midnight Runners Had not heard Don't stand me down Had not heard any of the singles. Obviously know C'mon Eileen, great track. Wasn't sure what I'd get with this. First listen and my thoughts were it had moments, but was a bit of a rambling mess at times. A couple more listens and it clicked with me. Yep, it's pretentious, commercial suicide, but I like it. I think it deserves to be on the list and I'm glad to have listened to it.
Goddammit why is this growing on me so much. I want to hate but it keeps getting better and more interesting. 4/5
Engaging
kind of shocked by how much i liked this record, i didn't really have any expectations for dexys beyond the big hit. the whole record is really fun but the standouts for me include "This Is What She's Like", the interpolation of "Werewolves of London," and literally any time a twangy country guitar appears. i actually thought the spoken word was fun, too. it was a nice throughline. good on ya, dexys.
interesting album, will revisit
This is surprisingly fantastic
Dexys is a very consistent band, I can understand why they have three whole albums in here. I am more appreciative of them than I once was, when I only knew them as a one hit wonder band. This album might be their best, honestly, I enjoy the format of a short tracklist with longer songs.
Surprisingly good for a band I'd pigeon holed as one hit wonders
I like the few songs of theirs I know. It just never occurred to me to go check them out further. I actually really enjoyed this album abd it's further weirdness.
Aż dziwi, że oni nagrali coś oprócz come on Eileen, które niestety nadal jest ich najlepszym wytworem. Sama płyta nierówna, czasem niestety przegadana, ale ma momenty, które wynoszą ją do 6.5/10 równane w górę.
My first thought was "are there really 3 Dexys albums on this list"? They're considered a one-hot wonder here in the US, so I hadn't heard this before. Didn't even know it existed. This one's by far my favorite of the 3. Every song had something that drew me in. Didn't care much for the "conversations" in the earlier songs, but other than that, I liked it a lot.
I like them! I like this album. I really like "one of those things", I think I've heard it before.
I like a lot of things about this album but some of the tracks just feel a little overly long and there were some other odd choices made when it comes to mixing (which I do know were likely intentional but that doesn't make me like them lol). The production, lyrics, vocal direction etc are sublime but I'm not sure if I'll listen to this one again. I think I'll listen to some of their other stuff though.
only knew this band from come on eileen, a song i really dislike. happy to report this album is nowhere near as obnoxious to me as that. kind of a broad-strokes palette of new wave music, hearing berlin trilogy bowie, television, david byrne, and XTC in here. i think for the most part these tracks stay in their groove for a bit too long, not shaking things up quite enough to justify the length; funny enough the longest track by far, this is what she's like, fully earns its twelve minutes to me. unfortunately though i don't think it does quite enough to shake itself free of its obvious influences. this could go up later but for now a 3.5 feels about right. EDIT: this actually rocks. this whole thing is taking the piss out of us and we got fucking played. idk how a track about how all music nowadays sounds that same that interpolates one of the most interpolated tracks of all time flew over my head. plus the musicianship is great.
Wasn’t sure what to make of this before listened. Dexys, the super mega agreed fantastic hit. This the follow up album that somewhat bombed on release. Initial, that’s interesting by end of day love it. Yeah the talking was initially confusing but when got into it all made sense and as said love it. Great slow burn of a record, really a bit of a lost gem. This is why I keep doing this list,4 Stars, definitely adding to my physical collection.
A bit slower paced than something like Searching for the Young Soul Rebels, but still decent enough. 3.5 bumped up to 4.
Perhaps miraculously, I’m at a 3.5 that I’ll bump up to a 4, just like their debut album. Is it weird to say I might’ve liked this one a little more? “Searching For The Young Soul Rebels” entirely survives off of a vibe – Kevin Rowland’s vocals are incomprehensible but endearing, their instrumental energy is good, if a bit reliant on flash, and somehow, all of its flaws don’t sink it too badly, due to a weirdly infectious energy that just makes that album feel nice. As a developed project though, I find this album’s more casual tone & more intimate vibe sort of refreshing, in a way that’s very unique for an era generally defined by flashy music videos & gaudy showmanship. Granted, much like their debut album, there’s still some flaws here – I think “The Occasional Flicker” kinda falls flat as an opening track, if only because it doesn’t really make its meaning super clear; the burning passion of his past are now nothing more than what the title suggests, but between a dull instrumental that doesn’t pick up too highly & a vocal performance that gets mixed down in a way that lessens the impact (& believe me, THAT is one of the bigger mixing problems here), it just doesn’t set a great opening tone. It’s not a bad track at all, and it does serve as a thematic entry to the whole album (lost passion & lack of self-importance due to the other struggles of the world, namely the ongoing Troubles in Ireland at the time), but as a musical beginning, it does set a bad tone, & one that probably turned a lot of people off. “This Is What She’s Like” as a 12-minute followup probably shut the door for a lot of people, as on its very surface level, it is just Kevin yapping & blueballing his way out of describing the girl he’s with, but for some fucking reason, at least for my sensibilities, the whole thing reminded me of a Smiling Friends type conversation. You know the ones; Charlie & Pim just go on some weird aside that feels unnatural to a flowing TV show, yet would feel very natural in an actual controlled setting. This track is one of those weird asides, one that feels unnatural to the flow of the album, and yet, as an actual conversation & a loose attempt to describe indescribable love, it just kinda really hooked me in. Somehow, it fills up its 12 minutes well, and it worked for me. “Knowledge of Beauty” is good. It reminds me a little of “Thousands Are Sailing” from that Pogues album we got a bit ago, if only for the emotional hook led on by love for one’s ancestors. The pacing is a little slow for a 7 minute track, but ultimately, I found myself compelled by what Kevin was talking about, even if his vocal delivery isn’t super compelling. “One of Those Things” is just “Sweet Home Alabama” but with Kevin’s frustrations over similar sounding music & anger at flippant dismissals of Ireland’s ongoing crisis behind it. It’s not a bad track at all, but it just never really hooked me in. “Reminisce - Pt. 2” is alright. It’s just him doing some reminiscing, & while I question the decision to put a sequel to the B-side of a single from your last album onto the main tracklist of this one, it just feels endearing. “Listen To This” is pretty solid, with the whole regret over never saying “I love you” enough pretty potently expressed. Once again though, they REALLY needed to boost Kevin’s vocals in the mix to give it some of that emotional oomph, as without it, the track feels a lot flatter & not as effective. “The Waltz” works as a closer; much in the same way that I could barely comprehend him on their debut album, I can barely comprehend the meaning here (apparently, it’s still a protest towards the UK’s involvement in Ireland). Much like their debut album though, Kevin’s vocal delivery sells the track & the sort of righteous anger that boils up throughout it, along with a slow swelling of a still casual (yet important-feeling) instrumental hit just the right nerve for me to enjoy the track. I don’t think it needs to be 8 minutes, but I wasn’t really opposed to it in the moment. It’s a good capper to the whole thing. All of that said, it’s a 3.5 that I’ll bump up to a 4. I don’t think it’s a super duper underrated gem or anything, but I see what they were going for with this album & I respect it. It’s obviously not the same ball of energy as their debut, and while we haven’t gotten “Too Rye Ay” yet, I imagine that album isn’t like this either. I kinda like that it isn’t though, and sticking out so beigely in a super flashy world & just wanting to speak your own truths to an audience that may or may not have given a shit, even sacrificing commercial success for it, is kind of admirable. I do think it’s a good album if you can allow yourself the patience to hear Kevin Rowland out, and for my tastes & sensibilities, I think it’s worth bumping up to a 4. I’m glad I heard it out, at least, and I’m glad it’s on the list.
Goofy. Not much to say.
Solid
Dancing with my lover in a pub / getting my life back together montage. Big band big joy, live atmosphere.
love this album!
Very underrated band. Their mixture of rock, soul, pop and everything in between is so unique and just hella fun. There is so much passion, energy and just pure joy. They have a lot of instrumental talent as well. The playing all throughout this album comes together so well. I love how they incorporate some less usual instruments too - there's some trumpets, trombones and others. The songs are mostly quite long but they manage to keep things interesting with a lot of diversity and musical switchups. One moment you get some funky soul, then it hits you with a spoken monologue over some acoustic guitars. The 12-minute This is What She's Like is this album's opus and shows everything I love about it.
Okay this really grew on me. Started off a little weird, then this is what she’s like evolved and was long and was the turning point mid song. Frankie goes to Hollywood. Knowledge of beauty was a great track, one of those things fantastic. Then I was hooked. Ended up enjoying, 3.5/5.
Pretty cool album. Who doesn’t need another Werewolves In London rip off?
Pretty good album, but hasn't aged well in my opinion. Listen to One Of Those Things and not think about Werewolves in London, I dare you.
8,5/10
This is a pretty great sounding album. Lots of strong instrumental work and unique choices. The spoken word stuff is kind of insane. Overall it left me a bit confused but not negative feeling.
Really liked this album, immediately, never heard of them before.
looovvveee
It's a little self-indulgent with it's recorded conversations and 12-minute opus tracks, but the music -- the song craftmanship -- is really, really good. I can hear why this is considered an undiscovered classic.
Gotta consider when it came out, great Album
A reminder of what a good band Dexy’s were. They never reached their potential. Giving this a 4 as I’d play it again but I see from the other reviews that all 3 of DMR’s albums are in the list which is difficult to justify.
Interesting lyrics
love u dexys !!! not my fave of theirs but up there for sure now
God, how much I listened to this album (cassette) back in the days, even though more in 1987, 2 years after its release, in the aftermath of Come on Eilein. I am very happy to get back to this. It’s very enjoyable with its Soul vibes, warm horns, kevin Rowland’s crooner voice, difficult to guess these guys come from Punk rock. Not Otis Redding, but out of nostalgia I ‘ll give it a 4
Quite the surprise for me - I only knew this group by Come On Eileen, but what I got here was a really neat prog-pop album filled with vague hints of Celtic influence and some great instrumentation! The vocalist sounded kinda stuffed up, but I got used to that as the album went on too.
I loved this. It's funky, smooth with a bit of soul. An extremely 80's sounding album, in all the best ways!
Chill
I kinda wish there was a half-star option, but I guess I'll round up to a 4. I'm definitely glad I checked it out, but I really don't see why it's on the list. It's enjoyable, and the band is pretty idiosyncratic, but there's nothing so groundbreakingly special that makes it a "must-listen."
"Don't Stand Me Down" is the third studio album by English pop band Dexys Midnight Runners. New wave and blue-eyed soul are the Wiki-listed genres. Fine. The band line-up was paired down from ten to four members after their previously successful album "Too-Rye-Ay" which included Kevin Rowland (vocals, bass, guitar, piano), Billy Adam's (guitars, vocals), Helen O'Hara (violin, vocals) and Nick Gatfield (saxophone, vocals). 11 additional session musicians also participated. The recording process was described as "a painful process" with multiple producers fired; Rowland wanted to experiment musically which left the music company uncomfortable. Rowland also refused to do publicity for the record and no singles were released. This set up it up for the commercial failure it was. The album had mixed reviews upon its released but, retrospectively, some call it a lost treasure. Long silence opens "The Occasional Flicker." Piano, drums and Rowland's blue-eyed soul vocals come in. There's an organ, horns fills and flairs and an overall very loose feel to the song. Exhibit A for the musical experimentation is the 12-minute "This is What She's Like." A song broken into three parts and about Rowland's love for bandmate Helen O'Hara. The first part is poppy and upbeat, the second part is more rockin', and third part is horn-driven with piano. Rowland vocals are conversational and even scatting. "Knowledge of Beauty" pays tribute to Rowland's Irish heritage in a lovely song. Soft piano, drums and Rowland crooning. The song builds with layered backing vocals. "Listen to This" brings back memories of "Come on Eileen." A rock beat, prancing piano, sax and organ. Clear vocals and lyrics. Rowland doesn't hold back his feelings on Britain's involvement in Ireland in the last song "The Waltz." You don't come across too many protest songs done in waltz time in the 1980's. Drums, organ and piano in another song that builds with the strings and horns. There's an extremely loose feel to this album; Rowlands' vocals can be scatting and conversational talking to others and himself. The music does generally fit the blue-eyed soul genre with the vocals, piano, horns, strings and organ. At times, there's a jazzy vibe and reminds me of the Dave Matthews' Band but I actually like this album. At best, this album recalls the heights of later day Talk Talk. All in all, Rowland successfully achieved his experimental music and produced a very good album.
I'm giving this four stars purely for what appears to be an interpolation of Lynyrd Skynrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" in "One of Those Things".
Pues me he encontrado un disco delicado, sofisticado, bien producido, sólido sin ambiciones, sincero y sencillamente agradable. Se rompieron las expectativas porque de Dexy’s solo conocía la mítica “Come on Eileen”, y esperaba algo igual de folkie. Leo por ahí que este disco fue ninguneado en su momento, se entiende porque no sigue el hype de la canción de marras. A veces ser auténtico no gusta, por eso me gusta quien no gusta.
Great surprise! Especially as this album seems to be considered something of an act of self sabotage. I only really knew Geno, Eileen and Jocky. Obvious (longform) Van influence - Reminisce also sounds like it may have been the template for Pulp's David's Last Summer.
I hadn’t listened to this album for a good number of years, and I was sceptical to say the least. I remember it being the weakest and least approachable of their three early releases. As a self-confessed northern soul fanboy, I’m admittedly smitten with SFTYSR, but always thought DSMD was too self-indulgent. It can be hard to access this album. I can totally understand why people might find Rowland’s “vocals” grating, and the rambling dialogue is it best a strange concept, but upon reflection, I think it works well, for example, in building up the revelation of what she is actually like. Long story short, I really enjoyed this revisit. There’s some fine tunes underpinning the album and if not a masterpiece, then it certainly deserves my recognition and a second look. Dexy’s for the win. Again!
7.5 Very cute and nice record! Love all the jolly fanfare etc need to listen again when I can actually hear the quiet talking bits my earphones aren’t great so it just sounded like minutes of silence in between the songs lol
Cool music to listen to!
This was a pretty good album. Their first two albums were definitely more energetic and horn driven, but this one leans heavily into soulful new wave and sophistipop. Even though it’s a full length album, it only has seven songs, so they clearly focused more on the songwriting, and crafting longer, more introspective tracks than what you’d expect from their earlier work.
‘The Occasional Flicker’ was Len’s nickname for his 31st wife. She was never satisfied! 3.5 7/7 The Waltz
4.5
Pretty good
Fascinating album—you can hear a lot of new wave influence on here. There are parts that sound as if someone lifted The Talking Heads and dropped them in the UK. Is it the best album? No, but if you go into it with a curious mind you’ll get a good bit out of it.
Completely unexpectedly, I really really like this. For the most part, it’s just Kevin Rowland rambling on about this and that, over the top of some extended instrumentals. Given this premise, my expectations were low to mixed. The album exceeded them in unusual ways as it’s not an album full of catchy hooks and choruses but even after 1 listen I had had such a good time with it. Deserves more recognition
+love kevin rowland's voice +full 12 minute ver. of 'this is what she's like' is my favorite +surprised it was rejected by critics and the public
Fantastic surprise!
What do you do after scoring a surprise hit that has you all over MTV? Career reinvention / self-destruction in the Paul Wellee mode. An album of over-long and sometimes aimless pieces of sophista -pop with pointless conversational overlays. But, when it works it works (“This is What She’s Like”) and the album ends up being more enjoyable than it has any right to be. So is it a pretentious abomination or a lost masterpiece? Right smack dab in the middle.
I think I would love this after five listens. It’s good!
I feel like I liked this album more than I should have. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised because “Come on Eileen” is such a banger. Something about the off kilter vocals drew me in. I could have done without the “wearwolves of London” ripoff and some of the dialogue. Other than that I found myself grooving and enjoying fun band.
4/5. This was a surprising listen, especially after their hit album, which I found good but not great. This one was a lot more enjoyable for some reason, it felt like they wanted to make an album instead of hits. The main downsides were the "skits" during the songs but the raw vocals with the orchestral and big bad energy gave this album a very authentic feel, despite the quality production, which was still to its benefit. I wouldn't say it was perfect but I do think as a whole, this was a pretty complete and succinct album. It was also fun to listen to, so that's always a plus. Best Song: The Occasional Flicker, This Is What She's Like, One Of Those Things
This was better than I expected it to be. It's not the first Dexys album that's been on here, but I enjoyed it rather more.
OK - faded away while listening, need to think about listen platform and place
Really liked it, idk why but it was just groovin
An apparent unicorn in the DMR catalogue, and who doesn't love a unicorn. I'm a bit of an outlier when it comes to DMR...Love Searching for the Young Soul Rebels which, upon release I found to be totally unique in the British alternative musical landscape. While i'm emerssed in bunnymen and Wire and Banshees and JD and The Jam and The Clash here comes this bizarrely engaging SOUL(?) record which I loved..."For God's Sake BURN IT DOWN!" as they shouted. Come on Eileen? Come On. Really? You've lost me now and DRM has now become for me, just another uninteresting pop band...sure a quality, somewhat interesting pop band, but not for me. This album comes up and apparently it was career suicide for these young soul rebels...well for me its a giant middle finger to everyone who just wanted Come On Eileen II. 7 songs, 3 of which are over 7 minutes long! How's that for a "Fuck You" to all you Come On Eileen cultists. Meanwhile, the music on this album though messy and lacking focus is wonderful. Melodies pop up their heads and disappear in a flash but linger in your mind long after they're gone. There's a psuedo Werewolves of London cover that swings like a mother fucker. And plenty of other gem like moments that gives me a renewed respect for this band that I knew were way more than the one-hit-wonder punch line that was the prevailing narrative. Way to go! 4.5 stars
I'm one of those filthy casuals who only know Come On Eileen by this band. So I have no idea what their other music is like, and as a result the first song on this album is a heck of a surprise. It feels a bit weird. After the first few tracks bounced right off me and left me confused, the rest of the album... I dunno how but it started to grow on me. The music fit with the strange places the vocals were going, and it felt less weird as I got further into it. Surprisingly good.
I really thought I would hate this album but was pleasantly surprised. The Werewolves of London ripoff One of Those Things was upbeat and fun. Reminisce Pt 2 was a spoken word John Cale influenced song that drew me in. It’s an odd album that leaves a listener confused but satisfied.
Surprisingly fresh, I always perceived DMR as a one hit wonder until today.. I think I have to correct that.
"Sign one up for Celtic soul – anytime, anywhere. Still, this isn't perfect. One’s never been of the “shut up and play/sing” mindset (okay, sometimes) but KR talks too much and on too many cuts. The commentary doesn’t feel of any meta importance, if that’s the intent. “This Is What She Likes” and ""Listen to This"" are great, swinging smoothly and with balance, as does the whole record. While it does have some Wilsonesque moments, it's very much a push to liken this to Pet Sounds. Rounding up because one loves the Irish for their way-punching-above-their-weight cultural contributions.
This doesn't have the feverish energy of their debut, but this is a solid set of songs, and you can't go wrong with THAT voice. Kevin Rowland can do little wrong in my book, and whilst not my favourite Dexys set, it's still a great album, and This Is What She's Like stands up against any of their other tunes.
Irish R&B. Whoda thunk it?
Much better then I thought it would be.
This was super fun. Definitely not what I expected. I really loved all of the different instruments. It reminded me of a ska album, but without the reggae. I really loved the heavy soul, blues and pop influences. The brass, the keys, the flowy bass lines were all really cool. Also, the random slide guitar in one of the songs? It was really fun and easy to groove with.
So, OK. I had to get past that this was the third Dexys Midnight Runners album this thing has made me listen to. But… On the 2nd song, I thought “Hey! I really like this!” And is sort of sat in that arena the entire time. A surprising 4.
Mielenkiintoinen yhdistelmä new wavea ja kantria. Tai tuo viulu sen kantrifiiliksen luo. Mut sopii hyvin. Luo tosi lämpimän ja hyvän fiiliksen. Kappaleet muutenkin vähän erikoisia rakenteeltaan ja aika pitkiä. En vaan ymmärrä miks new wavessa pitää olla aina tää sama laulutyyli. Parhaat: Knowledge of Beauty, This Is What She's Like, Listen To This
Good find
7/10 - the instrumentation of one of those things sounds like sweet home Alabama. I like dexys midnight runners way more than I should. Most of the songs I actually enjoy but they just talk so much during them.
Gorgeous. Beautifully produced, beautiful melodies, and very intimate vocals. Didn’t pay too much attention to the vocals (never really do on first listens bc I’m always trying to multitask) but will on another listen. Felt a little overindulgent the first few songs but that quickly became less and less of an issue. Glad I gave this one a chance
Who would have thought that Dexy’s Midnight Runners had so much material? I thought I recognised One Of Those Things on listening, but it’s apparently because it uses the same piano riff as Werewolves of London. I did enjoy this album. I’m not sure what it is about the vocals but I really like them. And the rest of the music ties everything together very enjoyably. It turns out I’m somewhat a fan of Dexy’s Midnight Runners.
Day462 - if you told me there would be two dexy midnight runner albums on this list and neither had come on eileen i’d say you are crazy. this is recorded like a live album which makes it interesting. they’re really talented, maybe they shouldn’t have got tagged as a one hit wonder
This is really fun and good music. Puts me in a good mood.
3.5
Spännande. Varierat. Ska lyssna mer. Fyra.
Great!
The cover gives off major sophisti-pop vibes, but the product is actually a well-crafted album of progressive blue-eyed soul tunes.
It wasgood
Interesting. I’ve never heard of this album nor heard any of the songs on it. I guess it was not promoted and no singles were released. I remember hearing that the lead singer was difficult and that there was a bunch of turnover in the band. I think the album is good and enjoyable but I’m not sure I’d put it on this list. I’ll listen to again especially the second song.
this is kind of like black country, new road for 80s office workers
Their best album by far, one thinks. Rich and bouncy and soulful, especially "What She's Like." But Pet Sounds for the '80s, it is decidedly not. They do like to the talky-chatty vocalizing, don't they, which can get a little tiresome even if it does help set an easy mood. And that's basically a ripoff of "Werewolves of London," right? Still, a pleasure to listen to overall. And not sure we still need the New Soul Vision, but one can get behind it nonetheless. Rounding up for a soft 4 because one's an Eire-ophile.
4+/5
Not as good as their other 2 albums but it’s still good.
Dexys Midnight Runners pushing their own boundaries by writing long-as-sin songs and playing around with song structures. It's still the same Runners to know and love from the first two albums but stretched out a bit more. Just as enjoyable as Too Rye Ay, but with more jamming than fully fleshed-out songs. Really the band is just faffing about, but they're excellent musicians and they're not taking themselves too seriously so it's a good time.
a neat album. my second dexys album of the project and i find i really like their style. they are very unapologetically british but their hooks are great and the music is quite sensible. this album i enjoyed a lot but there were some artsier and slower sections that i didn't care for as much. but when the horns and the fiddle hit on this, it's pretty great (like in the climax of 'the waltz'). i also really liked the title track, which has a fun interpolation of the piano riff from 'werewolves of london.' it's not my favorite album of all time, but i enjoyed it!
I guess they had to get mature after releasing an all time banger. Not bad but nothing to write home about.
I hadn't heard of them before. Fun album.
Skemmtileg og lúðaleg plata. Engir óþarfa hittarar eða neitt rugl. Bara 80's rokk, píanó, spjall og bull. Besta Dexy platan IMO.
Góð plata sem kom skemmtilega á óvart. Ekkert Come om Eileen stuð, heldur bara mjög þétt og góð lög með mikið af talsöng.
It took me a bit to get into this one. A colleague showed me the video fo This Is What She's Like and the album started to make more sense. I'll give this the benefit of the doubt and add it to my check out again later list. Fave: This is What She's Like
Don't Stand Me Down is the third album from Dexys Midnight Runners - the follow up to their incredibly successful second album, Too-Rye-Ay. This work was a commercial flop, and received little critical attention as a result. Dexys Midnight Runners made rich, orchestrated pop songs, with support from a string section and a horn section. Kevin Rowland, vocalist and driving force in the band, incorporates soul and Irish folk influences in his songs, which have an uplifting, energetic sound. Don't Stand Me Down is considered something of a "lost masterpiece;" a great album that flopped badly enough for the group to break up, and take 27 years before recording another album.
For someone who practically only knew DMR from “Come on Eileen”, listening to this album was a beautiful and very pleasant surprise. A solid 4 (and maybe I'm being a bit greedy here)
Weird but I love it
crazy that there’s two dexys midnight runners albums on this list but ngl this is pretty good
I’ve apparently been sleeping on Dexys this whole time. Another banger of an album. The attitude, the charm, the HORNS, all of it. Elements of new wave, soul, funk, maybe even some Motown influence. I don’t know man, they might be the most underrated artist on this list for me coming in. I’ve enjoyed both albums from them. For once I’m not complaining about the potential for a UK bias by the authors/editors of the books. This is just great. I didn’t love it like I loved the first one if there’s I got (“Searching for the Young Soul Rebels”), so they won’t get five from me this time. But a very happy four stars for this one. Gotta stop sleeping on them and wake up. Standout Tracks: The Occasional Flicker, Knowledge of Beauty, One of Those Things, Listen to This
delightfully inscrutable! esp as it seems like an artistic climax of an arc of which i only know the one big hit. extremely confident mix of new wave and soul and stretches of spoken word to create something ornate and at times melodically decadent but somehow super casual...like its simply giving voice and form to a bunch of thoughts of no consequence. ends up feeling deceptively huge by the end, some rly great arrangements help a lot with that but i think more than anything its that even if something is small, it ends up feeling like it Matters, somehow, or should at least be treated as such
Kind of a weird mix. But somehow I liked a lot of the songs. Come on Eileen is obviously a banger. Maybe my rating of this is just so high because Spotify played that song so often, because I think it outshines the rest of the album by far.
Voða kjút plata.
I really enjoyed this. The songs are probably a bit too long, but the last 1:00 to 1:30 of basically every song is fantastic.
Af hverju voru Dexy's að gefa út spoken word (góð íslensk þýðing óskast) plötu árið 1985? Hvers vegna fóru þau í jakkaföt og dragt? Og hví í ósköpunum virkar þetta svona vel strax við aðra hlustun? Ég fíla þetta svona líka vel og ég veit ekki alveg af hverju.
I HATE "Come On Eileen," but it turns out that they're pretty good songwriters. Every now and then this album threatens to go into "Eileen" territory, but, thankfully, it never commits.
Surprised. I thought another Dexys Midnight Runners!?! But then I listened. Surprise!
It's a lot more ambitious and odd than prior efforts. I don't love it as immediately but I feel like I'd fall for it over time.
4.0
I can't really explain why but I quite enjoyed that. I would only know Dexys from the hits and I can't say I'm a massive fan of his voice. But the confidence to give this the space they have, the still strong pop hooks and melodies and the overall feel sucked me in. A surprising treat.
I like Dexys, but I'd never heard this before. I believe Searching for the Young Soul Rebels and Too-Rye-Ay are also on this list, so I'm saving my 5s for them. This is a solid 4 though.
Three is too many albums from these guys on the list, but I did like this one the best out of them. They're better mellow instead of hyper.
It's a puzzling album... I'm genuinely not sure if I like it or not? Didn't expect Bearwood to be mentioned.
Irgendwie unerwartet cool - macht einfach Spaß zu hören!
Ganske chill
Clearly not their best work (come on Eileen isn't on this one) but I still enjoyed it
See! Not everything from the 80s has to be tacky and synth drenched. Some of it could be the soundtrack to Withnail and I. One of Those Things would've been better if they'd switched up with other familiar melodies. Reminiscence Pt. 2 was quite beautiful. Good exam of the list showing a deeper side to a previous surface level one hit wonder knowledge
Whopper
And we all laughed when Homer Simpson said we haven't heard the last of Dexys Midnight Runners. So here we are! And it's an interesting album. I can see both why people didn't take to it right away and why some people find it something special. Mind you, I didn't really love it at first, but I found something compelling about it, and it definitely didn't sound like everything else on the radio.
Listen To This musiquita parecida a LHR.
Los Dexy´s son un grupo esencial en los 80, tanto por sus 3 excelentes discos como por sus éxitos: Searching for the Young Soul Rebels (con Geno como punta de lanza pero otros temas my buenos), Too-Rye-Ay (que incluye su tema más conocido, el genial Come on Eileen y también está lleno de grandes temas) y este controvertido Don´t stand me down. Dexy´s combinaban con exquisita elegancia Soul, pop, punk, folk... también es cierto que la voz de Kevin Rowland es muy particular, parece que le falta aire, aunque tiene su encanto. Una de las razones del fracaso de este álbum siempre se ha atribuido a que no se editaran singles del mismo y a su nula promoción. El cambio de imagen, pasando de ropa harapienta a elegantes trajes, tampoco ayudó. Empieza al ralentí con The ocasional flicker para ir subiendo el nivel hasta la preciosa This Is What She's Like, que se lleva más de 10 minutos, algo poco radiable. Hubiera sido un gran sencillo, de hecho lo fue, pero demasiado tarde. Sin embargo es una maravilla. Knowledge of the beauty, suena a sedosa balada con base country, pero se lleva 7 minutos, a pesar de un violín que le queda inmaculado. Listen to this (I love en posteriores ediciones), surge del empeño de Rowland en la problemática producción del disco. Es un temazo, potente y elegante como pocos. One of Those Things se basa en el Werewolves of London de Warren Zevon, autoría que se corregiría en posteriores ediciones del álbum (hubo 3, con cambio de canciones y para bien de portada). Es una maravilla, que hubiera sido otro éxito/homenaje. Reminisce Pt.2 incluye un diálogo, en lo que parece una acústica sesión de ensayo. Sin embargo no pierde su encanto. The waltz, cierra el disco con 8 excelsos minutos. 1985 es el año del C85, Psychocandy, This is the sea, Low-life, Once upon a time, Brothers in arms, Hounds of love, Steve McQueen, Love not money, This nation´s saving grace, Fables of the reconstruction, Around the world in a day, Rain dogs, Meat is murder, Slave to the rithym, Songs form the big chair, What Does Anything Mean? Basically , Rum, sodomy and the lash y Picture book.
I really liked the violin and keys instrumentals in this album. Vocals didn't super do it for me, but I'm going to come back to this album as I try to improve my keys work
Prima albumpie hoor
I had never heard this one. Pretty good sound all the way through. Pretty clearly a Warren Zevon riff used in one of the songs.
All pretty enjoyable to listen to with a vibe similar to Come On Eileen. I enjoy the vocals!
I had fun with this one. Like Elvis if he were a British hipster who took a bunch of psycadelics. End of That is What She’s Like rocked
Nice
This is very good music, not much more to say!
Dexys Midnight Runners is one of those bands that seems like a quirky one-hit wonder at first blush, but has a very interesting history. This album is the followup to the album that birthed their smash hit Come On Eileen. Most of the band had left, and this album ends up being a much more subdued synthy album. It's well worth the listen 4/5
No idea why this is getting pelters from some folks on here. Album 754 & I've listened to literally hundreds worse than this.
What a fun album! It's so much better, in my opinion of course, than other records by Dexys Midnight Runners. Every song is very entertaining, this album must have been awesome to hear live on concerts. I like the vocalist, he has a really unique voice, but so is the sound of the band, it's really hard to compare it to anything. Very solid position on this list.
Unusual one, lots of spoken word, but not poetry, more like conversation with a background track. Speaker sounds like Noel Gallagher, which makes it quite pleasant.
Delightful. The full-Reagan (or Thatcher, I guess) album cover got me, and the ridiculous name. I'm here for it all - that weird 80s voice lots of people did, being a million miles from U2 and bands like Rush, talking through the songs, the heavy British accents, the surprising instrumentation (steel guitar!) - all of it, a breath of fresh air after a few heavy lifts.
This was a really good album, have been aware of Dexys work but not this. Will listen again.
enjoyable
Bueno, me encantó este disco! Tremenda la variedad de instrumentos y arreglos. Nosé como explicarlo, es como Abbey Road o Revolver con un cantante tipo el de CAKE que en partes habla. (Hasta podría haber puesto un 5).
Solid but same-y
Surprisingly good.
Really good! The Occasional Flicker is my favourite.
Very stylish album and great to listen to after all this time. Love it.
Musically I like it but I don't enjoy the vocalist.
Rate: 7/10.
Me gusta el rollo, pero pierde contra el otro disco que me tocó de ellos
3.6
Oh, it's the Come on Eileen band, but not the album with Come On Eileen
I've heard of this band but not their music. Good stuff but just not for me
Tiene una especie de Medley que suena como muchas de sus canciones, dura unos 12 minutos, no está mal. Sin embargo, me he guardado otra canción: Listen to this. El disco es bonito pero no llega a brillar en ninguna canción en concreto aparte de esa. ¡Qué voz tan particular la de su cantante!
more intimate than other DMR albums
Pretty hard to listen to but alright
DMR are an okay band (thumbs up)
Listened Before? N I didn't expect much going into this one - I'm unfamiliar with anything these guys have done other than the Eileen song and I can't stand that song. This album actually made me want to listen to more of their stuff. It's an odd concept - almost a conversation, where they just burst into song sometimes. Almost like a 47 minute nightclub set on an album. I really enjoyed it. Added to Library? Y Songs added to playlist: Listen To This
Well its Eileen again. Before this site was showing me these guys I only knew that. And I would assume most americans at least would say the same thing. But I grew to like their music a fair bit. Its fun music. Generally its fun. This album kinda throws a wrench in that. This is much more subdued and just more of a downer. Lots of spoken word and just slower sadder songs. Much less of the fun horns im used to. Its much less my thing. But its still a decent record. Just probably my least favorite of the first couple records. Not bad in any way just not for me. I have no ill will toward this batch of songs I just prefer the older more energetic albums. Thats what it comes down to. I still liked what I heard im just having a hard time seeing myself coming back to this one.
Not bad. Easy to listen to.
Pretty good, Too Rye Ay was pretty slapping too. Better maybe? This shit jams! But Idk it's shy of a 4 whatever. Good day.
A slow starter, but a solid enough album overall even if it is a bit plodding at times. “Listen To This” and the end of “This Is What She’s Like” the highlights of the album.
Sonoridade legal, não vai mudar a vida de ninguém mas é uma escuta divertida. Popzinho básico para desligar a cabeça. Algumas faixas são ótimas, de verdade, mas o disco como uma unidade completa não impressiona tanto. 3.5
Just kinda generic new wave, the vocals aren't super appealing.
Det var da en voldsomt irriterende mandlig vokal på åbningen Hvad er det for nogle horribelt lange snakke-passager hele tiden David Byrne, hvis han var markant dårligere til alt hvad han gør, ville være det her Der er noget super catchy ind imellem, og musikken er velspillet. Jeg kan dog ikke komme uden om, at vokalen er annoying, og at det er dem, der har lavet Come on Eileen, som også er irriterende, og det ligger i baghovedet hos mig. Lyder som jeg forestiller mig, at det ville lyde, hvis man bad Jack Grealish beskrive, hvordan Talking Heads lyder Jeg splittes henad vejen. De catchy elementer er virkelig undeniable, men snakken og nogle af impro-delene stikker helt ud for mig. Produktionen er jo vanvittig på mange måder, men jeg bliver lullet væk, når der bare snakkes (lavt). Uh, den er svær. 2.8
I thought the songs were pretty good. I don’t think they all justified their run times. I got a bit of a giggle out of the dialogue bits.
Competent songs that sound very good. Some daring diverse and long songs, too. I bet this would be fantastic in a live setting, but as an album it didn't really grab me. Faves: Knowledge of Beauty, The Waltz
Excleent album by a band that I only knew from their biggest hit. This singer has a great voice and this album was very varied in terms of musical styles and instruments.
I suppose it's not bad but I didn't find anything here that stood out to me.
Pretty nice, reminds me of my cousin. "Knowledge Of Beauty" was the best song imo
Would I listen again: yeah It was a bit weird and fun. Overall enjoyed but wouldn’t have me running back for more.
Ok, but not much more. ★★★
Dude sounds like a cartoon fat guy, but the music is decent.
How to descibe their sound? Acoustic new-wave (in that it is piano, brass and strings heavy)? Like new-wave/post punk meets pub singalong? Political on One Of Those Things, talking about other pop music and Ireland Spoken word sections are a bit lame Volume is all over the place though Best track - This is What She's Like, One Of Those Things 3 stars
its nice!
nice enough
no me encanta la voz, en alguna canción me agobia, pero las canciones son bonitas y tienen buena melodía. estaba leyendo las reseñas y pobrecitos, q mi me encantan las canciones que son hablar sobre la música de hecho esa (reminisce pt2) es de mis favoritas
Feel this needs a remix without the talky, quiet bits, and that Warren zevon homage. Some strong songs behind all the pretentious stuff
Wasn't very excited to see it pop up, especially with another album to come after this. Appreciated the greater experimentation on this and found it interesting to listen to.
no le di mucha bola para ser honesta pero son los q hacen come on eileen así q lol
Honestly, it's better than I expected. It's also way more talking than I expected. Why is he talking all the time? Some of the songs are pretty decent, some of them sound like they're meant to be a joke. And then there's just a lot of talking. Every time you think it's just a little bit of talking for an intro, it just ends up being more talking.
Already 2nd album from this Band I am getting on the list. I feel this time I am enjoying them slightly more, even marked one song as liked, however I think I am still being overly generous cause this cannot go for more than 3 stars surely.
Enjoyed it, wanted to enjoy it more
Completely average ‘pubs clearing out’ music. I think the spoken segments are fun, but I can see why people would get annoyed by them. Songs are very long.
Can see why our Noel likes these so much. Yeah some of the songs are long but the conversational aspect breaks it up well and tbf I enjoyed it.
first listen forgettable
Is this a lost masterpiece or just something that doesn’t quite work? I’m still undecided. 𝘋𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘦 𝘋𝘰𝘸𝘯 feels very deliberate and personal, but also oddly distant. It’s clearly reaching for something bigger than a typical pop album, yet it rarely pulls me in. It’s not hard to see why it struggled — their label didn’t really get behind it, and there’s nothing here that comes close to a follow-up to 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗢𝗻 𝗘𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗻. You can almost hear the gap between expectations and what the band actually wanted to make. There are moments where it nearly comes together, but as a whole it never fully clicks for me.
I listened to this a few times but never got into it. Soft neutral.
Enjoyed this - slightly mad.
Enjoyable enough I suppose.
Great
Poppy. Not terribly annoying.
Solid 80's pop
Estuvo lindo y parece muy buen producido. Dicho esto, la maldición de la rockosfera no termina más. Nota: 3.2
Alright, I guess ⭐⭐.75
This is not your sassy Come on Eileen Dexys and considering I'll probably never hear it again, I must say that I did enjoy the album.
Prepare yourselfs, we krijgen alledrie de albums van Dexys uit de jaren 80 voorgeschoteld door deze generator. Het debuut stamt uit de relevante overgangstijd van Punk naar New Wave. Op de commerciele opvolger staat een knaller van een wereldhit. Daarna verlieten 6 leden de band en maken de resterende 4 leden een popplaat, zonder single, zonder commercieel succes en zonder grensverleggende aspecten van een muziekgenre. Wat doet deze plaat hier dan? Oke, schijnbaar is dit een 'missed masterpiece'. Dan veranderd dan toch weer de manier waarop je naar de plaat luistert. Het is makkelijk om deze af te doen als saai en niet interessant. Maar dan toch... Een track van 12 minuten (This Is What She's Like), het veelvuldig gebruik van spoken word. Het gebruik van een sample uit Werewolves of Londen. Er zitten echt best wel wat interessante elementen in dit album. Dit afdoen als simpele Engelse Pubrock (zie reviews) is echt te kort door de bocht vind ik. 7/10 Highlights One of Those Things
pretty good
5/10
We've already listened to one Dexys album and I remember really liking that at the start, but slowly liking it less and less. This was kind of a reverse experience: at first I was really annoyed by the vocalist, but they won me back over as the album went on. Ultimately, nothing blew me away, but it was pleasant enough to listen to.
Here we have Dexys Midnight Runners again... for some reason. Yeah, I don't need to tell you that this is not a must-listen album. However, there are things that I can say. Here's the thing. There are things that I can fault Don't Stand Me Down for, but being uninteresting isn't one of them. There are things of note to say here that differentiate this album from Too-Rye-Ay, the earlier album of theirs that I've reviewed. They're not exactly good differences, but they're there. Don't Stand Me Down is not the kind of albums that's meant to succeed commercially, like at all. These guys could've just rested on their laurels and tried to commercialize on the massive success of "Come On Eileen" by trying to make an album of 10 or so copy-cat songs with the goal of making hits, but Don't Stand Me Down is practically the complete opposite of that. In some regards, I respect this album's existence. But, that doesn't mean that I loved listening to it. Okay, to be fair, I didn't hate this. I didn't even dislike it. It's alright. But, it's got issues. The music is actually pretty good. I like the piano on some songs. The piano on "One of Those Things" is especially fun... mostly because it's literally just "Werewolves of London." Yeah, it's not exactly an original song, but I'll give Kevin Rowland this. It's not the worst song to sample "Werewolves of London." I'll take this over Kid Rock any day of the week, and I'll use any excuse I can to hate on Kid Rock. Fuck Kid Rock. Other than that, I thought the opener "The Occasional Flicker" sounded nice. The vocal performance isn't my favorite. One of the biggest complaints I've seen levied against this album is that there's a lot of rambling, and I don't disagree with those complaints. Why "This is What She's Like" had to take 2 whole minutes to start is beyond me. When it gets going, it's actually pretty good, but still, that's kind of a weird decision. In some regards, I do have respect for Don't Stand Me Down. Clearly, there is some level of artistic merit to the album, and the fact that it doesn't compromise its vision for the sake of commercial success is commendable. However, I do find it to be a tad self-indulgent for my taste. It's got some good stuff to it, but the core of the album isn't my thing. 3/5.
Good album. What she likes was a 12 minute masterpiece
Even bad Dexys is good Dexys
fun
Nothing special or offensive here. Easy listening songs for a drive to work.
2.5
3.5
I did like this one a good bit better than the debut, a good quarter star worth at least. It did start off a bit slow for me. The first two songs really didn't grab me, especially the overlong second one which for 12 minutes song it really doesn't go anywhere. As the album PROGRESSED, I really kind of dug the overall feel. I did note the "Sweet Home Alabama/ Werewolves of London" groove on "One of Those Things"... It made the montra line "they all sounded the same" quite frankly amusing (I don't know ir that was the intent) I do got to say the second half of the album really bump this up for me from the first half. Loved the closer "The Waltz" quite a good bit (7.4) ★★★½
Nice music, dislikes the vocal performance. 3.5 stars
Still not exactly sure why these guys have three albums in this book, but this was alright. The last two songs were probably my favorite. I'm glad Warren Zevon got co-writing credit on "One of Those Things", because after a few seconds, I was pretty sure Kevin Rowland was gonna get a big dish of beef chow mein at Lee Ho Fooks. 3 stars.
I've listened to Searching For The Young Soul Rebels already. And now Don't Stand Me Down. And in the end, I still have the same opinion: these folks don't belong on the list. Especially without Come On Eileen (and you can be sure as heck the Runners would be nobodies without that single). But is the music on this album any good? Well... sometimes. The Occasional Flicker is a pretty damn strong way to start an album. It packs a piano-bar-esque punch with some decent singing and an incredibly danceable mood. It also isn't that memorable, at least on a first pass. In contrast, the later track One Of Those Things has a very similar mood, but with a simple chord progression (V-IV-I) that is absolutely hammered into your head for 6 minutes. And still manages not to get annoying. Hence: a better song. The issue with This Is What She's Like becomes obvious from the get-go: two minutes of British muttering to start off a 12-minute track. Admittedly, it does get better after the opening section. I'm not particularly convinced until the section around the 7-minute mark, which has an arrangement intensely reminiscent of late-60s/early-70s Beach Boys (their best era of music). The vocal delivery morphs into something bizarre, best described as "aggressive, tipsy Elvis". Sprinkle in a little Elton John, too, with the piano- and horn-heavy section towards the end. I was expecting a prog track, but this is just... weird. In a good way. I *think* Knowledge Of Beauty is a strong track. Strings and organs have a way of giving "good song" vibes even if the song isn't good. But we have other clues. The chord progression is something like IV-I-VIIb-I, which makes for a great anthemic outro section. Reminisce - Pt. 2 takes a page from the Lou Reed handbook by speaking weirdly overly a fairly innocuous instrumental part. (I'm referencing The Gift.) Unfortunately for the Runners, I can only put up with that gag so many times, and this is not one of those times. The present song is pretty boring and I'm glad to get past it. Listen To This is a relative return to form, again hitting a weird middle point between a few Elvises (mainly Presley and Costello), perhaps with some Elton John influence sprinkled in. The Waltz is a fine closer – nothing spectacular – but a 6/8 time signature isn't a waltz. I feel cheated. 3/5 Key tracks: Knowledge Of Beauty, One Of Those Things
hmmp First listen for me not bad. They are not what I expected. My only previous knowledge of them was "Come on Eileen".
It's okay
I can see some of what they're doing here. I can see hints of brilliance, lush production, cool ideas. This Is What She's Like's length and spoken word intro are pretentious nonsense. It's 3 songs stitched together, it's great but also exhausting. Reminisce Pt. 2 is mostly a spoken word track and is more pretention seeping into the record. There are neat things in here but the album is so uneven it's almost unlistenable to as an album for me. The Occasional Flicker and Listen To This are great, they're upbeat, they've got a good groove - Listen To This especially feels like a Dexy song. Fun times. Knowledge of Beauty and The Waltz are your ballads - your emotional anchors. The Waltz in particular is fantastic if you like that kind of emotional ballad (Or really, protest song but it feels like a ballad to me) but I just don't. Don't Stand Me Down is mostly brilliant but for me, and my taste, it's mediocre.
molto carino, approvo. però non il top
Not bad, not great either
Some decent toetapping music.
Very gen X and not in a good way.
I don't think Dexy needs so many albums on this list, but i don't regret listening to any of them. This one is the weakest of the bunch though.
Another one of those fairly baffling selections in the 1001. It's not bad, but it certainly doesn't rise to the level of greatness. There are many other records from many other artists that are more worthy of inclusion.
I really appreciate the live band feel here. Performances are tight. But I don’t entirely vibe with this. The vocals first off are absolutely ridiculous and distracting, but I suppose that’s a matter of personal taste. Also, the dead sections of dialogue/band banter were unnecessary to include and took me out of the moment.
Vergeten dat ik niet eerst reviews moet lezen voor het luisteren, nu was ik ook steeds aan het wachten op Come On Eileen. De eerste helft kan ik alleen maar omschrijven als 'gezellig', daarna heb ik het wel een beetje gehad met z'n stem vooral. Had best dood kunnen gaan zonder dit album te horen.
Hell yea de 80s! Slim fit business suits met brede stropdassen en cocaine! Praatzingen! Saxophoons en piano's! Kneiterhard overgeproduceerde cleane sound! Ik heb me vermaakt
good to hear what they made other than come on eileen
Sometimes this list feels like it was made exclusively for British guys who were 16 years old in 1984.
What's up with all this silence?
i really dug that! a lot of fun, good songwriting, a nice little warren zevon riff... whats not to like?
I liked the music, but his vocals are a lot
This album was a pleasant surprise. I never knew Dexy’s Midnight Runners had this kinda range. I felt like this album would be amazing to hear in full live. With all the variety of instruments, the lead singer doing the spoke word sections plus the length of songs. I feel like it would be otherworldly.
The spoken conversations don't work but there is still enough to make this a good album. But would I buy it full price? no but I'd pick it up second hand. Great cover photo
++: The Occasional Flicker, One of Those Things, Reminiscence Part Two, Listen to This +: Knowledge of Beauty, This Waltz +-: This Is What She's Like 7,0/10
the best of the three dexys albums on the list despite the copious amount of time that was straight up talking
Was torn on this one - another mid-80s British rock album from a band I've never heard of, which was a commercial failure upon release but re-evaluated as "a towering achievement... a Pet Sounds for the 1980s" I really didn't care for the interstitial conversation, but some of the music was really good. I guess I'm glad I listened to it before I died?
Faktisk ikke så ille. Fengende engelsk rock.
fun album.
I dug that WZ sample. The rest was alright.
Long ass songs but nice tho
A bizarre collection from a long standing group of 80s pioneers.
Weird but it grew on me. Not sure I’d come back to it
Interesting, but I not a huge fan of the lead singer's voice
не очень запоминающийся (но с прошлого тоже только Айлин и помню) но одна песня очень похожа на что-то другое популярное. теория: вся западная музыка похожа. но не критический провал как современники писали
2.63
A lot of voiceovers, ig i liked “the occasional flicker the most”
If Cameron from Ferris Bueller sang as Mr Peterson for 45 minutes.
Weird British guys not bad but not necessarily for me
Nach dem ersten Song wollte ich es eigentlich hassen, bis zum Ende des Durchgangs hat es mich aber doch ein Stück weit bekommen. Sehr 80s im Sound, der Gesang ist ein wenig anstrengend, aber das hat schon tolle Melodien und stimmige Ideen. Nicht extrem toll, aber doch besser als anfangs erhofft.
Bland, compared to the other DMR albums I know
Some really wonderful moments on here
A very interesting album with some strange choices. A pretty good New Wave album
Not bad but nothing really grabbed me.
Is it my imagination or is a lot of this album really quiet?
I'm not really a "soul" guy, so this one is hard to rate. I do appreciate some of it. It takes a lot to write songs that feel so sparse but do continue to drive and have structure. The talking between the songs felt like a distraction, but I could see how that could have been novel at the time. However, I just feel like this thing has been done so much better. So, while I can admire some of it and understand why people would like it, it doesn't feel like "enough" for me to rate higher.
Fun, eclectic, danceable
This is almost good but gets a bit too kinda violiny for my liking; better when it's more fiddly. Also, the suits on the cover give me the ick; better when it's overalls.
I still can’t believe they’re British
This didn’t really engage me much on any level. His voice can be irritating and like others I am baffled as to how 3 of their albums made it on to this list. 2.5
Eh, more mediocre 80s British rock. Not awful, not great, heard a bunch like this already.
It's alright. Nothing to write home about. One of the songs sounds exactly like Werewolves of London
Pretty nice but the random talking isn't really necessary.
No me gustó.
Nice to listen to but has some weird production choices. Also not necessary to have 2 albums from these guys
I really wanted to like it but sadly i couldn't find a song that really moved me
Enjoyed. Would revisit.
Where is Eileen?