I just read the information on this site about Dexy's Midnight Runners and was left incredulous at what was said. Firstly, it is nonsense that the only song they are known for is "Come on Eileen". In the UK and most of Europe, "Geno" was a No1 hit in 1980 prompting the career comeback of its subject matter, Geno Washongton. Other massive hits in the UK and Europe include "There There my dear", "Celtic Soul Brothers", "Jackie Wilson said (I'm in heaven when you smile", "Let's get this straight (from the start)" and "Because of you".

Dexys arrived on the scene in late 1979 with a hard Northern Soul-inspired image of donkey jackets, site hats etc. combined with a big brass-dominated Staxy Soul sound, a total contrast to Punk and 2-Tone which were the key movements at the time. The first single was "Dance Stance", a powerful comment on anti-Irish bigotry which, among other things, had a bridge that quoted the names of countless successful Irish writers. "Geno" followed, getting to No1 and the album "Searching for the youns soul rebels" was released, topping album charts all over the world. "There there my dear", an extremely clever and sarcastic song taking the form of an open letter to a journalist, was the other hit from that album. That was all in 1980.

The next phase was the Passion Project Revue, during which Kevin Rowland refused to do any interviews believing the press to be incapable of printing accurate portrayals of what he said. Instead, he wrote a series of articles for the main UK music papers setting out his soul vision. Meanwhile the band changed its image to one of tracksuits, ponytails and the notion of punishing the body to free the mind. This line-up released 2 cracking singles, "Plan B" and "Keep it 2" (a follow-up to "Keep it" which was on the first album) then returned to the charts with the excellent and unusual "Show me" in 1981.

There was then a radical transformation as Dexys re-invented themselves as a Celtic Soul band. This was now 1982. The new image was of dungarees, neck-a-chiefs, bare feet etc. like semi-Gypsies. The brass section was more or less disbanded in favour of violins, banjo, acoustic guitar and accordion. The result was a new single "Celtic Soul Brothers" then the brilliant "Come on Eileen", coinciding with the album "Too-Ry-Aye", again a worldwide No 1. The album yielded a further hit with a cover of Van Morrison's "Jackie Wilson said ...", showing that Van Morrison had clearly been an inspiration for their new style, its all acoustic line-up mirroring that of "Astral Weeks".

"Let's get this straight (from the start)" followed in early 1983 but that was the last of this line-up's efforts.

In 1985, after a long period of quiet, the 3 remaining members, Kevin Rowland (Vocals), Helen O-Hara (Violin) and Billy Adams (Guitar/Banjo) returned with a new album, "Don't stand me down". It was a difficult album for fans to appreciate straight away. Staged dialogues between Rowland and Adams often came over as pretentious and the long, rambling sections in the songs took some listening. The new image, that of Ivy League graduates, did not look right on Dexys and there was no obvious direction to the music, it being a mishmash of Celtic Soul, Stax Soul, Folk and Blues.

Retrospectively, most fans now realise it was a classic. "This is what she's like" introduced the concept of a love song that describes a girl by telling the listener what she isn't like and has a superb build-up and brass climax. "Knowledge of beauty" is the best song Van Morrison never got round to writing! "The Waltz" is sublime.

A year later, the last Dexys single "Because of you" was used as the theme music to a popular UK sitcom called "Brushstrokes" and provided another hit although, in reality, it consisted simply of Kevin Rowland singing with an acoustic guitar and occasional violin riff.

Rumours of a Dexys reunion have been many but have never come to much. In 1987, Kevin Rowland recorded a highly unsatisfactory solo album called "The Wanderer" which tried to tie his soul vision in with heavy 80s drum machine etc. He recently released "My Beauty" on Creation and sold so few copies it had to be withdrawn from the shops. The album showed him now as a drag artist playing covers.

Dexys were one of the great bands of the 80s if a little shortlived. Loads of compilations exist but one worth digging out is "Geno" on EMI which has all the EMI sessions of songs that became singles and B-sides and stands alone as a document of the period immediately post-Young Soul Rebels.

Otherwise you are best sticking with the 3 official albums and the intervening singles if you can still find them. There are also a few Greatest Hits type albums around but they are always lacking one or two of their most important singles.

I believe the statement of the only hit their being known for is to a primary U.S. audience. Many U.S. listeners might not recognize the other hits simply because they didn't receive much play time (if any). This holde true for a lot of bands including my favorite, A-ha (of which most people seem to think only have one song--"Take on Me".) In any case, the presentation wasn't to imply that Dexy's didn't have other hits, just that many of them aren't know inside the U.S. (thus the mention of Come On Eileen, since people in both the U.S. and Europe recognize it...)

Jack

> I believe the statement of the only hit their being known for is to a
> primary U.S. audience. Many U.S. listeners might not recognize the other
> hits simply because they didn't receive much play time (if any). This
> holde true for a lot of bands including my favorite, A-ha (of which most
> people seem to think only have one song--"Take on Me".) In any
> case, the presentation wasn't to imply that Dexy's didn't have other hits,
> just that many of them aren't know inside the U.S. (thus the mention of
> Come On Eileen, since people in both the U.S. and Europe recognize it...)

> Jack

...that suffered the same lack of "air time" in the U.S, with the exception of one hit each (that I know of anyway):

King - "Love and Pride" (I actually met the band)

Madness - "Our House"

By the way...

Are they still around???

Madness were huge in England years before "Our House" was ever released. Their first (?) album, "One Step Beyond" had several popular songs on it. Personally I think "The Prince" remains their greatest song.

As far as I know the band has tried on a couple of occasions to make a comeback--in each case it was a warmly received but short-lived.

> As far as I know the band has tried on a couple of occasions to make a
> comeback--in each case it was a warmly received but short-lived.

Two new albums, actually.

Madness reunited in 98/99 and released a new live album (Universal Madness) and a brand new studio album (Lovestruck).

You can find Universal Madness around in U.S. shops. I haven't read good reviews of it. I haven't gotten it yet, so I can't say.

"Lovestruck" is harder to find, but it is worth it. It's on Virgin records and is only available as an import. Not to give anyone free advertising, but try your major online places, they'll have it. This is the first album in 15 years with all seven original members. (They did an album in 1986 with six members after keyboardist Mike Barson left). It is an excellent album. Some songs are a little different for Madness, but overall, the album sounds like a logical progression from "Keep Moving". It's worth the import price. I love it.

Madness is back. Visit them at www.madness.co.uk