Don’t Stand Me Down

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.

2.63

Bit surprised this is on the list. It’s a great album, but without any great songs, it’s a great album for people far down the Dexys rabbit hole. And that’s me. I can’t see it winning any new converts.

Fine as background music while I was working... Not much else to say about it. Don't listen too closely to the guy's voice. Lol.

Pretty nice but the random talking isn't really necessary.

I thought this was pretty decent! The pointless chatter does detract from the experience, but it's fairly sparse all things considered. When the band is just jamming and having a good time, that's when the album is at its best, and it did make for a mostly fun listen.

Standouts: This Is What She's Like • One Of Those Things

I wrote a fairly long spiel about this one, but it didn't save for some reason. I really liked the other Dexys albums on the list, but this one is completely unnecessary.

After not being really able to stand Rowland on their first album, he didn't bother me as much here. As such, I found myself liking this record a sizable amount more. The arrangements and soundscapes are quite interesting, and I actually think the production is pretty solid by mid-80's standards (or, should I say, my mid-80's standards). Is this weird? Am I weird?

3.5/5

Absolute CEO of yapping right here. Best song on this entire album is just Werewolves of London, but not as good. Album would have been much better if half the runtime wasn’t just this bloke talking over the instrumentals.

If you happen to live stateside like me, you would probably know Dexys Midnight Runners for their one US hit "Come on Eileen", and maybe "Geno" too if you are cool enough. If so, you would be surprised at first to find that their first three studio albums are in the 1001 Albums book series. That was certainly how I felt, until I remembered that the band was big back in the UK. Lest we forget, Robert Dimery is English, and he and his team have a proven track record of propping up acts from their home country that haven't been as popular across the Atlantic. I was willing to meet them halfway and see if I could understand the larger appeal Dexys Midnight Runners had overseas. Unfortunately, the first of these albums I got was the most esoteric of them.

The album Don't Stand Me Down was marred by the band personnel dropping from ten members to just four, troubled recording sessions, and frontman Kevin Rowland refusing to publicly promote the album. Sometimes, an album can come out amazing under such difficult circumstances, but I'm not sure this one came out completely unscathed. While it sonically continues in the band's trademark new wave meets blue-eyed soul crossover style, complete with Helen O'Hara's excellent violin playing, Kevin opted for more rambling conversational dialogue as opposed to outright singing. Whether it's over the gorgeous string arrangement of "Knowledge of Beauty" or over the same cadence as Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" on "One of Those Things", Kevin certainly rattled on about whatever troubled his mind. I didn't hate this lyrical approach, but I also didn't feel as thoroughly engaged with it. Which is a shame, as I am admittedly fond of his usual idiosyncratic delivery, and he does showcase his vocal depth in spurts alongside the heartfelt arrangements, really only kicking into full gear with the penultimate track "Listen to This".

I think there was a potentially great album underneath all the deliberate obfuscation going on here. But as it is, Don't Stand Me Down is a rather unfortunate example of a group grinding their gears for too long. The band would break up shortly after that release, only to reform in the 2000s and then put out their follow-up in 2012 under just Dexys. From the sound of things, Kevin and company sound a bit more amicable towards each other and their legacy, which I can take solace in.

(3.5) the songs were quite long
- someone who listens to mahler casually

It's OK. There are a few songs that sound kind of like a peppier The Cure, but the guys voice gets a little grating after awhile.

Knowledge of Beauty is awful, and I think that's dragging down my overall opinion of the album. Also, I'm a little salty that I'm listening to Dexy's Midnight Runners and There's no Come On Eileen. It's an outrage.

Overall, I din't hate it, but I'm glad it's over.

'One of those things' being just okay and how chill 'reminisce pt 2' was have narrowly saved this from being a 1.
'Listen to this' came in like a nasally jumpscare. How do you have a 12 minute song and still manage to make all the others feel too long.
This could have very easily been a 1 and perhaps it still should be.
'the waltz' is 8 minutes long. Nevermind. This shit is a 1.

Didn’t like this one. The talking sections were terrible and I never realised that Dexys did One Of Those Things, I HATE that song.

What garbage! I cannot believe this is the same band that wrote Come On Eileen.

I really don't like saxophone in songs, lol.

Wasn't a fan of this, and I think this was the worst of the Dexys albums we had to listen to.

Oduševljena sam vokalnim sposobnostima za koje nisam znala. Neki dijelovi su zaista dobri, ali generalno je dosta zbrkano. Mogu oni i bolje.

Don't Stand Me Down seems like Dexys Midnight Runners' attempt to save themselves from "one hit wonder" status after making mega-hit "Come On Eileen", unfortunately, it seems like this may have sealed the deal. Don't Stand Me Down was a critical and commercial failure at the time, but there has been a bit of a critical shift over time towards the narrative that this was more a work of messy, misunderstood genius. And I will say, the components of the story are there, but I'm not sure I buy it. There are some daring and baffling aesthetic decisions made across this album, however nothing near daring or baffling enough to justify just how much of a mess this comes across as. The biggest sticking point for a lot of people seems to be the vocals, which are admittedly kind of odd. It is very sort of deep and deadpan, and sometimes it feels kind of out of key, but it sort of feels intentional. Regardless, I still have some problems with the intonation and annunciation. It feels like Kevin Rowland is trying to intentionally lean into his voice's quirks, but it kind of sounds like he is almost making fun of himself in a few of the more particularly sour moments of delivery here. Although, I will say, I could see these vocals working in a punk-ier setting. Another sticking point here is the spoken word aspect. Kevin Rowland was interested in working "conversations" into the middle of these songs, which is an idea I'm sure *someone* could have pulled off. However, the execution is *extremely* clunky, the mix usually renders the conversations nearly inaudible, and maybe most importantly, no one seems to be saying anything interesting. It is an experience akin to catching a few words from a conversation a table over while eating in a restaurant. On top of it a lot of these songs are just kind of boring to me and they really can't justify the incredibly long runtime on most of them. Most egregious may be One Of Those Things, which basically sounds like a vamp of a couple of bars from Sweet Home Alabama coupled with like a monologue. I can appreciate on some level that this took risks, but when the results are this awkward and unenjoyable, it is kind of hard to award any bonus points.

I haven’t spent much time with Dexys Midnight Runners before, so I was excited to give them a proper listen—and Don't Stand Me Down felt like the perfect place to start.

I really enjoyed this album. It’s a smooth and engaging listen—I played it three or four times within 24 hours. The standout track for me was This Is What She's Like. It perfectly captures that unmistakable Dexys energy: heartfelt, conversational, and a bit theatrical. Very Dexys indeed.

Honestly, every track on the album feels like it belongs; nothing seemed out of place or like filler. The whole album holds together really well as a complete piece of work.

As for the artwork, I really like the album cover. It has a clean, understated style that reflects the mature tone of the music.

Favourite track: This Is What She's Like
Least favourite: None – every song earned its place.