Dexy's Midnight Runners - The Wildhearted Outsiders (1986)

Dexys Midnight Runners were formed in 1978 by singer/guitarist/songwriter Kevin Rowland and singer/guitarist Kevin "Al" Archer (who changed his first name to avoid confusion). Both had been members of the Birmingham punk band the Killjoys, and Rowland, who was ethnically Irish, had split his childhood between London, Ireland, and Birmingham, and soaked up the influence of Irish folk and the so-called Northern soul music popular in the Midlands. Seeking a new direction, Rowland and Archer decided to put together a fully-fledged soul outfit and named it after the stimulant Dexedrine, a popular drug on the Northern soul scene. The line-up eventually settled on trombonist Big Jim Paterson, tenor saxophonist Geoff Blythe, alto saxophonist Steve "Babyface" Spooner, keyboardist Mick Talbot (who replaced Pete Saunders, and later joined the Style Council), bassist Pete Williams, and drummer Andy "Stoker" Growcott (who replaced Bobby Junior). Acutely image conscious, Rowland tried to reflect the band's working-class roots by dressing them as New York dockworkers, with a wardrobe lifted straight from the Martin Scorsese/Robert DeNiro film 'Mean Streets'. The band struggled financially at first, especially given its large membership, and according to legend, Rowland organized (or at least encouraged) shoplifting expeditions to make ends meet. Dexys didn't take long to release their first single, with 'Dance Stance' (aka 'Burn It Down'), being an attack on anti-Irish discrimination. 

It was released on EMI Records in 1979, but only scraped the lower reaches of the charts, although their next single, 'Geno', a tribute to American-born soul singer Geno Washington, went all the way to the top of the British charts in early 1980. Dissatisfied with their share of the profits, the band stole the completed master tapes of their debut album, 'Searching For The Young Soul Rebels', and successfully reworked their deal. When the album was released later in 1980, it caused a sensation, with their bright, tuneful, horn-heavy take on Memphis soul being hailed as British rock's return to an organic, soulful sound in the post-punk/new wave era. Their third single, 'There, There My Dear', became a Top Ten hit, but Rowland insisted on following it with the inadvisable single choice of 'Keep It, Pt. 2', which flopped. This was the last straw for most of the band, who had grown tired of Rowland's control-freak leadership and restlessness, and so Archer left to form the Blue Ox Babes, and most of the rest of the group wound up in The Bureau, leaving only trombonist Paterson with Rowland. These two regrouped Dexys, adding guitarist/banjoist Kevin "Billy" Adams (again renamed), drummer Seb Shelton, keyboardist Mickey Billingham, alto saxophonist Brian Maurice, tenor saxophonist Paul Speare, and bassist Giorgio Kilkenny (who replaced Steve Wynne), and Rowland gave them a new wardrobe of boxing boots and ponytails.   

After the 1981 single 'Plan B', the new line-up left EMI and signed to Mercury, and their first single for the label, 'Show Me', was a Top 20 hit, but the follow-up, 'Liars A to E', flopped, and Rowland considered modifying the group's approach. Allegedly, he heard a demo tape of Archer's folk-influenced Blue Ox Babes material, and decided to reinvent Dexys in a similar fashion, further infuriating the Babes by not only borrowing from their sound, but by recruiting their violinist Helen O'Hara. He also added Steve Brennan and Roger MacDuff on the same instrument, and their second album, 'Too-Rye-Ay', was released in 1982. For this album their soul sound was now sitting alongside a strong Irish folk influence, making for a striking hybrid. The makeover was accompanied by yet another wardrobe change, this time to a scruffy gypsy/hobo image that wound up changing the standard of acceptable dress at many a restrictive London club. They introduced their new sound on the single 'The Celtic Soulbrothers', which was a mild success, but it was the follow-up, 'Come On Eileen', that cemented their reputation, becoming their second British number one. A few months later, helped by the group's MTV-ready appeal, 'Come On Eileen' broke in America and went all the way to number one there as well. Despite this success, the entire horn section (even the loyal Paterson) departed in the summer of 1982, as did keyboardist Billingham. Unfortunately, at the peak of the group's success, rifts with Rowland resulted in most member's leaving the group, and eventually the core membership was whittled down to Rowland, guitarist Adams, and violinist O'Hara. Rowland took them to New York to work on the follow-up album, but this took a year and a half to record due to his constant perfectionism, and so EMI released the singles compilation 'Geno' in 1983 to fill the gap. 

Paterson re-joined the group when Rowland decided to blend his soul and folk phases more thoroughly, and the rest of the instrumentation was filled out by hired session musicians. When 'Don't Stand Me Down' was finally released in 1985, Rowland insisted that no singles were to be pulled from it, wanting it to stand as a cohesive piece of work in the manner of '70s LPs. As a result, it sold much more poorly than expected, and wasn't helped by lacklustre reviews that slammed Rowland's attempts at Van Morrison-esque poetry. After a few weeks, a panicked and out-of-pocket Mercury released 'This Is What She's Like' as a single, but the damage was already done. One last single, 'Because Of You' charted in 1986 after being used as the theme to the British TV show Brush Strokes', but with 'Don't Stand Me Down' having bombed, the group disbanded. Rowland mounted a solo career and returned in 1988 with 'The Wanderer', a mellow record flavoured with country and lounge-pop, which failed to sell. A disheartened Rowland spent the next few years in a deep depression, fighting off bankruptcy and cocaine addiction, before returning in 1996 and signing with Creation as a solo artist, but in typically idiosyncratic fashion, his 1999 comeback effort was an all-covers album, 'My Beauty', which sold abominably, probably not helped by Rowland's new wardrobe of dresses and suspenders. Despite their huge success in all their incarnations, and with 'Don't Stand Me Down' now being re-evaluated as a neglected masterpiece, it's surprising that Dexy's have never had an official b-sides collection, and so here it is, covering all the different phases of their career.

Track listing

01 Dance Stance (single 1979)
02 Breakin' Down The Walls Of Heartache (single 1980)
03 The Horse (b-side of 'There, There My Dear' 1980)
04 Keep It Part Two (Inferiority Part One) (single 1980)
05 One Way Love (b-side of 'Keep It Part Two (Inferiority Part One)')
06 Soul Finger (b-side of 'Plan B' 1981)
07 Show Me (single 1981)
08 Soon (b-side of 'Show Me')
09 ...And Yes We Must Remain The Wildhearted Outsiders (b-side of 'Liars A To E')
10 Love Part Two (b-side of 'The Celtic Soul Brothers' 1982)
11 Dubious (b-side of 'Come On Eileen' 1982)
12 Let's Get This Straight (From The Start) (single 1982)
13 Reminisce Part One (b-side of 'The Celtic Soul Brothers (More, Please, Thank You)' 1983)
14 Because Of You (single 1986)
15 Kathleen Mavourneen (b-side of 'Because Of You')
16 Marguerita Time (b-side of 'An Extract From This Is What She's Like' 1985)