Don't Stand Me Down
Encyclopedia
Don't Stand Me Down is the third studio album
by Dexys Midnight Runners
, released in September 1985 (see 1985 in music
).
saxophonist Nick Gatfield described the recording as a "long drawn out painful process". It marked a telling and troubling shift from "Too-Rye-Ay
", as unlike that record, which was made very inexpensively and "had an energy about it", "Don't Stand Me Down" cost a huge amount of money and, according to Gatfield, "felt uncomfortable and unnatural".
's refusal to release a single. Some reviewers were highly critical, with Trouser Press characterizing the release as "a torpid snore that denies entertainment on every level", although writing in the Melody Maker
, Colin Irwin described it as "quite the most challenging, absorbing, moving, uplifting and ultimately triumphant album of the year".. The album is now considered something of a lost treasure. It was featured in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
, published in 2005 by Cassell Illustrated http://rocklistmusic.co.uk/steveparker//1001albums.htm. Writing for Uncut
in 2007, Paul Moody called it a "neglected masterpiece".
in 1997 (CRECD154). Two of the song titles were changed from the original release: Knowledge of Beauty became My National Pride, and Listen to This became I Love You (Listen to This). My National Pride was the original title of the former song, but Rowland "didn't have the courage to title it that when it came around to the artwork." He contributed two pages of sleeve notes, entitled "Foreword to the Second Edition".
Two extra tracks were added: Reminisce (Part One), recorded in spring of 1983 and a version of The Way You Look Tonight
.
A limited-edition version of The Director's Cut had a DVD
disc included, featuring videos for the songs "This is What She's Like", "My National Pride", and "I Love You (Listen to This)", directed by Jack Hazan. Rowland penned another page of notes regarding the videos. The booklet shows, in a two-page spread, a photo from the video shoot, with Dexys as an eight-piece band, with Rowland, Adams, and O'Hara in the foreground. (None of the photos in The Director's Cut portray Jimmy Paterson as a member of the band, or show him at all, unlike the cover of the original release.) All three videos feature footage from this set. While "This is What She's Like" includes footage of Rowland and Adams walking the streets of New York City
, and "My National Pride" shows the band in pastoral scenes evocative of Ireland
, "I Love You (Listen to This)" is shot entirely on this set, dark, with a single spotlight on Rowland, no other band member visible, just various angles on Rowland singing the verses and choruses—the majority of the song—until the final instrumental ride-out, when Billy Adams, Helen O'Hara, and the rest of the musicians are finally seen for a few seconds.
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
by Dexys Midnight Runners
Dexys Midnight Runners
Dexys Midnight Runners are a British pop group with soul influences, who achieved their major success in the early to mid 1980s. They are best known for their songs "Come On Eileen" and "Geno", both of which went No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart....
, released in September 1985 (see 1985 in music
1985 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1985.-January–March:*January 1 - The newest music video channel, VH-1, debuts on American cable. It is aimed at an older demographic than its sister station, MTV...
).
Recording
In an interview with HitQuartersHitQuarters
HitQuarters is an international music industry publication and contact database founded in 1999. It is noted for in-depth interviews with industry figures, with past subjects including Simon Cowell, Martin Kierszenbaum, Jason Flom, Diane Warren, Peter Edge, Ron Fair and RedOne, as well as its A&R...
saxophonist Nick Gatfield described the recording as a "long drawn out painful process". It marked a telling and troubling shift from "Too-Rye-Ay
Too-Rye-Ay
Too-Rye-Ay is the second album by Dexys Midnight Runners, released in August 1982 . The album is best known for the hit single "Come On Eileen".-Track listing:#"The Celtic Soul Brothers" – 3:08...
", as unlike that record, which was made very inexpensively and "had an energy about it", "Don't Stand Me Down" cost a huge amount of money and, according to Gatfield, "felt uncomfortable and unnatural".
Reception
The album was a commercial failure upon release, in part due to frontman Kevin RowlandKevin Rowland
Kevin Rowland is an English singer-songwriter and former frontman for the pop band Dexys Midnight Runners, which had several hits in the early 1980s, the most notable being "Geno" and "Come On Eileen".-Career:...
's refusal to release a single. Some reviewers were highly critical, with Trouser Press characterizing the release as "a torpid snore that denies entertainment on every level", although writing in the Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
, Colin Irwin described it as "quite the most challenging, absorbing, moving, uplifting and ultimately triumphant album of the year".. The album is now considered something of a lost treasure. It was featured in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die is a musical reference book edited by Robert Dimery, first published in 2005. The most recent edition consists of a list of albums released between 1955 and 2010, part of a series from Quintessence Editions Ltd...
, published in 2005 by Cassell Illustrated http://rocklistmusic.co.uk/steveparker//1001albums.htm. Writing for Uncut
UNCUT (magazine)
Uncut magazine, trademarked as UNCUT, is a monthly publication based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections...
in 2007, Paul Moody called it a "neglected masterpiece".
1997 Creation CD
The album was digitally remastered and issued on CD by Creation RecordsCreation Records
Creation Records was a British independent record label headed by Alan McGee. Along with Dick Green and Joe Foster, McGee founded Creation in 1983. The label lasted until its demise in 1999. The name came from the 1960s band The Creation , whom McGee greatly admired. McGee, Green and Foster were...
in 1997 (CRECD154). Two of the song titles were changed from the original release: Knowledge of Beauty became My National Pride, and Listen to This became I Love You (Listen to This). My National Pride was the original title of the former song, but Rowland "didn't have the courage to title it that when it came around to the artwork." He contributed two pages of sleeve notes, entitled "Foreword to the Second Edition".
Two extra tracks were added: Reminisce (Part One), recorded in spring of 1983 and a version of The Way You Look Tonight
The Way You Look Tonight
"The Way You Look Tonight" is a song featured in the film Swing Time, originally performed by Fred Astaire. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1936. The song was sung to Ginger Rogers as Penelope "Penny" Carroll by Astaire's character of John "Lucky" Garnett while Penny was busy...
.
2002 "Director's Cut"
During the mastering process for the Creation release, a stereo enhancer was used, which, Rowland felt, "ruined the dynamics." As a result, a third version of the album was released in 2002, subtitled The Director's Cut. The tracks were again digitally remastered, and the CD featured new artwork, further notes by Rowland, and the additional track "Kevin Rowland's 13th Time". According to Rowland, the album now sounds to him "as it was intended to sound." "Kevin Rowland's 13th Time" had originally been intended to be the opening song (with the introductory lyric, "My name is Kevin Rowland, I'm the leader of the band" and, in a later verse, a "joke" of sorts, to "kick off the proceedings"), but was left off the original issue of the album due to Rowland's perception of a "dodgy drum beat" at one point. Rowland penned two pages of notes relating to the track, as well as a "foreword to The Director's Cut."A limited-edition version of The Director's Cut had a DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
disc included, featuring videos for the songs "This is What She's Like", "My National Pride", and "I Love You (Listen to This)", directed by Jack Hazan. Rowland penned another page of notes regarding the videos. The booklet shows, in a two-page spread, a photo from the video shoot, with Dexys as an eight-piece band, with Rowland, Adams, and O'Hara in the foreground. (None of the photos in The Director's Cut portray Jimmy Paterson as a member of the band, or show him at all, unlike the cover of the original release.) All three videos feature footage from this set. While "This is What She's Like" includes footage of Rowland and Adams walking the streets of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and "My National Pride" shows the band in pastoral scenes evocative of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, "I Love You (Listen to This)" is shot entirely on this set, dark, with a single spotlight on Rowland, no other band member visible, just various angles on Rowland singing the verses and choruses—the majority of the song—until the final instrumental ride-out, when Billy Adams, Helen O'Hara, and the rest of the musicians are finally seen for a few seconds.
Original 1985 version
- "The Occasional Flicker" (Kevin RowlandKevin RowlandKevin Rowland is an English singer-songwriter and former frontman for the pop band Dexys Midnight Runners, which had several hits in the early 1980s, the most notable being "Geno" and "Come On Eileen".-Career:...
) – 5:49 - "This Is What She's Like" (Billy Adams, Helen O'Hara, Rowland) – 12:23
- "Knowledge of Beauty" (O'Hara, Rowland, Wynne) – 7:01
- "One of Those Things" (Rowland) – 6:01
- "Reminisce Part Two" (Rowland) – 3:31
- "Listen to This" (Adams, Rowland) – 3:19
- "The Waltz" (Rowland, Torch) – 8:21
The Director's Cut
- "Kevin Rowland's 13th Time" (Adams, O'Hara, Rowland) – 5:05
- "The Occasional Flicker" (Rowland) – 5:49
- "This Is What She's Like" (Adams, O'Hara, Rowland) – 12:23
- "My National Pride" (O'Hara, Rowland, Wynne) – 7:01
- "One of Those Things"(LeRoy Marinell, Rowland, Waddy WachtelWaddy WachtelRobert "Waddy" Wachtel is an American musician, composer and record producer, most notable for his guitar work...
, Warren ZevonWarren ZevonWarren William Zevon was an American rock singer-songwriter and musician noted for including his sometimes sardonic opinions of life in his musical lyrics, composing songs that were sometimes humorous and often had political or historical themes.Zevon's work has often been praised by well-known...
) – 6:01 - "Reminisce (Part Two)" (Rowland) – 3:31
- "I Love You (Listen to This)" (Adams, Rowland) – 3:19
- "The Waltz" (Rowland, Torch) – 8:21
- "One of Those Things" has a riff taken from Warren ZevonWarren ZevonWarren William Zevon was an American rock singer-songwriter and musician noted for including his sometimes sardonic opinions of life in his musical lyrics, composing songs that were sometimes humorous and often had political or historical themes.Zevon's work has often been praised by well-known...
's "Werewolves of LondonWerewolves of London"Werewolves of London" is a rock song composed by LeRoy Marinell, Waddy Wachtel, and Warren Zevon and performed by Zevon. Included on Zevon's 1978 album Excitable Boy, it featured accompaniment by bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac.The single was released by Asylum as...
". For the 2002 rerelease, Rowland admitted in the liner notes that he had used the riff and consequently Zevon and his cowriters, LeRoy Marinell and Waddy WachtelWaddy WachtelRobert "Waddy" Wachtel is an American musician, composer and record producer, most notable for his guitar work...
were given writing credits on the song. - "Reminisce (Part Two)" includes "I'll Say Forever My Love" (James Dean, William Weatherspoon, Stephen Bowden).
Personnel
- Kevin RowlandKevin RowlandKevin Rowland is an English singer-songwriter and former frontman for the pop band Dexys Midnight Runners, which had several hits in the early 1980s, the most notable being "Geno" and "Come On Eileen".-Career:...
— Bass, Guitar, Piano, Vocals, Producer, Liner Notes - Billy Adams — Guitar, Vocals, Producer
- Helen O'HaraHelen O'HaraHelen O'Hara is a British musician, formerly a member of the band Dexys Midnight Runners between 1982 and 1987, including performing on songs such as "Come on Eileen" from the Too-Rye-Ay album....
— Violin, Vocals, Producer - "Big" Jim Paterson — Trombone
- Nick Gatfield — Saxophone, Vocals
- Vincent CraneVincent CraneVincent Crane was a self-taught pianist, who studied theory and composition at Trinity College of Music, and graduated in 1964...
— Piano - Tim Dancy — Drums
- Julian Littman — Mandolin
- Tom Evans — Steel Guitar
- Robert Noble — Organ, Synthesizer
- John "Rhino" Edwards — Bass
- Crusher Green — Drums on Listen to This
- Mick Boulton — Piano on The Waltz
- Randy Taylor — Bass on Knowledge of Beauty
- Woody WoodmanseyMick WoodmanseyMick 'Woody' Woodmansey is an English rock drummer from Driffield, Yorkshire, best known for his work with David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars...
— Drums on The Waltz
- Alan WinstanleyAlan WinstanleyAlan Kenneth Winstanley is a British record producer active from the mid-1970s onwards. He usually works with Clive Langer.-Notable studio albums produced by Alan Winstanley and Clive Langer:* One Step Beyond... – Madness...
— Producer - Pete Schwier — Engineer, Mixing
- John PorterJohn Porter (musician)John Porter is an English musician and record producer.-Biography:He attended St Michael's School, Allerton Grange School, King's College, and Newcastle University....
— Mixing on Kevin Rowland's 13th Time
- Peter Barrett — Cover Design
- Kim Knott — Photography
- Claire Mueller — Photography
- Jack Hazan — Director
- Arun Chakraverty — Engineer (reissue)
- Nigel Reeve — Project Coordinator (reissue)