A Year of Blind Spots: Searching for the Young Soul Rebels

Joe is working through a list of albums that he considers "blind spots," i.e. albums that he's never heard but feels like he should.

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die:

Kevin Rowland and Kevin "Al" Archer, previously of punk act the Killjoys, formed Dexy's Midnight Runners in Birmingham, England, in July 1978, taking their name from Dexedrine—a pep pill favored by Sixties mods.

After Dexy's played several gigs with the Specials—whose audience included many skinheads—Rowland decided that a hard, gang-based look was needed for the post-punk times. The New York stevedores in the movie On the Waterfront and the Italian Americans in Mean Streets provided the spur for the band's trademark wooly hats, donkey jackets, and leather coats.

Sophomore single "Geno" married Rowland's lyrical tribute to soul singer Geno Washington with Archer's punchy music, including an irresistible brass riff cribbed from Washington and the Ram Jam Band over a solid rhythm section. Dominated by Big Jim Paterson's trombone, Jeff Blythe's saxophone, and Steve Spooner's alto sax, the song became a UK No. 1 and live favorite.

The inaugural LP, Searching for the Young Soul Rebels, proved just as strong, opening with the sound of a radio switching channels before a cry of "For god's sake burn it down" kicks things off. The track was a reworking of debut single "Dance Stance," Rowland's angry diatribe against anti-Irish jokes. Other album highlights included Rowland and Archer's dual vocal on the defiant "Tell Me When My Light Turns Green," a breakneck cover of Chuck Wood's northern soul favorite "Seven Days Too Long." "There, There, My Dear" (another UK hit) closes proceedings on a high.

Welcome the new soul vision indeed.

Joe:

Isn't it fascinating, to see a band like this? Consider their big hit the "curtain," and then to peek behind the curtain at what came before it. Is this "important"? According to 1001 Albums, it is. Though I suspect they and I are talking about "importance" in a different way. The book is, I've determined over the last couple years, extremely English-centric, and so what they mean when they say that this album is important is that it contains Dexys Midnight Runners' first U.K. number-one hit ("Geno"). I, as an American who had never heard or heard of "Geno" before this week (as far as I know) and who is really only intimately familiar with the only U.S. hit from the band ("Come On Eileen") and familiar but somewhat less so (especially in the years since it was covered) their sophomore album, feel like this album is "important" because it gives needed context to the big hit that came slightly after.

The added context this time around: holy shit, Dexys Midnight Runners were a ska band! Well, okay, I don't want to put too much emphasis on that. But it was an aspect of their sound that I haven't really noticed before, and it really unlocked something for me. It makes sense that Dexys toured with the Specials early on—if this is ska at all, then it's second wave. The horn section is being pulled in two directions, in that half the time it feels like they are on their way to influencing Streetlight Manifesto, and half the time they are striving to take over as Wilson Pickett's backing band. In other words, the "blue-eyed soul" of their sophomore album started here, but on this first album, the ska influences are just as strong, if not more so.

Is any of this actually important? Nah, man, it's not. But it's cool that Dexys are just popping off some badass ska and soul songs like they are the best goddamn bar band in the world. Sometimes you lose sight of what really matters because you're blinded by a goddamn perfect piece of art. "Come On Eileen" is perfect. Everything else before that is just straight-up fun. Let not the perfection mettle with the plain ol' fun of some ska bullshit.