The first three songs here are actually from the late 1970s, and technically aren't from Dexys Midnight Runners at all. For Dexys's first album, released in 1980, the two most important band members were lead singer Kevin Roland, and Kevin 'Al" Archer. Together, their musical careers got started with the band the Killjoys. That band never put out an album. But in 1977, they did a BBC session for DJ John Peel. They sounded like a punk band, which was all the rage in 1977, and frankly there was nothing special about them. But they did a second Peel session in 1978, and sounded like a totally different band, much more like the sound of the future Dexys Midnight Runners. So I've included the (unreleased) songs from that second BBC session, but not the first session. Since Roland is the lead singer, it would be easy to think these are Dexys Midnight Runners songs.
By the way, Archer had a hand in writing some songs for the first Dexys Midnight Runners album in 1980, but he quit the band in 1981. Basically, he found Rowland too difficult to get along with. That would be a frequent theme, with a lot of turnover of other band members.
After those first three Killboys songs, all the other songs have been released as bonus tracks on the deluxe edition of the band's first album, "Searching for the Young Soul Rebels." Most of those come from BBC studio sessions, but the last two are from a BBC concert. The songs are generally from that album or the singles associated with it.
This album is 44 minutes long.
01 Spit on Me (Dexys Midnight Runners [Killjoys])
02 Smoke Your Own (Dexys Midnight Runners [Killjoys])
03 All the Way (Dexys Midnight Runners [Killjoys])
04 Geno (Dexys Midnight Runners)
05 Respect (Dexys Midnight Runners)
06 Dance Stance [Burn It Down] (Dexys Midnight Runners)
07 The Teams that Meet in Caffs [Instrumental] (Dexys Midnight Runners)
08 Tell Me When My Light Turns Green (Dexys Midnight Runners)
09 The Horse [Instrumental] (Dexys Midnight Runners)
10 Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache (Dexys Midnight Runners)
11 There, There My Dear (Dexys Midnight Runners)
12 Soon - Plan B (Dexys Midnight Runners)
https://www.upload.ee/files/15110157/DexysMR_1978-1981_BBSessionsVolume1_atse.zip.html
The cover photo depicts the band from around 1980, before they adopted their "hayseed farmer" look in 1982.
Thanks for Dexys, Paul - particularly the later Killjoys session which I'd never heard. They were 'my' band for a couple of years until the Hayseed look kicked in, strangely enough. In 1980 they were renowned for their woollen hats and dark work attire, moving into the more athletic look in 1981. Great days.
ReplyDeleteGlad you like. Weirdly, I couldn't really find any good color photos of the band in their earlier look.
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