Public service announcement … BBC2 tonight 21.10 Dexy’s at the BBC. should go well with his new book
Kevin Rowland/Dexys Klaxon
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Musings on the byways of popular culture
Musings on the byways of popular culture
Public service announcement … BBC2 tonight 21.10 Dexy’s at the BBC. should go well with his new book
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And there was a documentary on Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden, presented by Guy Garvey, on Radio 4 last night.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00298p4
Ooh, good klaxoning there, thank you. I must investigate.
There was one in the same series about Depeche Mode.
Our Kev has also just published his autobiography…
I finished his autobiography yesterday. To my surprise I found it a bit disappointing. I think as a big fan of 45 years standing I was maybe expecting or hoping for a bit more about the actual music, which has seen a lot of potentially fascinating twists and turns. There’s a lot about his Irishness, as might have been predicted, but there’s also tons about his 1990s drug issues. There’s also a huge amount about his relationships, sometimes in slightly wincing detail. It’s certainly very candid indeed at times. He is certainly very honest. Frustratingly, there’s almost nothing about the early 90s Dexys false start/return where they played a couple of decent songs on the Jonathan Ross show, which I would have liked to have learned a lot more about. Instead we get a lot about the process of his therapy, which you’ll either find illuminating or want to skip through and his more recent collaborators/enablers, like the very talented Sean Read, only warrant a couple of passing mentions. I may re-read it in the future but on first reading I’d say approach with caution if you’re anything other than a very long term and committed fan.
Fabulous band lead by a most singular talent whose records are never less than fascinating
Read mixed reviews of the book so will hold off buying ‘til it comes down to 99p.
If you’ve not read it, Nige Tassell’s Searching for Dexy’s Midnight Runners where he hunts down all the past Dexy’s members is pretty good.
More Dexy’s fun and games here
Yep seconded re Nige Tassell’s book, I really enjoyed his style and it was a great way to relate a band history.
Top marks to Nige for tracking everyone down and writing it, and I went into reading it full of enthusiasm, but it quickly became a repeated “there was no money, it was exhausting, and Kevin was a control freak” from every interviewee.
I have also recently finished this book & echo your disappointment. I feel I have been waiting for a long time to read this & after a promising start it ran out of steam pretty quickly. It had a whiff of Alan Partridge at times…..
The Nige Tassell book was a much better read IMHO.
I’ve ordered the autobiography from the library, I’ll give it a go.
There’s also this which I’ve not read yet.
https://abreathoffreshair.com.au/episodes/dexys-midnight-runners-could-not-have-existed-without-violinist-helen-ohara-2/
I enjoyed the programme but with one caveat – how can one believe what is in the captions accompanying each song when one of them states that Kevin is accompanied by ‘Big’ Jim Paterson on stage performing ‘She’s Got A Wiggle’ when it’s clearly not, it’s Pete Williams? Kevin even says his name at one point during the performance, furchrissakes!
Terrible editing on some of the songs, too – entire front end of This What She’s Like and the glorious climax of Eileen just shredded
I’ve only watched the first half, while I did the ironing, but could it be the 7″ version of This Is What She’s Like?
Yes, despite the “they were a serious albums band like Led Zep and didn’t release any singles”, TIWSL was released as a 7″, double-pack 7″, 10″ and 12″ single.
7″: This Is What She’s Like (Extract) b/w This Is What She’s Like (Finale).
Double pack 7″ adds Marguerita Time b/w Reminisce Part One.
10″: This Is What She’s Like (Full Length) b/w Marguerita Time.
12″: This Is What She’s Like (Full Length) b/w This Is What She’s Like (Instrumental) & Reminiscence Part One.
I have the 12″. Marguerita Time is by far the worst thing they recorded.
“We released one single and it only made number 78” is not the same as “we don’t release singles”.
There was even a video for the 7″.
Pretty sure KR insisted that the only support he would give the album was some sort of silly manifesto they ran as an ad in the inkies.
When said strategy killed the album, the record company took control and insisted on a single
And they pranced around in their posh clothes for three videos for TIWSL, My National Pride and Listen To This.
They’re all on the “Director’s Cut” DVD, which came with the fantastically-mastered CD.
I do love Kev, but some of what he says is just contradicted by facts. Perhaps he was on coke during DSMD and can’t remember? He definitely was afterwards.
I watched it and This Is What She’s Like wasn’t featured.
Was it Listen To This, which is quite similar?
You’re right! I’ll repair to the corner of the room and doff a dandyish
KR-approved dunce’s cap
i did find that very annoying and was shouting it’s not Big Jim at the screen
I watched the second half last night, and the name of one of my Beeb chums came up in the credits. I’ve sent him a screengrab and asked him to investigate.
I see @fentonsteve’s muckracking as leading to a Panorama special with a silhouetted @exilepj sitting in a darkened room, his words spoken by an actor, talking of how thoughtless sub-titling has sparked off a debilitating dose of PTSD
I expect this Sunday’s edition of News of the World to have “BBC subtitles intern hung out to dry” splashed across the front page, and some half-hearted apology complaining that nobody else noticed apart from some “middle-class men of a certain age”.
I’ll wait until the highlights appear in Monday’s Daily Sketch
@fentonsteve I am currently stood outside broadcasting house with a banner declaring my annoyance
Pete Williams gets a mention a few posts back. If you get a chance to see him play live, go…! Listen to his solo albums too, especially Roughnecks and Roustabouts.
Agreed, and also Dexys offshoots Blue Ox Babes and The Bureau.
Agreed again!
Q and A feature in Kev in today’s Gruan.
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Gerry Adams, because he’s got incredible integrity and vision, and he’s had to put up with so much flak
Integrity is a word rarely associated with Mr. “I was never a member of the IRA” as anyone who’s read Radden Keene’s Say Nothing will know