DEXYS

USUALLY A BAND AVERSE TO NOSTALGIA, THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT DEXYS ARE TOURIN THEIR MOST SUCCESSFUL ALBUM TOO-RYE-AY FOR ITS 40TH ANNIVERSARY WAS A SHOCK –UNTIL IT BECAME OBVIOUS THERE’S A TYPICALLY MAVERICK KEVIN ROWLAND MOVE ACCOMPANYING IT. REMIXING THE ORIGINAL LP ALLOWS THE SINGER TO FINALLY BE AT PEACE WITH HIS POP YEARS. KEVIN AND ORIGINAL TOO-RYE-AY PLAYERS HELEN O’HARA AND BIG JIM PATERSON RECALL THE CLASSIC THAT NEARLY BROKE THEM.

JOHN EARLS

Dexys, 2021. From left: Sean Read, Kevin Rowland, Helen O’Hara and Big Jim Paterson

Two years ago, Kevin Rowland was out walking in the park near his East London home when he realised Too-Rye-Ay celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2022. Normally, he wouldn’t bother marking such a landmark: “Forty years? That’s just a date” is his view. But, aware there’d be public interest if Dexys did something for the occasion, Kevin began plotting.

“I was always bugged by Too-Rye-Ay,” the singer admits. “The songs and performances are great, but I always felt the mixes could be better. Come On Eileen and one or two others – Old, Liars A To E and All In All – turned out really well. And even they could be a touch better. It’s my most successful album, but it doesn’t sound as good as the others. And that bugged me.”

Talking to Dexys’ manager, Rowland said he’d consider touring Too-Rye-Ay in full – if the album could be remixed from the original masters to sound how Kevin had always envisaged. While promoting the reissue of his solo album My Beauty in 2020, Kevin said he wanted to move away from music altogether. Touring – especially playing songs with a fraught relationship – is a big step. “I wasn’t interested in doing anything musically,” Kevin acknowledges. “This is all about righting the wrong.”

Naturally, Kevin is aware he could sound ungrateful in worrying 40 years later that his most successful work frustrates him so much. But his dissatisfaction with producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley’s mix has troubled him ever since the album was recorded. “I knew it was great to have the success that album had,” he ponders. “At the same time, I felt it was a shame. I felt a bit fraudulent promoting Too- Rye-Ay, because I knew straight away it wasn’t right. The best you can hope for when you finish an album is that it sounds as good as you can possibly get it at that moment. You feel right when you leave the studio, because you can’t get it any better. That’s when you’ve done your job, and we had it with every other Dexys album. But we didn’t have it with Too-Rye-Ay. I said to the record label, ‘This isn’t right, can we get some more money to mix it?’ They told me they’d spent the budget of £40,000, or whatever it was. The album didn’t have the subtleties and dynamics it needed.”

Too-Rye-Ay marked not just a sonic reinvention for the band, but a sartorial one, too

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“TOO-RYE-AY IS MY MOST SUCCESSFUL ALBUM, BUT IT DOESN’T SOUND AS GOOD AS THE OTHERS. AND THAT BUGGED ME.”

KEVIN ROWLAND

Searching For The Young Soul Rebels-era Dexys, March 1980

© Getty

It should be noted Kevin tells the story of Dexys’ troubled fame with wry bemusement, rather than anger. He greets Classic Pop at his East London flat. It’s compact, but bright and welcoming, as is Kevin. In a red shirt with outsize collar, he’s slim and alert, friendly and solicitously asking, “You got everything you need?” before the recorder is on. Our interview is on Kevin’s fifthfloor balcony, with a stunning view over the park where Rowland had his revelation about how to fix Too-Rye-Ay. “I always get a lot of ideas around nature,” he smiles.