I've been living with the new Dexys Midnight Runners album, Love, for a couple of weeks now. It's Dexys's seventh album, produced by David Holmes and released on Heavenly, and is apparently part of or maybe the final word from Kevin and Dexys. The last song on Love, My Life In England Part 2, in which Kevin exhorts the people of England to 'rise up' over swelling strings, finishes with Kevin saying, 'Goodnight'- which could clearly be taken as the last word.
The album starts with My Life In England Part 1, a re- recording of an already existing Dexys song, one where Kevin tells his family history, his parents emigrating from Ireland to Wolverhampton and then moving to London, his mum's love of singing, Irish parties where rebel songs were sung, and the accents of the West Midlands and North London, and features Kevin's joyous singing of the chorus- 'My yi yi yi yi yi-yi-yi-yi , life in Eng- er- land'.
In between the two versions Kevin and Dexys spin and dance around eight more tales of love. Once A Man, Twice A Child is a eulogy for his Dad and the time they spent together when his Dad was a very elderly man. Kevin's relationship with his father was a difficult one and this song seems to be a musical reconciliation. Holmes' production is deep and warm, sympathetic to the songs. Kevin knows what he wants to sound like and the songs are big and soulful, emotive, sometimes sentimental and lyrically very much a taking stock. Kevin sings about aging ('I used to wonder do old people fancy other old people? Now I know the answer', he sings) and about family, grandchildren, romance, grief... all the big stuff, all the lessons learned. Kevin Rowland is and has been a singular voice in British music since the late 70s and (although I can do without the Christmas song), he has earned the right to do what he wants.
The song You've Got The Love was Love's second single and initial digital copies of the album bought at Bandcamp came with a David Holmes remix of the song. Homer's remix has now been released in its own right along with a pair of Steve Mac mixes. The Holmes remix is a joy, looped drums and bass and snatches of vocals, a track filled with dancefloor urgency, Balearic chords and a joie de vivre summed up in the song with the line, 'you've got the love that I need...'
I saw Kevin's autobiography out on paperback recently so I've been reading that at the same time. It's called Bless Me Father and his relationship with his father is never far from the centre of the book. Kevin's entire life, from childhood, has been one wracked with anxiety and insecurity. He didn't always realise it was this- as a young man he was angry and lashed out at people, let them down, behaved in ways which confused and upset them. He thought his father was permanently singling him out for criticism. He fell into a life of juvenile crime, multiple court appearances and family arguments. Reading Kevin's story I couldn't help but feel that if he'd had someone talk to him properly, some counselling as a teenager or young man, he could have been saved a lifetime of internal pain and relationship strife.
Kevin doesn't seem to have particularly enjoyed any of his time as a pop star, the period between their breakthrough with Geno and Young Soul Rebels and then the huge hits with Come On Eileen and Too- Rye- Ay, seem to have been fraught and miserable, constant arguing and second guessing, not trusting people, self sabotaging, falling out with band members and pushing them away. He describes his life in vivid and frank detail- at times you wish he could be a little less candid but I guess it's all part of the process of writing it. His description of his cocaine addiction is horrific. In the end there is redemption, relief, recovery, and some self awareness, a coming to terms with the anxieties and issues which have plagued him. That book and this album very much work as a pair, a reflection on a life that has been all over the place at times but that has given us some amazing songs and only now he's much older has he achieved some peace. Through it all though, he acknowledges towards the end of the book, it has often been that music is the thing that has saved him.
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