Track Listing

1. Burn It down
2. Tell Me When My Lights Turn Green
3. The Teams That Meet In Caffs
4. I'm just Looking
5. Geno
6. Seven Days Too Long
7. I Couldn't Help If I Tried
8. Thankfully Not Living In Yorkshire It Doesn't Apply
9. Keep It
10. Love Part One
11. There, There My Dear
12. Geno
13. There There My Dear

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4578 in Music
• Released on: 2000-09-11
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

Amazon.co.uk Review
Dexys Midnight Runners' 1980 debut album--Searching For The Young Soul Rebels--spoke to the world with a clarity and confidence that had rarely been experienced before (or since). For children of the 80s, it was the initial introduction to Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, The Foundations--all those ancient soul men. It was the first time a generation came close to understanding the romance of singer Kevin Rowland's Irish precursor, Van Morrison. It was (and is) an album to die for, with its crystal-bright horn sound and the way it spoke with words that left no room for doubters on songs such as "There, There, My Dear" (a letter to wannabe hipsters set to music), "Keep It" and the triumphant "Dance Stance". The album's Number One single "Geno"­-a shout-out to the UK 60s soul journeyman Geno Washington--was pure inspiration. When Dexys appeared on Top Of The Pops to celebrate the song's ascent, they were all Mod-sharpness and mirror-bright brass. It was like being born again. --Jerry Thackray

Customer Reviews

classic album
the first time i heard this album
when it came out,the hairs on my neck
stood up,sorry only way to describe
the feeling,even now ive got the cd
still the same,a classic.all the covers
dexys did ive since tracked down, there are no words
just listen

The classic debut album from 1980...
Dexys' surfaced in the late 1970s, Kevin Rowland formerly of punk act The Killjoys found his partner in Kevin Archer and the rest of the gang collective that made up the band. Nodding to Stax and Northern Soul they had total conviction and essentially played a punk version of Stax stuff. They briefly flirted with Two Tone, before rejecting them, and soon after Rowland began baiting the press with his own essays.

Amid their first few years, when they all looked like something out of 'Mean Streets' and 'Raging Bull', they produced one of the greatest debut albums with this, 'Searching for the Young Soul Rebels.' This is the album most often picked out by music critics, but that overlooks the fact 'Too Rye Ay' (1982) and 'Don't Stand Me Down' (1985) are equally fantastic, if not greater!!

The band were sharp as anything, they had the songs, they had the style and at one infamous point, they had the master tapes! The 11 tracks form a classic sequence, this is one of those albums that I have to play all the way through - of course there are highlights, 'tell me when my light turns green' seems to me one of those classic Dexys songs that define them as a band (the other I'd say is 'Let's Make This Precious'). Opener 'Burn It Down' (formerly 'Dance Stance') is punk Sam & Dave, audaciously sampling 'Smoke on the Water', 'Holidays in the Sun' & 'Rat Race' before Rowland hollers "FOR GOD'S SAKE! - BURN IT DOWN!!!" The namechecking of Irish cultural figures would have an effect on later releases by The Pogues and That Petrol Emotion...(The Undertones' 'It's Going to Happen' was apparently a Dexys-tribute). The cover nods to Rowland's Irish roots, something more fully detailed in 1985's 'My National Pride (formerly Knowledge of Beauty).'

'the teams that meet in the caffs' is a fantastic instrumental, while 'seven days too long' feels like a twist on a Northern Soul stomp - 'love part one' would start a kind of spoken word interlude track that would recur on subsequent releases. & then there are the fantastic singles the scathing 'there there my dear' and #1 'Geno' - whose videos are also found on this reissue (the sleevenotes and photos are great too, well worth updating from my cherished vinyl).

Rowland sacked most of the band shortly after - though with Mick Talbot, this line-up reformed a few years ago for a tour - the DVD of which is well worth tracking down. The next Dexys' record was very Van Morrison, though songs like 'Show Me', 'Let's Make This Precious', 'Until I Believe in My Soul', & 'Old' weren't that far away (I guess people write off that album cos of 'Jocky Wilson Said' & 'Come on Eileen'?). Dexys were in a world of their own and this debut from 1980 is as classic as it gets - the kind of record no one should be without.

Spread The Word
"I've been searching for the young soul rebels, I can't find them anywhere, where have you hidden them?" - Well their here Kevin - your band mates.

This is how ska/early UB40 would have sounded like, if they had gone down the Wilson Picket/pre - The Commitments soul route. I'm glad they didn't, because I love ska music, but I also love this. Kevin was obsessed by creating a visual image for each album released, and on this their debut, it's all donkey jackets and black woolly hats. Their is also a mod element to this album, i.e. a shared love of motown, a tight sound, and a tune that could even be about the mod culture - 'The Teams That Meet In Caffs'.

The highlights for me are: Burn It Down, Tell Me When My Light Turns Green, Geno, Keep it (which just oozes soul) and Dear Dear My Dear, but it's all great.

If I had to recommend one Desky's album, I'd recommend all three. Their all equally spectacular and beautiful in their own way. The other two for the uninitiated are: Too-Rye-Ay and Don't Stand Me Down.