You really can’t miss Kevin Rowland. Strolling towards our allotted rendezvous down Bethnal Green Road, the dean of Dexys cuts a dash in sailor-stripe top, blue turned-up jeans, cool white trainers and red beret. He looks fabulous, though maybe less flamboyant than he does in the video for I’m Going To Get Free, the lead-off single for Dexys’ new album, The Feminine Divine.
Filmed on this very same thoroughfare, I’m Going To Get Free finds Rowland sashaying down the street in wide-legged crimson suit and fedora, like some impossibly dandified 1920s gangster. It’s small wonder that he managed it at all, given last year’s motorbike accident that left him in traction and led to the cancellation of a Dexys tour. He’s still getting used to walking properly again, he says. As we escape the late morning mizzle and repair to a chic coffee shop, Rowland orders a herbal tea and settles in to discuss The Feminine Divine.
It’s a remarkable work. And in true Dexys tradition, it’s evolved in its own time. This is only the sixth studio album of the band’s career, and the first since 2016’s all-covers effort, Let The Record Show: Dexys Do Irish And Country Soul. As RC discovers, Rowland has been through an intense period of self-reflection during the interim, feeding directly into the themes of The Feminine Divine. The album traces a narrative that mirrors Rowland’s inner journey, from outdated notions of masculinity to revelatory shifts in attitude towards women and his own place in the world.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 2023 من Record Collector.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 2023 من Record Collector.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
WINDOWS ON THE WORLD
At the peak of their powers in the early 70s, by 1975 there were signs that Led Zeppelin were burning out, and their legendary appetite for excess, not to mention stadium-straddling, mythically charged, epically inclined hard rock, might be waning.
HI-FIDELITY?
Running a record shop is a dream for many music aficionados. Steve Burniston investigates how to run a successful one
THE ENGINE ROOM
The unsung heroes who helped forge modern music
UNDER THE RADAR
Artists, bands, and labels meriting more attention
45 SHEFFIELD 45s
Continuing our celebrations of RC's 45th birthday and following on from our look at the best 45s to come out of Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol and Glasgow, we focus on the urbanisation formerly known as Steel City: Sheffield. Close to the (Nether) Edge: Jeremy Allen
Finished Symphonies
In the late 80s, Shelleyan Orphan made rarefied, ravishing, precious (both meanings) baroque pop, all chamber quartet accompaniment and literary reference points, like an 18th century Cocteau Twins.
"BLACK BRITISH PEOPLE HAD SOMETHING TO SHOUT ABOUT"
Breaking new ground for black music in Britain from his teenage years in Matumbi in the early 70s, Dennis Bovell went on to become one of reggae's most highly regarded producers, helping popularise lovers rock. He also played a pivotal role in post-punk's experimental incorporation of dub influences on records like The Slits' Cut and The Pop Group's Y. As new compilation, Sufferer Sounds, reaches back to his early days to compile some of his best early dub plates, Lois Wilson gets the full backstory from one of British music's most enduring forces.
FRENZY REUNITED
Swindon's finest musical export, XTC were also one of the most quietly influential British bands, setting a template for Britpop while pioneering a brand of left-field guitar pop – from herky-jerky invention to consummate craftsmanship – that has spawned many imitators.
Paperback Blighters - The books every record collector should read.
The books every record collector should read. Vinyl, you may have heard, has made a big comeback. In 2022, sales of vinyl albums surpassed compact discs (CDs) for the first time in more than three decades in terms of global revenue, racking up more than $1.2bn.
"Beware the Savage Lure/of 1984..." - David Bowie is one of the most venerated musicians ever. But even he had his bad periods.
David Bowie is one of the most venerated musicians ever. But even he had his bad periods. For many, 1984 remains the nadir of his Phil Collins” phase; an artistic/sartonial/tonsorial disaster area. But was it really that awful? Forty years on, Matt Phillips explores Bowie's so-called annus horribilis.
