563 Dexy's Midnight Runners - Don't Stand Me Down

1001 Album Club

Don’t Stand Me Down is the third studio album by English pop band Dexys Midnight Runners, released in September 1985 by Mercury Records. The album was released three years after their second album, the internationally successful Too-Rye-Ay. At the time, Dexys’ lineup had been pared down from ten members to just four: vocalist/guitarist Kevin Rowland, guitarist Billy Adams, violinist Helen O’Hara, and saxophonist Nick Gatfield, the last of whom left the band after the recording sessions were completed.

Don’t Stand Me Down was a critical and commercial failure upon its release. Many critics found the album to be a mess, with half the songs sounding like extemporized intros, and the rest seemingly trapped within their own middle eights. However, in recent years, the album has been reassessed by critics, and is now considered to be a classic of the genre.