Don't Stand Me Down

"Don't Stand Me Down" is the third studio album by Dexys Midnight Runners, released in September 1985. The album followed their internationally successful second album Too-Rye-Ay and featured a lineup pared down from ten members to just four: vocalist Kevin Rowland, guitarist Billy Adams, violinist Helen O'Hara, and saxophonist Nick Gatfield, the last of whom left the band after the recording sessions. The album was a commercial failure upon release, in part due to frontman Kevin Rowland's refusal to release a single. "This Is What She's Like" was eventually released as a single, backed with part one of "Reminiscence". Some reviewers were highly critical,with Trouser Press characterizing the release as "a torpid snore that denies entertainment on every level", although writing in the Melody Maker, Colin Irwin described it as "quite the most challenging, absorbing, moving, uplifting and ultimately triumphant album of the year". The album is now considered something of a lost treasure. It was featured in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, published in 2005 by Cassell Illustrated . Writing for Uncut in 2007, Paul Moody called it a "neglected masterpiece".