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Too-Rye-Ay

Too-Rye-Ay
Dexys Midnight Runners Too-Rye-Ay.jpg
Studio album by Dexys Midnight Runners
Released July 1982
Recorded December 1981-March 1982
Genre New wave, blue-eyed soul, Celtic folk
Length 40:37
Label Mercury
Producer Kevin Rowland
Clive Langer
Alan Winstanley
Dexys Midnight Runners chronology
Searching for the Young Soul Rebels
(1980)
Too-Rye-Ay
(1982)
Don't Stand Me Down
(1985)
Singles from Too-Rye-Ay
  1. "The Celtic Soul Brothers"
    Released: March 1982
  2. "Come On Eileen"
    Released: 25 June 1982
  3. "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)"
    Released: August 1982
  4. "The Celtic Soul Brothers"
    Released: March 1983 (re-release)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 5/5 stars
Blender 4/5 stars
Encyclopedia of Popular Music 4/5 stars
NME 8/10
Q 4/5 stars
Record Collector 4/5 stars
The Village Voice B+

Too-Rye-Ay is the second album by Dexys Midnight Runners, released in July 1982. The album is best known for the hit single "Come On Eileen", which included the lyrics "too-rye-ay" that inspired the album's title.

Shortly before recording this album, Dexys' bandleader Kevin Rowland had decided to add a violin section to the band's existing horn section, which had contributed strings (viola and cello) to the band's latest single, "Liars A to E". However, after violinists Helen O'Hara and Steve Brennan joined the band, the three members of the horn section, including Dexys' co-leader and album co-composer "Big" Jim Paterson, decided to leave Dexys and become an independent horn band (ultimately known as The TKO Horns). Rowland was able to convince them to stay with the band long enough to record the album and to do a kick-off concert debuting the album on BBC Radio One in June 1982.

All the songs on the album were rearranged to add strings, which caused Dexys to re-record the 1981 singles "Plan B", "Liars A to E", and "Soon". During the rearrangement process, "Soon" was revised into the opening section of "Plan B"; since both songs were written by Rowland and Paterson, the merged songs are just credited on the album as "Plan B".

The album's "Come On Eileen" became a number one hit in both the UK and the US. Dexys Midnight Runners is best known as only a one hit wonder in the United States; it was also the first single that Dexys had released in the U.S. However, in the United Kingdom, "Geno" had previously reached number one. "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)" and "The Celtic Soul Brothers" were also hit singles in the UK.

Prior to "Come On Eileen", Dexys' only North American single was the Northern Soul classic "Seven Days Too Long", which Dexys' previous label EMI America had released only in Canada (with "Geno" as the B-side). However, on the strength of "Come On Eileen", Too-Rye-Ay reached number 14 in the U.S. But the U.S. success failed to last;, the best performer in the U.S. of Dexys' U.S. follow-up singles was "The Celtic Soul Runners", which peaked at number 86.


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