Too-Rye-Ay | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
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 | ||||
|
||||
Singles from Too-Rye-Ay | ||||
|
Professional ratings | |
---|---|
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
Blender | |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
NME | 8/10 |
Q | |
Record Collector | |
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.