DEXYS
The Feminine Divine (100%)
Dexys deliver their first original songs in over a decade with new album The Divine Feminine, a set that will ultimately please fans rather than amaze them. Kevin Rowlands’ unmistakable vocal chops are still strong as he approaches his seventies, telling a quasi-autobiographical story of a man’s search for a confident spirit: “a life on one long fight”. Both the group’s name and production have been streamlined into robust, Radio 2-friendly tunes, when some looser boogie-woogie piano playing would be appreciated.
There’s a slight disconnect on It’s Alright Kevin between the song’s subject matter of humility in the face of depression and its ultra-glossy sound. More impressive is the deep, P-funk style of Goddess Rules, an inversion of the cheerful, conservational spoken-word motif as previously heard in This Is What She’s Like into something more confrontational. I’m Going To Get Free, too, has a bouncing zest-of-life vitality that recalls those original hits. The Divine Feminine is commendable, but nothing extraordinary.
words BILLY EDWARDS