My Beauty — Kevin Rowland

To celebrate the album’s 21st birthday, Cherry Red records are reissuing Kevin Rowland’s classic, My Beauty. The album will be available on both vinyl and C.D. For the first time the album will feature Kevin’s interpretation of Bruce Springsteen’s Thunder Road. The re-issue will also feature two bonus instrumental tracks and new sleeve notes.  

I can still remember enquiring after this album in a Woolworths shop in South London in 1999. The manager looked uneasy and said to me, “We’ve decided we wont be stocking it” so I had to go to Tower Records in Piccadilly Circus. It cost me £13.49 and they gave it to me in a brown paper bag. The album received mixed reviews and responses from the press. On the 11th of Sept the NME had a feature called, “Rowland Prat?” and had an accompanying article asking the questions was ‘My Beauty’ the “weirdest comeback of all time” and was Kevin “a lunatic or a genius”? Q magazine seemed to delight in writing stories about Kevin in a slightly tiresome way they would claim not all the staff at Creation Records liked the video for the album’s single, Concrete and Clay, and that Bruce Springsteen had refused to allow Kevin to record Thunder Road. They also seemed to want make readers think the album had been a huge flop when in fact sales had been fine. 

The truth was few people that actually played the album and listened to Kevin’s take on important songs in his life, could deny that it was one of the best albums released that year. In my opinion the albums first two tracks, The Greatest Love of All and Rag Doll are amongst the very best things Rowland has recorded. Some of the songs on this album are quite full on. For example, towards the end of his version of, “I Can’t Tell The Bottom From The Top” (originally a hit for The Hollies) Kevin sounds like he’s actually crying. And the Squeeze song, Labelled with Love gets a major work over. The original lyrics about a lonely American woman turning to drink were changed so that they were about Kevin becoming addicted to cocaine.  That said, other tracks on the album such as; Daydream Believer and It’s Getting Better are straightforward, uplifting pop songs. Personally, I think he got the balance just about right. 

I accept that not everyone whose favourite singles are Geno and Come on Eileen will love every moment of My Beauty it stands to reason that the more albums a singer makes will lose some fans and win over some new ones. On the back of one of the Dexys singles there’s a message from Kevin talking about how some of his records are his most precious possessions and how he will aim to make his records as good as his heroes. He claims he’s willing to pin his feelings to the wall and not care if people laugh at him. The My Beauty album was a brave move. Kevin opened up and revealed a lot. There are some very touching moments and a lot to admire. I can understand why many will say My Beauty is amongst their most precious possessions. Respect is due. 

Kevin Rowland answers some Harry Pye Questions... 

Harry: The songs selected for My Beauty were ones that spoke to you and helped pull you through hard times. Were there any songs that were nearly recorded or that were considered for the album? 

Kevin: “The only song that we considered doing but didn’t go as far as recording was Behind the Painted Smile by the Isley Bros.” 

Harry: I find your version of Rag Doll very moving. How many takes in the studio did you have to record to get what you wanted? Who picked the choir singers and what were they like to work with? 

Kevin: “I think we did about four or five takes of Ragdoll and chose the best one. It came together really well. The musicians were great. But big Jim Paterson and I spent a long time demoing the songs to get the arrangement right so we didn’t have to work on that in the studio.” 

Harry:  What was Chris Difford's reaction to Labelled With Love/I'll Stay With My Dreams? Did he mind you changing his lyrics?  

Kevin:  “I guess you would have to ask Christopher for his reaction to the lyric changes, but he allowed us to do it, so maybe that says something.” 

Harry: I love John Aizlewood's reflections on being a fan of Dexys in his book, Love Is The Drug. Is there anyone currently making music or doing shows that you're currently a big fan of? Is there anyone you'd like to hear cover your songs? 

Kevin: “I haven’t really thought about that. I’m not so driven towards music these days. I tend to think more in terms of films and drama. I always have really. With a lot of our albums, including My Beauty, it’s felt more like a film than an album while we were recording it.” 

Harry: How keen would you be on doing a live show where you performed all the tracks on My Beauty with a full band? 

Kevin: “I’m not sure. There was discussion of it, but deep down I don’t think I was really up for it. I’ve no desire to do more music at the moment. But I’m happy to help with this project because it is a labour of love and possibly other future Dexys re-issues.” 

Harry: Thunder Road is now included. I like the lines, "You've always been alone now is the time to let that all go" and "one last chance to make it real" what does the song mean to you? What was it about the lyrics that you related to or were inspired by? 

Kevin: “It’s hard to remember now why I chose Thunder Road, it’s so long ago, but it’s a song of encouragement and hope.” 

Harry:  What do you remember about filming the video for Concrete and Clay? Do you feel in some ways it was ahead of its time? 

Kevin: “I remember quite a lot about filming the video for Concrete and Clay. That whole period felt like we were doing something important, certainly important for me. I wasn’t too aware of any wider impact, but as the period of promotion for the album progressed, it was obvious that a lot of prejudice had been raised. There were also a lot of double standards. People made comments that would be deemed sexist, if applied to a woman. That kind of thing was rife. Certainly times have changed since then. Attitudes have really opened up, thankfully.” 

Harry: “There was talk of you doing 3 albums with Alan McGee on Creation records - is your relationship with him good? Do you think he would have preferred you'd released an album of original material on creation? 

Kevin: “I was signed to do a Dexys album. I told Alan that before that happened I wanted to do this album. He was very happy about it.” 

Harry: Many artists have recorded Greatest Love Of All but your version is by far the most powerful. What do you think when you hear it now? Do you feel you're listening to someone else singing?  

Kevin: “When I hear Greatest Love of All like pretty much all of the album, it’s clear to me that we nailed it. We got to the meaning as it related to me. And I’m very happy with the singing also.” 

Harry: Do you have a few more albums and tours left in you or would you rather try something else? What have you got planned for 2021? 

Kevin: “I haven’t thought about 2021 yet, I’m trying to keep it in the day. But no plans for albums or tours at this time. I really don’t feel motivated to do an album at this point or in the near future.” 

My Beauty is available from Cherry Red records from the 25th of September