Midnight Music

Andy Leek continues to strive for recognition of his music beyond his six months with the classic first Dexys Midnight Runners line-up behind “Geno”. Prior to that, the teenager had played with experimental punk band the Wailing Cocks; Beggars Banquet snapped him up for a one-off single in 1980, “Move On (In Your Maserati)”. Midnight Music is the album which followed, shorn from a week’s studio time but rejected by Beggars back in 1982. One song, “Twist In The Dark”, was immortalised by Abba’s Frida for her solo album Shine in 1984 via a recommendation from mutual friend Kirsty MacColl. Alas, the rest gathered dust. Leek retained some of Dexys’ soulful intensity: but he was only sixteen when he left the band and seemed to favour contemporary music like Tears For Fears and early Thompson Twins.

It’s a bright, likeable collection of songs: the powerful brass and melodic violin will please Dexys fans and Andy’s impassioned vocals offer some poignant, poetic lyrics. While the title track might dig at Dexys’ frontman Kevin Rowland, Leek’s true skill lay in plaintive ballads like “Woolfson Hall”, a tribute to the abode he shared with his girlfriend in Glasgow. All in all, Midnight Music endorses the view that Leek has been something of a lost talent, who would later work with George Martin and enjoy a No. 1 hit in The Lebanon. But that’s another story…
Available from Andy Leek’s website: www.andyleek.com

John Reed.