Editing Dexys Midnight Runners (section)

====Dexys reformed====
While recording two new songs, "Manhood" and "My Life in England" (both credited to Rowland, Paterson, and David Ditchfield) for a forthcoming Dexys greatest hits album, Rowland recruited Welsh classical violist (and studio musician) Lucy J. Morgan to play on the sessions along with original Dexys members Pete Williams as co-vocalist and "MD" [[Mick Talbot]] on keyboards, plus Paul Taylor on trombone and [[Neil Hubbard]] on guitar.<ref name="bio" />  Following the sessions, Rowland offered Morgan a permanent place in the group, and she accepted.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/showbiz/classical-violinist-lucy-j-morgan-1800171 |title=Classical violinist Lucy J Morgan on her role in Dexys Midnight Runners' new comeback album |publisher=Wales Online |date=10 December 2011 |access-date=3 April 2016 |archive-date=15 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415082055/http://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/showbiz/classical-violinist-lucy-j-morgan-1800171 |url-status=live }}</ref>  With her addition, Rowland announced the reformation of Dexys in April 2003; he told Williams that his goal for the reformed band was to be true to the memory of Dexys but to "take it somewhere else".<ref name="2003int" /> 

The Dexys greatest hits album containing the new songs, ''[[Let's Make This Precious: The Best of Dexys Midnight Runners]]'', was released on EMI in September 2003,<ref name="2003int" /> followed by a successful tour 'to stop the burning' in October and November.<ref name="bio" /> The new songs on the album were touted as new singles, with Dexys even performing "Manhood" on ''[[Top of the Pops]]''.<ref name="bio" />  However, despite promotional single releases for each by EMI and airplay on national radio, neither was officially released as a commercial single. Instead, a live performance by this 2003 version of Dexys was released on DVD, entitled ''It Was Like This – Live'' (although some versions were packaged with a misleading picture of Rowland from the 1980s on the cover). ''It Was Like This – Live'' was reissued in 2012 on CD and DVD as ''At the Royal Court, Liverpool''. It was released digitally in 2019, featuring songs from the first three albums plus "Because Of You", new song "Manhood" and the band's version of The Commodores' "Nightshift". 

In 2004, another Rowland-supervised reissue of the now-out-of-print ''Don't Stand Me Down'', subtitled "The Director's Cut", was issued on EMI with different remixing and remastering, an additional track ("Kevin Rowland's 13th Time"), and a different cover photograph showing the core trio (Rowland, Adams and O'Hara) walking in a park wearing "preppy" attire (instead of the previous business attire). In the liner notes, Rowland said that, after the remastering and track changes, the album "now sounds to me as it was intended to sound."<ref>Kevin Rowland, Liner notes for ''Don't Stand Me Down: The Director's Cut'' (2004). Retrieved 12 February 2015.</ref>

During a June 2005 interview on [[BBC Radio 2]], Kevin Rowland announced that Dexys were "back in the studio" and seeking a record deal for a new album. A new track, "It's OK Johanna", appeared on the band's MySpace site in 2007, and in January 2008, Rowland told ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]'' magazine further details about the album, saying in part: "I'm in the process of demo-ing the songs&nbsp;... I don't know when it will be ready or who will play on the record. I want to get everything 100 percent right, and know that it's the best I can do and every note is there for a reason&nbsp;... The only way I can be satisfied is to make the record I'm hearing in my head on my own terms."  As Rowland repeatedly stated, "Dexys are not a revival band. They are going forward, not backward."<ref name="rhinopr" />