Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story
Rod the Mod finds his solo footing, headed for stardom, with the Faces in his wake.
6:00 AM GMT 22/06/2011
Features Disc of the day
Ian Dury
New Boots And Panties!!
(Stiff, 1977)
Laugh and cry with Lord Upminster's no-filler solo debut.
Ian Dury's six-year-old son Baxter appears on the front of New Boots And Panties!!, stood next to his dad outside Axford's, a clothes shop at 306 Vauxhall Bridge Road in Victoria. There's further generational food for thought in reflective track four My Old Man, which relates to Dury's father William, who "smoked too many cigs", "lived in one room in Victoria" and died in 1968. A small detail perhaps, but suggestive of how much depth there is in these songs. Having been gifted with a telepathic rhythm section in Norman Watt-Roy (bass) and Charley Charles (drums) after a chance remark from the owners of Alvic studios, Dury and his main writing partner Chaz Jankel recorded songs that mixed music hall, funk and (pub) rock'n'roll, all featuring the unapologetically London tones of Dury as he narrated poetic vignettes of hilarity, pathos, darkness and warmth. Even 32 years on the range of sentiments is striking; there's the still-uncommon instance of a polio survivor (as Dury was) being intimate and fruity on Wake Up And Make Love With Me and the jaunty I'm Partial To Your Abracadabra, the deep, exquisite lamenting and abandoned rocking of Sweet Gene Vincent, the far-side-of-logic song Clevor Trever and Blackmail Man's out to lunch attack on prejudice. The delightful lyrics of Blockheads, meanwhile - "they've got womanly breasts under pale mauve vests, shoes like dead pigs' noses" - were noted by Charley Charles, who correctly pointed out this was what he was wearing at the time. Soon after, the augmented band would recognize that Blockheads is what they were, and a series of sublime records would follow. The title, incidentally, derives from Dury's well-known reliance on second-hand apparel, insisting only on previously unworn footwear and drawers.
Ian Harrison
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 30/11/2009
Further Listening
Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Do It Yourself (Stiff, 1979)
Madness - One Step Beyond (Stiff, 1979)
Happy Mondays - Bummed (Factory, 1988)
Previous Disc of the day
-
-
Earl Brutus - Larky
Last salvo of Ginsters Pasty-Warholism from Britpop ramraiders.
12:04 PM GMT 08/06/2011
-
Loudon Wainwright - T-Shirt
An overlooked small wonder from an unpredictable career.
6:00 AM GMT 03/06/2011
-
Landscape - From The Tea-rooms Of Mars… To The Hell-holes Of Uranus
Dry computer club Futurists, upon hitting implausible chart paydirt.
6:00 AM GMT 17/05/2011
-
-
Causa Sui - Summer Sessions Vol 1-3
Epic Danish jams, for when the neighbours get you down.
6:00 AM GMT 12/05/2011
end of body content back to top
Footer
Join us on:
© Copyright Bauer - all
rights reserved.
Reproduction of this
website, in whole or in
part, in any form or
medium without express
written permission from
Bauer is prohibited. All
use is subject to our
Terms of Use
|
|
Comments
Comment on this post
What can you say about this fantastic album. Ian was a poetic genius. I recall Annie nightingale saying it was one of the best British albums of all time...not far off the mark. She also commented what a tragic loss Ian was,suffered with Polio all his life and then goes and dies of cancer......the man upstairs really was not watching our man Ian.
Posted by Alan Legge at 12:36 PM GMT 14/03/2012 Report Abuse
Reply to this post
Comment on this post