Featuring more notable funk elements, such as opener ‘Inbetweenies’, ‘Waiting For Your Taxi’ and the almost-disco swing of ‘Don’t Ask Me’, it was another LP that perfectly showcased Dury’s talents. The second album, ‘Do It Yourself’ (*** ½) was released in 1979, with an elaborate sleeve based on a paint colour chart, meaning there were over 12 variants of the cover available to purchase. The album features a fantastic early example of Dury’s amazing lyricism in ‘Billericay Dickie’: “Came home to find another gentleman’s kippers in the grill/So he sanded off his winkle with his Black & Decker drill”. Widely regarded as Dury’s finest work, it’s a surprise that the only single from the album ‘Sweet Gene Vincent’, with its sultry beginning and rock and roll second half, didn’t dent the charts. The bizarre album title came from Dury’s love of buying second hand clothes, and boots and underwear were the only items he insisted on buying new. Despite recording a debut album, many major record labels refused to sign The Blockheads, but thankfully, one fledgling punk outfit – Stiff Records – took them on.īanned by the BBC, the group’s debut single ‘Sex & Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Roll’ was named Single of the Week in NME, and the album ‘New Boots and Panties!!’ (****) – credited at this time to solely Ian Dury – gained platinum sales in the UK, despite not featuring the lead single. His wild lyrics, a mixture of comedic wordplay and poetry, gained him a cult following, and their musical style was equally diverse, refusing to be pigeon-holed into a genre, and featuring elements of funk, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, music hall and reggae. After he left school with O Levels in Art, English Language and English Literature, Dury studied at the Royal College of Art under the artist Peter Blake, and taught the subject at various colleges.ĭury’s first band (‘Kilburn and the High Roads’) formed in the early 1970s, with Dury on vocals, where they performed on the London pub circuit, and even signed a record deal in 1974 with an opening spot for legendary rockers The Who, but the band split a year later.Īfter recruiting Andrew King and Peter Jenner (the original managers of Pink Floyd), Dury began a new band called The Blockheads, again with himself as lead vocalist.
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Suffering from polio at the age of seven, he was forced to spend six weeks in a full plaster cast, before receiving 18 months’ treatment at a hospital in Braintree. After World War II, the family relocated to Switzerland, but Dury moved back with his mother in 1946 to live in Essex.
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Love Pants’.īorn in Harrow in 1942, Dury was the son of a bus driver and former boxer father, and a health visitor mother. Helpfully, Edsel Records’ retrospective box set ‘The Studio Collection’ (or ‘The Vinyl Collection’ depending on which format you opt for) was more than ready to showcase Dury’s work over eight of his LPs, from 1977’s debut ‘New Boots and Panties!!’ to 1997’s superbly titled ‘Mr. So I was perhaps ripe for getting an education in the ways of Dury and his backing group, the Blockheads. I also knew that the Mitchell Brothers of techno, Orbital, had sampled ‘Rhythm Stick’ on one of their album tracks about ten years ago, but apart from that, nothing. In fact, even after I’d grown up and my musical horizons had expanded somewhat, I still only really knew of the man from his omnipresent ‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’ (unfairly viewed as a bit of a novelty single) and perhaps ‘Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 3’.
I’ll admit, if you mentioned Ian Dury to me when I was growing up, I wouldn’t have had any idea who you were talking about.
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