Ian Dury

[Sloop John B]

Listening to a 2 cd greatest hits and doing some reading up about him. Only 2 years older than John Lennon, hadn’t realised this. Some really great funky punky tracks along with a fair bit of music hall. Going to be on heavy rotation chez Sloop for awhile I think.

.sjb

 

[RickyC6]

You mean 2 years younger yeah?
A brilliant one-off. New Boots And Panties is the classic for me but much good stuff throughout his work.

 

[Sloop John B]

Indeed I meant younger. For me Ian Dury arrived with rhythm stick and I was unaware he was 36 at the time. (Then again I probably thought Val Doonican was 36!]
The album I’m listening to “Reasons to be cheerful-best of.....” has a live selection as the last 5 tracks on CD 2. Seems Ian had the same control of the crowd as Phil Lynott.
Anyone here see the Blockeads in their prime?

.sjb

 

[Weekender]

There ain't half been some groovy b#st#rds.

 

[jackbarron]

Anyone here see the Blockeads in their prime?

.sjb

Yeah I did quite a few times. Tried to go whenever they were playing from 1977 onwards. The band were fantastic instrumentalists.

There was nobody like Ian in terms of lyrics, music-hall presentation and humour. His ability to hit the funny and sad bones was pretty unique. Plus there was sex & drugs and ...

Jack

 

[RickyC6]

There’s a great live album called Warts N Audience. With Ian and the Blockheads on terrific form.

 

[Ali T]

There was always a rumour that the Blockheads played all the Frankie Goes To Hollywood stuff.

Great tight band. I saw Wilco Johnson a few years ago who was touring with the Blockhead’s bassist Norman Watt-Roy. First time I’ve been literally gobsmaked by a bassist at a gig. Never seen live playing like it.

 

[MarkW]

Great tight band. I saw Wilco Johnson a few years ago who was touring with the Blockhead’s bassist Norman Watt-Roy. First time I’ve been literally gobsmaked by a bassist at a gig. Never seen live playing like it.

Wilco was a member of the Blockheads for a few years, Norman was a longtime member of the second iteration of Dr Feelgood. Two great players for sure.

Ian Dury and Elvis Costello were two of the few live acts that would get my lazy ass out of the house whenever they played locally in the early eighties. A good show was guaranteed. I listened to the same Greatest Hits collection a few nights back, not a duff moment on it.

 

[SteveT]

I saw him when he was in Kilburn and the High Roads and he was excellent then.

 

[Colonel_Mad]

Lot's of his later albums are wonderful. Mr Love Pants. Bus Driver's Prayer etc. Overlook them at your peril.

 

[deebster]

Lot's of his later albums are wonderful. Mr Love Pants. Bus Driver's Prayer etc. Overlook them at your peril.

'And forgive us our Westminsters
As we forgive those who Westminster against us.
Lead us not into Temple Station
And deliver us from Ealing,
For thine is the Kingston
The Purley and the Crawley,
For Iver and Iver
Crouch End ..'

 

[LostAtSea]

Any self-respecting bass players' rite-of-passage should include nailing the bassline to "Reasons to be Cheerful.." Purely IMHO..

 

[Bart]

A great talent, a clever b@stard and a bit of a b@stard by all accounts. The biopic was pretty good I thought. Do It Yourself is a great album too though seems to be overlooked.

 

[Operajulian]

A great talent, a clever b@stard and a bit of a b@stard by all accounts. The biopic was pretty good I thought. Do It Yourself is a great album too though seems to be overlooked.

I saw Ian Dury many times with various versions of The Blockheads. His band played three nights at the Edinburgh Fringe in a venue where I was on the stagecrew. Sadly he and his bodyguard/ helper were a right pain offstage. But marvellous onstage in full performance

 

[glenda]

The writer of the film script soon discovered that Ian Dury had a very dark side, in contrast to his cheeky chappie stage persona.The author reflected this in the first draft of the script and confessed to being nervous when giving it to Dury's children. After they had read it , they said that the script writer had got it completely wrong as their father had actually been a much bigger b*st*rd in real life.

A great talent, a clever b@stard and a bit of a b@stard by all accounts. The biopic was pretty good I thought. Do It Yourself is a great album too though seems to be overlooked.

 

[Tim Jones]

Any self-respecting bass players' rite-of-passage should include nailing the bassline to "Reasons to be Cheerful.." Purely IMHO..

Especially the sixteenth-note verse part. Which is almost like Bach in its technical difficulty.

And yes, the rumour was always that Norman W-R played the original Frankie bass parts, including the equally exhausting Two Tribes bassline (although the recording just took the easy way out with a sequencer...)

 

[Sean K]

Especially the sixteenth-note verse part. Which is almost like Bach in its technical difficulty.

And yes, the rumour was always that Norman W-R played the original Frankie bass parts, including the equally exhausting Two Tribes bassline (although the recording just took the easy way out with a sequencer...)

I couldn't agree more about Norman Watt-Roy. I idolised him when I was learning bass as a teenager, but was and still am, about as far away from his ability as I am from peak George Best's dribbling

Helpful slowed down version of TT from Trevor Horn :

 

[Sean K]

I've often though the best use of a time machine (killing Hitler as a baby, warning the residents of Fukushima, etc aside), would be to go and see bands I was too young to see at the height of their powers. Ian Dury and the Blockheads would certainly be on the list.

As Jackbarron says, it was such a rare combination of talent; the erudite, articulate and touching, mixed with the risque and the downright silly, and that's just the lyrics to reasons to be cheerful, never mind the outrageous funkiness of some of it.

Beautiful couplets:

I could be a writer with a growing reputation
I could be the ticket man at Fulham railway station.

and

I could be the catalyst that sparks the revolution
I could be an inmate in a long-term HINstitution

He wrote the loving and tender My Old Man (with another, lovely NWR bass line) as well as a contender for the best ever opening line of a song.

"I've come awake...with a gift for womankind"

simultaneously boastful, self-effacing/knowing and terribly funny.

Did anyone shell out for the New Boots and Panties box? What's it sound like? My original still sounds great (to me) but must be well worn and therefore it might make sense to....