Ian Dury

Also - absolute classic - Spasticus Autisticus.

i http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00081T4SK.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

The link below is to a good Dury primer. It's missing only "You'll See (Glimpses)" IMHO. The CD seems to be OOP though, unfortunately.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000025ATS/026-3818356-9654044?v=glance&n=229816&s=music&v=glance

ahttp://myspace.com/theblockheads

Daddy, what is a rhythm stick, exactly?

Sex and Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll: The Life of Ian Dury

Ian Dury and the Blockheads: Song by Song

* - I might be totally off on this, but I don't think I am.

This confuses me, unless "early UK punk" means early '80s oi! or something. Was Ian's Kilburn and the High Roads stuff well-known in England? Because his debut album under his own name didn't come out til 1978 (in the States, anyway; maybe late 1977 in the UK?)

New Boots And Panties came out late summer '77 in Britain and was a huge seller although he didn't start having hit singles until spring '78 ("What A Waste" was the first one).

Quincy Jones covered "Ai No Corrida" - top 20 in the UK in '81 (on his The Duke album).

Which means Jankel's original version was probably on the Jankel album *before* Questionairre, not the one after.

"3,000,000 Synths"
"Without You" (co-written with Tina Weymouth, I thinks)
"109 (Give Me Something I Can Remember)"
even 85's crossover-y "No. 1"

I think it's the Lord Upminster record that has a great picture of them lounging with Sly & Robbie (who did rhythm) on the back cover.

"Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick"

"Sex and Drugs and Rock & Roll" (crappy video of live show)

"What a Waste"

Chaz:

"No. 1"

CD version seems to have lots of bonus tracks.

I'm seeing the Blockheads, plus a solo set by Wilko Johnson, at the Wickerman Festival in about a month. Even without the lad himself, it should be an experience.

Did you know you can actually find pictures of Linda Blair's tits online? I wasn't trying to but...suddenly there they were. I'm just surprised.

Sorry this is an Ian Dury thread.

Again, I still don't understand how this could be, since the first Ian Dury album came AFTER the first Pistols album, not before, right? (Or are you saying Johnny Rotten was a fan of Kilburn and the High Roads, which might make more sense? Did Dury even use a Cockney accent in that band?) I've always assumed that the big Brit-accent influence on the Pistols was Slade, though I could be totally wrong.

Drury's accent was 100% authentic, and he used it in everything he did.

If it's that "Sex and drugs" one mentioned above (and why wouldn't it be?) then yeah, it's excellent.

New Boots And Panties was out 2-3 months before Never Mind The Bollocks.

Steve Marriott and the Small Faces were the real "big Brit-accent influence" on the Pistols. Slade don't often get cited in that context; indeed, commercially they floundered for a while after punk (though this was less due to punk, more down to spending too much time futilely attempting to break the American market, and of course by the time they got back to Britain the world had overtaken them somewhat).

True, but nearly all of it was written well before.

I've only recently read a little bit (online) about his life behind the scenes, and it seems like he was a really great character. Any recommendations on those books?

No, but get this. It's great!

I've got Ian Dury & The Blockheads: Song by Song, a very entertaining book.

Tom Ewing addresses 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick' on Popular

Gollum is Ian Dury

http://www.nme.com/news/ian-dury/42264

Ray Winstone is Ian Dury's Dad!

UK cast grows for Ian Dury biopic
Ray Winstone and Mackenzie Crook have joined Andy Serkis for a biopic of late punk legend Ian Dury, according to film trade paper The Hollywood Reporter.

Winstone has signed on to play the father of Dury who, despite suffering from polio from a young age, went on to become a leading music figure.

Serkis plays the singer, who produced a string of hits through the 1970s, including Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll.

Pirates of The Caribbean star Naomie Harris has been cast as his girlfriend.

FFS, no one mentioned the 'Laughter' album here? With songs like 'Sueperman's Big Sister', '(Take Your Elbow Out Of The Soup) You're Sitting On The Chicken' and 'Fucking Ada', it's way better than 'Do It Yourself', Wilko Johnson did a great job here.

So is this movie on him about out now?

Mid-Jan in the UK.

http://www.theauteurs.com/notebook/posts/1381

Serkis is good but there's just something a little too rough about his Essexisms (which was kind of a deliberate persona for Dury anyway, raised in comfortable Harrow) - there's none of the sweetness of Dury in his singing voice. There's a world of difference between Reasons To Be Cheerful Part "FREE" (Serkis), and Part "THREE" (Dury). Pretty decent film though.

Really enjoyed this. Serkis nails it for me, and the sleazy late-70's vibe is spot on. Definitely worth seeing if you're a fan.

Really enjoyed this film.

I'm usually wary of biopics, as they can be somewhat flat and simplistic - especially if you know any detail about the subject. But in this case Andy Serkis's performance is great, and the script is more impressionistic than the usual biopic style.

Indeed an enjoyable film, though it reminded me quite a bit of the superior 24 Hour Party People. Serkis kills it.

I saw it with my South African friend, and halfway through she leant across and asked me if it was based on a real person. It would seem Dury didn't make much of an impression over there.

i'm late to this party but Do It Yourself is killer!

prune juice!

I am surprised by the lack of Dury on the forum. I have recently been enjoying New Boots and Panties (the album that is) and wrote about it on our blog:

http://devonrecordclub.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/ian-dury-and-the-blockheads-new-boots-and-panties-round-43-toms-selection/

i remain astonished he doesn't get more love. why is that?

There is a kind of gap, almost a black hole, on this borad with respect to the pub rock era and its artists. See also Nick Lowe. Graham Parker as well.

if we're talking ilx love then fair enough, but in the uk he's fairly feted, they even made a biopic starring the Gollum guy

probably hurts his legacy a little bit that two of his best known songs, hit me with your rhythm stick and reasons to be cheerful, have a bit of a novelty song feel about them

unlike the more philosophical sex and drugs and rock n roll

probably hurts his legacy a little bit that two three of his best known songs, hit me with your rhythm stick, reasons to be cheerful and sex and drugs and rock n roll, have a bit of a novelty song feel about them

tbf those are the only songs I know so I would say you are probably right lol

http://eil.com/images/main/Ian+Dury+Profoundly+In+Love+With+Pandor+189227.jpg

I want this Gian Sammarco + Lindsey Stagg picture disc so badly

Decades ago I remember meeting a guy who claimed Ian Dury lived down the road from him and would sponsor clean up the neighborhood and give away Ian Dury records as prizes. Over time I've forgotten the name of the town he was from and have not being able to get myself to recall it as there is confusion from someone else's hometown. So I keep thinking Wolverstonecraftshire and my brain can go no further. If anyone can provide further information I would be most grateful.

Reasons to Be Cheerful has a bit of a novelty song feel about it, the others don't.

I kind of get the impression that critical opinion turned against him at some point in the early 80s despite him having been acclaimed in the late 70s? I agree that he has definitely become established as a canonical acclaimed figure since his death, though.

has anyone else heard this tribute album? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Boots_and_Panties!!#Brand_New_Boots_And_Panties
I remember it mostly seeming a bit irrelevant aside from the Sinéad O'Connor track, Shane MacGowan staggering through Plaistow Patricia is kind of entertaining as well. what an odd collection of artists, though!

Laughter is an incredible album, it's a pity that it also marked the beginning of a collapse in his chart peformance

Nottingstonegate?

Warhamptonwick?

oh wait

I was listening to this live recording of a show by Bill Nelson's Red Noise from 1979, and at one point Nelson's talking to the audience about music he doesn't like and says something like "something really boring like... Ian Dury" - which made me kind of sad! of all of the people he could have picked as examples of boring music, and he picks Ian Dury :(

Wow, US Spotify's got a lot of Dury, incl. some I've never heard of. US CD-wise, Rhino's version of the excellent comp Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll might be the most findable I suppose the ace Juke Box Dury might be around over here too, though have never seen it as a domestic release.

never have

Upminster

Serkis is good but there's just something a little too rough about his Essexisms (which was kind of a deliberate persona for Dury anyway, raised in comfortable Harrow) - there's none of the sweetness of Dury in his singing voice. There's a world of difference between Reasons To Be Cheerful Part "FREE" (Serkis), and Part "THREE" (Dury). Pretty decent film though.

― Michael Jones, Sunday, 10 January 2010 11:05 (6 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeahhhh...... (It was on last night)

I dunno, Andy Serkis did a good job, just .. it .. wasn't.. close enough? The firsttime I saw it, I did wonder if Robbie Williams would have made a better visual resemblance, but then again he's not a trained actor so probably wouldn't have been as good.

One scene gets close to Ian: the return to the disabled boarding school where he talks to the kids, I remember this as a verbatim recreation of what actually happened, (was it on Nationwide or something?). Maybe there wasn't enough of Ian being charming, offsetting the 'mad disabled bloke' which he is most of the time in the film.

Still, this was more about Baxter than Ian, really, wasn't it?

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jul/31/baxter-dury-everything-was-about-dad-it-was-the-only-way-he-knew-how-to-survive

I guess there are some Baxter Dury threads but they seem to be super-short.

At the heart of Chaise Longue is an unlikely trio living in belligerent harmony – dad, son and the Sulphate Strangler. They shared a flat in west London by the banks of the Thames; part of a block renowned for its arty squatters, which Ian dubbed Catshit Mansions. They drank together, took drugs together, smashed crockery together, rowed and made up together when Baxter was still in his mid-teens.

The squatted Catshit Mansions were famously sited in Kennington - looking onto the Oval Cricket ground, rather than the banks of the Thames. This seems to be conflated two periods of Ian Dury's life: the earlier struggling years in Kennington where he lived with Denise Roudette and the later post fame years in Chiswick (I think).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ova26J0BcDs

aw shit, thanks for the heads up!

That whole sequence of him in the pool was beautiful. Also talking to the kids at that school, that was lovely

Yeah, remember this one well. One example as to why the S&D&R&R movie didn't work for me : they re-create that school scene in the movie and it's not as good.