"...Mash It Up
Harry..."
Edsel
of the UK have reissued six of Ian Dury’s albums in these 2015 Deluxe Edition Hardback Casebound sets – and natty
looking things they are too. Here are the reasons to be cheerful...
UK
released 2 March 2015 – "Mr Love Pants" by IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS is a
Limited Edition 1CD Deluxe Edition in Hardback Casebound packaging on Edsel
EDSA 5034 (Barcode 740155503437) and pans out as follows (51:16 minutes):
1.
Jack Shit George
2.
The Passing Show
3.
You're My Baby
4.
Honeysuckle Highway
5.
Itinerant Child
6.
Geraldine
7.
Cacka Boom
8.
Bed O'Roses No. 9
9.
Heavy Living
10.
Mash It Up Harry
Tracks
1 to 10 are the CD album "Mr. Love Pants”" released July 1998 on Ronnie Harris Records
DUR 1
BONUS
TRACK
11.
Mash It Up Harry ('Future Funk Squad' Radio Remix)
The
26-page booklet inside the hardback casebound cover features full annotation by
known expert WILL BIRCH (done in 2004), lyrics to all the songs (including the outtakes/demos),
unpublished photos, repros of his handwritten '5 poems', original artwork and
so on. These are the 2004 Edsel remasters done at Alchemy Mastering and they
sound amazing while all of Disc 2 was Previously Unreleased at the time.
The
glory days of Number 1 singles ("Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" in 1978) and
Number 2 LPs ("Do It Yourself" in 1979) were long past for IAN DURY and
wanting to forget (by his own admission) much of what he wrote in the 80s and
the disappointment of 1992's "The Bus Driver's Prayer & Other Stories" not
even charting despite being such a strong album (see separate review) – it was
good to see 1998's wonderfully upbeat "Mr. Love Pants" afford Dury some well-deserved
chart action again. Sadly it was to be his last studio recordings with the
Blockheads (he passed away in 2000) - but complete with Storm Thorgerson's
artwork intact and new liner notes from Alan Robinson (who worked the album’s
promotion in 1998) – this 2015 CD reissue even gives us a half-decent stab at a
bonus track in the guise of a 'Remix' of one of the album's highlights "Mash It
Up Harry".
It
opens in suitably irreverent style with "Jack Shit George" which features a
too-and-fro lyric battle between Dury and his Blockheads (he poses a question
and they reply in a not so kind manner by being honest). Ian's songwriting
partner Chaz Jankel trumped up co-authored winners in the shape of the acidic "The Passing Show" ("...as we've grown jaded and corrupt...") and the pretty even sinister "You're My Baby". You also notice the superb Production values (self
done) - leagues ahead of anything that had gone before – full of warmth and
quiet power – it lifted a lot of the songs and kind of forced you to
listen/hear.
"Honeysuckle
Highway" is a languid love song ala Ian Dury with lyrics like "...Evincing all
the properties of rapture with a sybaritic disarray..." But my heart is with "Itinerant Child" which has the most brilliantly written first-verse about a
clapped out car "...a psychedelic nightmare with a million leaks...it's
home-sweet-home to sweet arse freaks..." (if you're interested there's a gorgeous
outtake of it on Disc 2 of "The Bus Driver's Prayer & Other Stories" 2CD
reissue in this 2015 series). "Geraldine" is a co-write with Mickey Gallagher
where our hero is "...in love with the person in the sandwich centre..." (try
not laughing as you listen to him going on about baguettes and coronation
chicken). The bopper "Mash It Up Harry" is a updated throwback to the beats of
old where Harry wants "...a bit of Wembley up his Rio Grande..." The whole
album feels great in a way his records hadn't done in years.
"He's
got his little bit of England to defend..." - our Ian sang on "Mash It Up Harry".
Well here's one worth fighting for. Take a chance on his genius with this
wicked looking casebound reissue...
IAN DURY March 2015 Deluxe Edition
Hardback Casebound CD Reissues on Edsel are:
1.
New Boots And Panties!! (Edsel EDSK 7080, 2CDs – Barcode 740155708030)
2.
Do It Yourself (Edsel EDSK 7081, 2CDs – Barcode 740155708139)
3.
Laughter (Edsel EDSK 7082, 2CDs – Barcode 740155708238)
4.
The Bus Driver's Prayer (Edsel EDSK 7083, 2CDs – Barcode 740155708337)
5.
Mr. Love Pants (Edsel EDSA 5034, 1CD, Barcode 740155503437)
6.
Warts 'N' Audience [Live] (Edsel 5035, 1CD, Barcode 74015550536)
PPS:
Amazon lump all the 2004 and 2015 reviews together in the one place (a nasty
habit of theirs) – so if you want the Hardback Book Edition I've just reviewed
from 2015 – make sure to use the Barcode I've provided above to get the right
issue...
