"The Atco Albums Collection" by DR. JOHN [THE NIGHT TRIPPER] (September 2017 UK Rhino/Atco 7CD Box of Remasters in Mini LP Card Sleeves) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Gilded Splinters..."

The Night Tripper's catalogue used to come and go when I worked in Reckless Records (Islington and Berwick Street) with alarming regularity. Dr. John was and is an acquired taste. Of the seven albums presented here - only four charted Stateside and three of those were just inside the Top 200 ("In The Right Place" finally broke him out into the mainstream in 1973 and made No. 24). The original British issues on Atco and Atlantic plum labels/orange and tan K labels were the same (all non-charters) and are consequently quite rare in good condition in 2018.

In fact many of us 'rock geezers' were introduced to the colourful Malcolm Rebennack from New Orleans via our 99p purchase of Atlantic Super 2464 013 – "The Age Of Atlantic" label sampler LP put out in October 1970 that had "Wash, Mama, Wash" from his 3rd album "Remedies". And of course we were aware of the mighty "I Walk On Gilded Splinters" - a song like Dave Mason's "Feelin' Alright" or Ron Davies "It Ain't Easy" that lent itself to cover versions - huge numbers of Rock bands digging its spooky sway. Humble Pie give it an entire side on their fantastic live double album "Performance..." in 1972 and Paul Weller laid into it big time for his equally brill 1995 set "Stanley Road". Dr. John has always 'been there' so to speak...

But here at last is a decent splurge worth getting your teeth into. You get his first seven albums from 1968 to 1974 newly remastered for this 2017 set and given those natty Mini LP Repro Card Sleeves (Disc 1, 3 and 4 are credited to Dr. John The Night Tripper whilst the others are simply Dr. John). The good news is that "Babylon", "The Sun Moon & Herbs", "Dr. John's Gumbo" and "In The Right Place" all get their gatefold sleeves repro'd ("In The Right Place" gets that elaborate tri-gatefold) and the CDs reflect the original label colouring - Pink and Mustard for "Gris-Gris" and mostly the yellow Atco variant thereafter. The bad news is that there's no booklet to back up the music's historical place and influence or even give you musician credits and advise of the guests involved (I've provided those credits below where available). Shame that - but at least the cool-looking clamshell box is reasonably priced (roughly 3.50 per CD) and the new Stereo Remasters 'rock' right across the seven-album board. Let's get into the Gris-Gris and the Gumbo Ya Ya...

UK released 15 September 2017 (22 September 2017 in the USA) - "The Atco Albums Collection" by DR. JOHN on Rhino/Atco 081227933876 (Barcode 081227933876) is a 7CD Clamshell Box Set of New Remasters that plays out as follows:

Disc 1 "Gris-Gris" (33:27 minutes):

1. Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya [Side 1]

2. Danse Kalinda Ba Doom

3. Mama Roux

4. Danse Fambeaux

5. Croker Courtbullion [Side 2]

6. Jump Sturdy

7. I Walk On Gilded Splinters

Tracks 1 to 7 are his debut album "Gris-Gris" (credited to Dr. John The Night Tripper) - released January 1968 in the USA on Atco SD 33-234 (Stereo) and in the UK on Atco 588 147 (reissued June 1972 on Atlantic K 40168). Musicians included Steve Mann on Guitar, Plas Johnson on Saxophone, Lonnie Boulden on Flute, Ernest McLean on Mandolin, Bob West and Harold Battiste on Bass and John Boudreaux on Drums

Disc 2 "Babylon" (37:19 minutes):

1. Babylon [Side 1]

2. Glowin'

3. Black Widow Spider

4. Barefoot Lady

5. Twilight Zone [Side 2]

6. The Patriotic Flag-Waiver

7. The Lonesome Guitar Strangler

Tracks 1 to 7 are his second studio album "Babylon" (credited to Dr. John) - released January 1969 in the USA on Atco SD 33-270 (Stereo) and April 1969 in the UK on Atco 228 018 (Stereo).

Disc 3 "Remedies" (40:44 minutes):

1. Loop Garoo [Side 1]

2. What Goes Around Comes Around

3. Wash, Mama, Wash

4. Chippy, Chippy

5. Mardi Gras Day

6. Angola Anthem [Side 2]

Tracks 1 to 6 are his third studio album "Remedies" (credited to Dr. John The Night Tripper) - released April 1970 in the USA on Atco SD 33-316 (Stereo) and August 1970 in the UK on Atco 2400 015.

Disc 4 "The Sun Moon & Herbs" (39:25 minutes):

1. Black John The Conqueror [Side 1]

2. Where Ya At Mule

3. Craney Crow

4. Familiar Reality-Opening [Side 2]

5. Pots On Fiyo (Filé Gumbo) / Who I Got To Fall On (If The Pot Get Heavy)

6. Zu Zu Mamou

7. Familiar Reality-Reprise

Tracks 1 to 7 are his fourth studio album "The Sun Moon & Herbs" (credited to Dr. John The Night Tripper) - released August 1971 in the USA on Atco SD 33-362 (Stereo) and November 1971 in the UK on Atco 2400 161. Guest Musicians included - Graham Bond, Chris Mercer, Bobby Keys, Jim Price and The Memphis Horns on various Horns, Steve York of The Graham Bond Organization on Bass, Calvin "Fuzzy" Samuels of Stephen Stills' Manassas on Congas and Bobby Whitlock (of Derek & The Dominoes) with Doris Troy on Backing Vocals. Charted October 1971 and eventually peaked at No 184 on the US LP charts.

Disc 5 "Dr. John's Gumbo" (39:50 minutes):

1. Iko Iko [Side 1]

2. Blow Wind Blow

3. Big Chief

4. Somebody Changed The Lock

5. Mess Around

6. Let The Good Times Roll

7. Junko Partner [Side 2]

8. Stack-A-Lee

9. Tipitina

10. Those Lonely Lonely Nights

11. Huey Smith Medley: (a) High Blood Pressure (b) Don't You Just Know It (c) Well I'll Be John Brown

12. Little Liza Jane

Tracks 1 to 12 are his fifth studio album "Dr. John's Gumbo" [aka "Gumbo"] - a collection of cover versions (as Dr. John) released April 1972 in the USA on Atco SD 7006 and July 1972 in the UK on Atlantic K 40384. It peaked at No. 112 in the US LP charts (didn't chart UK).

Disc 6 "In The Right Place" (33:43 minutes):

1. Right Place Wrong Time [Side 1]

2. Same Old Same Old

3. Just The Same

4. Qualified

5. Traveling Mood

6. Peace Brother Peace

7. Life [Side 2]

8. Such A Night

9. Shoo Fly Marches On

10. I Been Hoodooed

11. Cold Cold Cold

Tracks 1 to 11 are his sixth studio album "In The Right Place" (as Dr. John) - released February 1973 in the USA on Atco SD 7018 and March 1973 in the UK on Atco K 50017. With Allen Toussaint, The Meters and Art Neville of The Neville Brothers as guest musicians (Toussaint also Produced) - the album peaked at No. 24 in the USA LP charts.

Disc 7 "Desitively Bonaroo" (37:15 minutes):

1. Quitters Never Win [Side 1]

2. Stealin'

3. What Comes Around (Goes Around)

4. Me - You = Loneliness

5. Mo's Scoious

6. (Everybody Wanna Get Rich) Rite Away

7. Let's Make A Better World [Side 2]

8. R U 4 Real

9. Sing Along Song

10. Can't Git Enuff

11. Go Tell The People

12. Desitively Bonaroo

Tracks 1 to 12 are his seventh studio album "Desitively Bonaroo" (as Dr. John) - released April 1974 in the USA on Atco SD 7043 and March 1974 in the UK on Atlantic K 50035. Produced by and featuring Allen Toussaint (also wrote "Go Tell The People") - The Meters were once again the Backing Band and the LP peaked at No. 105 in the US LP charts (didn't chart UK).

I've always had a hard time with the "Gris-Gris" debut album - a lot of mumbo to me at the time and unfortunately large parts of it still feel that way. But what hammers you here is the New Remaster - it elevates everything. The Harold Battiste part-instrumental "Crocker Courtbullion" for instance that opens Side 2 is suddenly 'huge' - all that mad conga-and-flute voodoo rhythm swirling around your speakers like you're inside a bird menagerie where someone has handed out tablets to the canaries and birds of prey. Having lived with old variants of "Jump Sturdy" - this 2017 version feels alive like it never did before and the stunning "I Walk On Gilded Splinters" is fantastic in all its 7:40 minute magnificence. All those finger-clicks, conga slaps, plaintive flutes and girly chants jump out of your speakers with gutter 'malice'. Fabulous stuff...

Apart from "Barefoot Lady" which was a co-write with Producer Harold Battiste - Dr. John fully-penned the 2nd album "Babylon" and again the 2017 Remaster really has lifted the LP up into another league. The 'represented in the Bible' "Babylon" roars into existence as does the 'yes it is' of "Glowin'" - guitars and horns so clear. Dr. John gets heavy on "Black Widow Spider" - his fuzzed-up guitars and odd rhythms sounding not unlike Captain Beefheart. Other highlights include the acoustic guitars of "Barefoot Lady" - pianos and cymbals tingling in the eight-minute "Twilight Zone" and the almost Allman Brothers gee-tar of the album finisher "The Lonesome Guitar Strangler" - a strange hybrid tune of strummed mandolins, Jazz rhythms and an instrumental guitar-break that features a few moments of Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love".

Although it was probably his most commercially accessible album – 1970's "Remedies" was more of a New Orleans homage than the full on invention of Swamp-Rock, Bayou-Funk and Psych-Fusion that came from the earlier outings. "Chippy, Chippy" sounds like its title - a piano upbeat bopper - but like "What Goes Around Comes Around" already feels slightly old-hat somehow. Side 2 of the record is taken up by 17:35 minutes of the driving "Angola Anthem" - a track that acts like Side 1 never happened. Politics, anger, racing 'shoot you just for fun' rhythms suddenly make the album feel righteous and real (and the Remaster is fantastic too – drums, tambourines, voices, guitar flicks). By the time we get to LP number four in 1971 The Night Tripper seemed to have reclaimed some of his Gris-Gris mojo. Cool tunes like the sexy yet bullish "Where Ya At Mule" and the Sgt. Pepper sleaze-rhythm of "Craney Crow" (harking back to "I Walk On Gilded Splinters") showed he could still hit you with that crazy groove that’s hard to explain. All those famous session names too (many British) add to the two parts of "Familiar Reality" - but my rave-crave is the nuts Tuba shuffle of "Zu Zu Mamou" sounding fantastic when those acoustic guitars slink in. The girls singing of somebody ripping out your mind – he whispers of street lights – she burns candles – snake eggs - time to visit the doctor methinks. "The Sun Moon & Herbs" album should have done better than its lowly No. 184 showing on the American LP charts.

His cover versions album "Dr. John's Gumbo" has always been seen as a filler - a strangely odd thing in the spring of 1972. But amidst the obvious Professor Longhair and Ray Charles tracks ("Tipitina" and "Mess Around") - there are more obscure goodies - stuff like his own 1960 song "Somebody Changed The Lock" and James Wayne's "Junko Partner" which The Clash would revisit on the 1980 triple-album "Sandinista!" And the four Huey "Piano" Smith covers (three in a medley plus the album’s final song "Little Liza Jane") are great fun to my ears.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer fans (of all people) owe the album name to their heroes' fifth LP "Brain Salad Surgery" to lyrics Keith Emerson heard in the opening track "Right Place Wrong Time". Perhaps more importantly the presence of The Meters as the Doctor's rhythm section along with major contributions from song-masters Allen Toussaint and Art Neville of The Neville Brothers seemed to bring out both the Funk and Soul in the Mac. There's a lovely overall feel to everything on the LP "In The Right Place" (one of my faves). Even better is the 2017 Remaster - which is just gorgeous and suddenly full of beans. Take the piano and brass intro to the champagne and soda pop equality song - "Qualified" - a co-write with Jesse Hill, an old friend of Professor Longhair and Huey Smith and the writer of the New Orleans R&B classic "Ooh Poo Pah Doo". It feels huge as the girls sing the song title with passion – his whistling intro to "Traveling Mood" is the same. The album gets Aretha Funky and 1973 Righteous with "Peace Brother Peace" - a call to peaceful arms all over this world. Allen Toussaint's distinctive vocals can be heard in his lone song contribution to the album - the father-father look what they done "Life" - a cool groover. "Shoo Fly Marches On" is another hot-in-the-slot shuffler with the single "Cold Cold Cold" ending the album on a mid-paced high (I thought I was your something special, he bemoans).

For album number seven – the wittily titled "Desitively Bonaroo" – Dr. John used the same ace team in 1974 as he had in 1973 – The Meters, Art Neville and Allen Toussaint – and threw out another Soul-Funky doozy. Highlights include the right-on, right-on "(Everybody Wanna Get Rich) Rite Away" and the every body sing "Let’s Make A Better World". Funk lovers will dig the slow and sexy groove of (the pre Prince song-title) "R U 4 Real" and the drop-down cool bass-line of "What Comes Around (Goes Around)" with its lovely brass fills. A rare moment of pain comes in the slow drag of "Me – You = Loneliness" where Mac recalls places he can’t go anymore – I’d suggest this album isn’t one of them. For me after the scrappiness of the first few albums - "Desitively Bonaroo" ends the box set on a high.

Yet despite the pretty repro artwork, the perceived cool of the man and the truly excellent upgraded audio on titles that have too long languished in the reissue nether world – I've never thought Dr. John's actual music catalogue on Atco a long litany of masterpieces that some claim it is (hence the four stars).

But make no splintered mistake - this is a fantastic and reasonably priced 'dip in and enjoy' Box Set - and The Night Tripper deserves no less.

"I Been Hoodooed" baby – and frankly "Mama Roux" - I like it...

"Mr Love Pants" by IAN DURY and THE BLOCKHEADS (March 2015 UK Edsel Deluxe Edition Hardback Casebound 2CD Reissue and Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...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...

"The Studio Albums Collection" by IAN DURY - Featuring Eight Albums - "New Boots And Panties!!" (Sep 1977), "Do It Yourself" (May 1979), "Laughter" (Nov 1980), "Lord Upminster" (Sep 1981), "4000 Weeks' Holidays" (Sep 1984), "Apples" (Oct 1989), "The Bus Driver's Prayer And Other Stories" (Nov 1992), "Mr. Love Pants" (July 1998) and a Bonus CD with Singles, Non-Album Tracks and Compilation Exclusives from 1977 to 1981 (November 2014 UK Edsel 9CD Mini Box Set of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…Reasons To Be Cheerful…"

Like Nick Lowe and Kirsty MacColl – England's Ian Dury has always been an acknowledged top-notch songwriter and blistering lyrical wit - whilst at the same time being a wee bit of a left-field musical underdog beloved by devoted fans and occasionally stumbled on by newcomers. 

Perhaps this cool (and not too overpriced) British studio album recap Box Set will change all that. Time to get hit with that rhythm stick folks on round and skinny bottoms…here are the Billericay details...

UK released November 2014 – "The Studio Albums Collection" by IAN DURY (and The Blockheads) on Edsel EDSB 4016 (Barcode 740155401634) is a 9CD Mini Box Set of Remasters that breaks down as follows:

Disc 1 - "New Boots And Panties!!" by IAN DURY (37:35 minutes):

1. Wake Up And Make Love With Me [Side 1]

2. Sweet Gene Vincent

3. I'm Partial To Your Abracadabra

4. My Old Man

5. Billericay Dickie

6. Clevor Trevor [Side 2]

7. If I Was A Woman

8. Blockheads

9. Plaistow Patricia

10. Blackmail Man

Tracks 1 to 10 are the album "New Boots And Panties!!" – released September 1977 in the UK on Stiff Records SEEZ 4

Disc 2 - "Do It Yourself" by IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS (40:52 minutes):

1. Inbetweenies [Side 1]

2. Quiet

3. Don't Ask Me

4. Sink My Boats

5. Waiting For Your Taxi

6. This Is What We Find [Side 2]

7. Uneasy Sunny Day Hotsy Totsy

8. Mischief

9. Dance Of The Screamers

10. Lullaby For Franci/Es

Tracks 1 to 10 are the album "Do It Yourself" – released May 1979 in the UK on Stiff Records SEEZ 14

Disc 3 - "Laughter" by IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS (39:28 minutes):

1. Sueperman's Big Sister [Side 1]

2. Pardon

3. Delusions Of Grandeur

4. Yes And No (Paula)

5. Dance Of The Crackpots

6. Over The Points

7. (Take Your Elbow Out The Soup) You're Sitting On The Chicken [Side 2]

8. Incoolohol

9. Hey, Hey Take Me Away

10. Manic Depression (Jimi)

11. Oh Mr. Peanut

12. F***king Ada

Tracks 1 to 12 are the album "Laughter" – released November 1980 in the UK on Stiff Records SEEZ 30

Disc 4 - "Lord Upminster" by IAN DURY (38:35 minutes):

1. Funky Disco (Pops) [Side 1]

2. Red (Letter)

3. Girls (Watching)

4. Wait (For Me)

5. The (Body Song) [Side 2]

6. Lonely (Town)

7. Trust (Is A Must)

8. Spasticus (Autisticus)

Tracks 1 to 8 are the album "Lord Upminster" by IAN DURY – released September 1981 in the UK on Polydor POLD 5112

Disc 5 - "4000 Weeks' Holidays" by IAN DURY & THE MUSIC STUDENTS (39:47 minutes):

1. (You're My) Inspiration [Side 1]

2. Friends

3. Tell Your Daddy

4. Peter The Painter

5. Ban The Bomb

6. Percy The Poet [Side 2]

7. Very Personal

8. Take Me To The Cleaners

9. The Man With No Face

10. Really Glad You Came

Tracks 1 to 10 are the album "4000 Weeks' Holidays" - released January 1984 in the UK on Polydor 815 327-1

Disc 6 - "Apples" by IAN DURY (42:38 minutes):

1. Apples [Side 1]

2. Love Is All

3. Byline Browne

4. Bit Of Kit

5. Game On

6. Looking For Harry

7. England's Glory [Side 2]

8. The Bus Driver's Prayer

9. PC Honey

10. The Right People

11. All Those Who Say Okay

12. Riding The Outskirts Of Fantasy

Tracks 1 to 12 are the album "Apples" – released October 1989 on WEA Records WX 326

Disc 7 - "The Bus Driver's Prayer & Other Stories" by IAN DURY (47:07 minutes):

1. That's Enough Of That [Side 1]

2. Bill Haley's Last Words

3. Poor Joey

4. Quick Quick Slow

5. Fly In The Ointment

6. O’Donegal

7. Poo-Poo In The Prawn

8. London Talking

9. Have A Word

10. D'Orine The Cow

11. Your Horoscope

12. No Such Thing As Love

13. Two Old Dogs Without A Name

14. The Bus Driver's Prayer

Tracks 1 to 14 are the CD album "The Bus Driver's Prayer & Other Stories" – released November 1992 in the UK on Demon Records FIEND CD 702

Disc 8 - "Mr. Love Pants" by IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS (46:46 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 DUR 1

Disc 9 BONUS CD by IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS (48:11 minutes):

1. Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

2. Razzle In My Pocket

Tracks 1 and 2 are the A&B-sides of a non-album UK 7" 45-single released August 1977 on Stiff Records BUY 17

3. You're More Than Fair 

Track 3 is a UK 7" 45-single released November 1977 on Stiff Records BUY 23, the non-album B-side to "Sweet Gene Vincent" 

4. England's Glory (Live) 

Track 4 was a bonus track on the 1996 CD reissue of "New Boots And Panties!!"

5. What A Waste 

Track 5 is the A-side of a UK 7" 45-single released April 1978 on Stiff Records BUY 27, non-album track

6. Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick

7. There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards

Tracks 6 and 7 are the A&B-sides of a UK 7" 45-single released November 1978 on Stiff Records BUY 38, both tracks non-album, it was a UK Number 1 single

8. Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 3

9. Common As Muck

Tracks 8 and 9 are the A&B-sides of a UK 7" 45-single released July 1979 on Stiff Records BUY 50, both songs non-album

10. Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 3 - 12" Version (Euro-Only 12" Single mix on Stiff Records 12 BUY 50

11. I Want To Be Straight

12. That's Not All 

Tracks 11 and 12 are the A&B-sides of a UK 7" 45-single released August 1980 on Stiff Records BUY 90, both tracks non-album

13. You'll See Glimpses 

Track 13 first appeared on the UK compilation LP "Jukebox Dury" released 1981 on Stiff Records SEEZ 41

The 12-page booklet is a very basic and functional affair – track lists, album credits and bugger all else – and the BONUS CD doesn't even tell you what tracks are from what (I've put the info in above). Each of the discs have superb sound though – with remasters clearly used on the first 4 albums - and the others were well recorded anyway. Each of the card sleeves is a single with front and rear artwork copied and nothing else. John Turnbull, Davey Payne, Norman Watt-Roy, Chaz Jankel, Charley Charles and Mickey Gallagher (The Blockheads) are pictured on the last page.

Re-listening to "New Boots And Panties!!" - I'm brought back to bedsits - where the ownership of this fabulously upbeat and New Wave album seemed to be a rite of passage no one could escape. It was cool too - something that was elusive in those hissy-hectic musical days. So many greats tracks like the deceptively deep "My Old Man" (never home for long) or the acidic "Clevor Trevor" (just 'cause I ain't read nuthin') – time and time again you're struck by the genius of the words and rhymes allied with a killer rhythm section in Dury's backing band The Blockheads. 

"Don't Ask Me" is a perfect example – a catchy tune with words like "...here I stand with a doughnut for a brain…" And I remember being told once there is something like 48 different wallpaper covers for the album "Do It Yourself" – I've certainly seen 15 or more (I think British Comic Phil Jupitus has the full set).

Even with Dr. Feelgood's Wilko Johnson on the plank - by the time it got to the Eighties and "Laughter" – the public was already disinterested and things only got worse despite signing to the major label Polydor with "4000 Weeks' Holiday" in 1981 and "Lord Upminster" in 1984. That isn't to say that there aren't nuggets like the slinky funk of "Girls (Watching)" and the difficult single Spasticus (Autisticus) – the first time I ever heard the word Autism used. 

A new signing to WEA say the polished "Apples" set appear in late 1989 amidst mucho press praise. A fave is "Love Is All" – a duet vocal with Frances Ruffelle ("...you're not my cup of tea I fear…"). Many of the other songs are co-written with keyboard player Mickey Gallagher – some unnervingly pretty like "Looking For Harry" while that other original-roster Stiff Records act Wreckless Eric puts in a witty turn on "PC Honey".

The funk returned big time with the fab "Mr. Love Pants" as did his acid tongue. The opening track "Jack Shit George" goes after a terrible teacher with a brilliant question and answer routine – he asks the question – the band answers ("...how many times were you intrigued…not many…"). There's even Soulfulness to the self deprecating tongue-in-cheek "You're My Baby" and the ordinary-guy-on-the-street love story in "Geraldine" ("...I'm in love with a girl in the sandwich centre…") has rhyming couplets that will make you LOL. 

But it has to be said that the BONUS CD which mops up those non-album singles, B-sides and compilation exclusives (mostly on Stiff Records between 1977 to 1981) may indeed outdo all the other discs - containing as it does joyous nuggets like the Extended 12" Version of "Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 3" and the irrepressible Number 1 hit "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" - alongside other radio and chart faves like "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll", "Common As Muck" and "What A Waste" – all ace and great fun into the bargain.

"Sex & Drugs & Rock Rock & Roll...is all my body needs..." the mighty Imp sang back in those heady days of 1977. Never the darling of British Music Papers like say Joe Jackson or Graham Parker or Elvis Costello - Ian Dury was however one of the most slyly articulate. 

Ian Dury and his corking backing band The Blockheads are always due a renaissance in my book. And nabbing the nine-disc Edsel Box Set "The Studio Albums Collection" for a good price (eight full albums and a Bonus Disc genuinely worthy of the moniker Bonus) - means you can start your fresco-appreciation class right here…

"New Boots And Panties!!" By IAN DURY (March 2015 UK Edsel Hardback Book 'Deluxe Edition' 2CD Reissue and Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Razzle Dazzle..."

If you already own the September 2004 2CD Deluxe Edition on Edsel MEDCD 751 (Barcode 740155175122) of "New Boots And Panties!!" – then this March 2015 reissue now housed in a very fetching 'hardback book cover' offers nothing new - expect improved packaging. But if you don’t own it - then Ian Dury’s breakthrough debut album is a bit of a 1977-New-Wave peach you frankly need in your shelllikes. Here is the Ealing gospel according to Plaistow Patricia and Billericay Dickie (if you know what I mean my son)...

UK released/reissued March 2015 in a Hardback Book form – "New Boots And Panties!! Deluxe 2CD Edition" by IAN DURY on Edsel EDSK 7080 (Barcode 740155708030) breaks down as follows:

Disc 1 (50:06 minutes):

1. Wake Up And Make Love With Me

2. Sweet Gene Vincent

3. I’m Partial To Your Abracadabra

4. My Old Man

5. Billericay Dickie

6. Clever Trevor [Side 2]

7. If I Was A Woman

8. Blockheads

9. Plaistow Patricia

10. Blackmail Man

Tracks 1 to 10 are the album "New Boots And Panties!!" by IAN DURY – released 30 September 1977 in the UK on Stiff Records SEEZ 4. The 11-song American LP on Stiff STF 0002 was released in 1978 with "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" tagged on as an extra - Track 1 on Side 2.

BONUS TRACKS:

11. Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

12. Razzle In The My Pocket

13. You’re More Than Fair

14. England’s Glory [Live]

Tracks 11 and 12 are the A&B-sides of a non-album UK 7" single released August 1977 on Stiff Records BUY 17. "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" was also an extra track on the American version of the LP (Track 1 – Side 2)

Track 13 is the non-album B-side to "Sweet Gene Vincent" – a UK 7" single released November 1977 on Stiff Records BUY 23

Track 14 was the bonus track on the 1996 CD reissue of "New Boots And Panties!!"

Disc 2 – DEMO VERSIONS (68:13 minutes):

1. Wake Up And Make Love With Me

2. Sink My Boats

3. Apples

4. England's Glory

5. Tell The Children

6. I Made Mary Cry

7. Sweet Gene Vincent (Backing Track)

8. Blackmail Man

9. My Old Man

10. Something's Going To Happen In The Winter

11. Wifey

12. Sink My Boats [Alternate Version]

13. I'm Partial to Your Abracadabra

14. If I Was A Woman

15. Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

16. Clevor Trevor

17. Blockheads

Like the Todd Rundgren Hardback Book Editions of 2014 for "Runt", "Something/Anything?", "A Wizard, A True Star", "Initiation" etc (see reviews) - this is the first of six Hardback Book Reissues for IAN DURY (see list below). Each has the same August 2004 WILL BIRCH liner notes and photo-spreads - there appears to be nothing new added. "Booties" comes with a 30-page centred booklet that includes lyrics to the album and the 4 bonus cuts, trade adverts from the NME and New Musical Express and of course (expert) Birch's witty and informative history of the band and Dury’s struggles to get the album made post Kilburn & The Highroads. The remaster is the same as was done in 2004 at Alchemy Mastering (no engineer name) – top-notch audio from original master tapes (even the Demo version on Disc 2 Rocks out). The four bonus tracks on Disc 1 turned up on the rarities CD in the "Studio Albums Collection" Box Set of 2014 – but so far Disc 2 on this edition remains exclusive.

I recall 1977 and long into 1978 when this LP seemed to be in every bedsit in the world (well England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales anyway) – and rightly so. The opening wit and sheer fresh-air-ness of "Wake Up And Make Love With Me" was like nothing that had gone before it – and that magic continued with "Sweet Gene Vincent" – a wickedly tender/wild homage to his British Rock 'n' Roll hero - "...I miss the voice that called my heart..." I first began to realise his poetic genius with "My Old Man" where the No. 18 to Euston is driven by his father and his cheeky-chappy persona beloved him to the young with "Billericay Dickey" where "...she took me to the cleaners...and other misdemeanours..." He rocked out with both "Blockheads" and "Blackmail Man" (probably the angriest song on the album). The Bonus Tracks on Disc 1 only add icing to a very tasty cake – my crave being the saucy and terrible UNPC "You're More Than Fair".

The DEMO VERSIONS disc gives us songs that aren’t familiar like "Sink My Boats" which you can’t help but think would have been a hit if included on the LP. It’s also a blast to hear a studio version of "England's Glory" rather than the familiar live version B-side we've known as these years. Although slight and at odds with the album’s wittier side – there's something lovely about "Something's Going To Happen In The Winter" where he duet vocals with a squeaking Chaz Jankel. And I can never get enough of the Funk in "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" where Norman Watt-Ray slaps his bass and Charley Charles keeps that Rhythm Section cooking (even in Demo form this is so good).

A fantastic album and one that makes me miss him so much. Theres a 'Parental Advisory Explicit Content' sticker comes with this 2CD set of "New Boots And Panties!!" on the outer shrink-wrap. And with that ludicrous fuddy-duddy intrusion by the sick Wokerati of GB - you just know you have to own it...

IAN DURY 2015 Deluxe Edition Hardback 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...