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Thursday 10 March 2011

All My Brain And Body Needs


I've never really delved at all into Ian Dury's music. I've got a 7" of Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, and there are songs that have always been around but I never felt the need. A while back I saw the Ian Dury film Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll for three quid in the supermarket so I bought it, and the other night Mrs Swiss and I finally got around to watching it. It was really good. Obviously rock biopics tend to follow a certain line- dingy gig, band splits up, new band forms, on the up, bigger gigs, record deal, sex & drugs etc, crash and burn, some wisdom is gained- but it was done very well, and the whole polio and Dury's childhood backstory were well handled. Andy Serkis is excellent as Dury and Bill Milner is outstanding as Baxter Dury, Ian's son. Recommended.

So, when I was passing Fopp recently I popped in and bought a cheap compilation cd and now I can't believe I got to neary forty one years old without these songs being a part of my musical life- Wake Up And Make Love With Me, Sweet Gene Vincent, There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards, Spasticus Autisticus, I Want To be Straight and a load of others. Ian Dury's lyrics, wordplay and delivery were something else and those Blockheads could whip up a storm, and a funky storm at that. I suppose now I can begin the fun of delving into the back catalogue properly.

02 Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll.wma

6 comments:

davyh said...

You must get 'New Boots And Panties' !

swiss adam said...

It's number one my list- want it on vinyl.

Mondo said...

I'm with Davy - but also his later albums Mr Love Pants and Ten More Turnips, can outshine some of his middling-era work...

I got to see him with The Blockheads on his final tour - a magic night. Saw the Blockeads in 09 at a local festival - as a band they're better now than ever. And they were pretty hot then - Norman Watt-Roy's basslines. Stunning stuff..

Simon said...

I'm presuming you know Watt-Roy is the bass player (on a loop)on The Clash's Magnificent Seven?

I love Dury, huge influence on Madness for instance, and as British as a nice cup of tea.

I also love the fact that given what else was going on in the late 70s with Punk, Dury was nearly 40 when Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick was out.

Then again Debbie Harry was in her 30s at the time too, so it wasn't all youth around those parts...

Swiss Adam said...

Yeah, I knew abut Norman Watt Roy and the Clash. Always niggled me a bit cos I'm a bog Simonon fan but there you go...

stevoid said...

I'd always liked the hit singles but went to see the band just in Croydon just before Christmas 99 with one of my cockney pals and it really opened my eyes as to what a great band the Blockheads were (are) and what a unique songwriter Ian was.A proper goosebumps gig,a massive eye opener and I wish I'd have become a fan sooner.