Ian Dury and the Blockheads: Warts 'n' Audience

Ian Dury and the Blockheads: Live! Warts 'n' Audience

1990

Demon Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Wake Up And Make Love With Me  2. Clever Trever  3. Billericay Dickie  4. Quiet  5. My Old Man  6. Spasticus Autisticus  7. Plaistow Patricia  8. There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards  9. Sweet Gene Vincent  10. What A Waste!  11. Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick  12. Blockheads

Sorry about the lack of posts...My In-Laws are visiting from Michigan, so I've  been busy visiting, eating absurd amounts of food and drinking massive quantities of beer...Not to mention putting in full workdays...So, I've gotta get back to those aforementioned activities so I'll make this quick...

This is  a pretty cool live album from 1990...A good 10 years after Ian Dury retired the Blockheads...Most of the lineup is still intact at this point...I think drummer Charley Charles was deceased at this point, so I'll excuse his absence...

You could just tell by the precise, sophisticated playing on the studio albums that the Blockheads were a great live band...And just as you'd expect, this is tight soul funk delivered flawlessly although Ian himself sounds slightly more mannered than in his bawdy late 70's heyday...

The setlist is so on the nose...Drawing mostly from the classic "New Boots & Panties" through "Laughter" era skipping the later, lesser non-Blockhead stuff...The slightly later, massively offensive "Spasticus Autisticus," is included though...This is a fairly notorious song  that Ian (a disabled person himself, mind you) wrote due to numerous requests for him to participate in cheritable causes for other disabled people...Funny as fuck if you have a terrible sense of humor (which luckily, I do)...

"I'm knobbled on the cobbles,
Cos I hobble when I wobble,
Swim!

So place your hard-earned peanuts in my tin,
And thank the Creator you're not in the state I'm in,
So long have I been languished on the shelf,
I must give all proceedings to myself..."

Oh man...Brilliant...And catchy too...The record really catches fire at the end though with the awesome run of songs from "There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards" through "Blockheads" (basically side two...Again, we can't accuse Ian Dury and the Blockheads of front-loading albums) where you have "Sweet Gene Vincent" and "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" which to me are the quintessential Blockheads tracks...The performances are very smokin' too...

All around this is just an enjoyable experience for Dury fans...And for those unfamiliar with his work, I can't think of a better introduction than tossing on side two of this thing...Just lot's of smooth, funky music and Ian's unique, guttural vocals and grubby poetry....I can't think of any band that walks the line between sophistication and dissolution like these guys do,,,Oh yea, I think they released an extended CD version of this awhile back...I don't own it, but I listened to it online and can attest that it's probably the way to go, since it includes "Inbetweenies"...

Let's listen to some Ian Dury...Here's "Sweet Gene Vincent"...Enjoy...

Ian Dury and the Blockheads: Laughter

Ian Dury and the Blockheads: Laughter

1980

Stiff/Epic Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Superman's Big Sister  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 Of The Soup) You're Sitting On The Chicken  8. Uncoolohol  9. Hey, Hey, Take Me Away  10. Manic Depression (Jimi)  11. Oh Mr. Peanut  12. Fucking Ada


Yes! I like this one very much...The follow up to "Do It Yourself." This is one of those albums that I don't think was overall as good as its predecessor but it has songs on it that blow away anything on the better album...I think it boils down to me being a fan of the consistently murky disco party aspect of "Do It Yourself." "Laughter" is a lot more diverse; more of a pub rock/funk/music hall thing that shifts from song to song...But boy, there are some songs on here...

"Superman's Big Sister" is one of my favorite Ian Dury tracks...Just a catchy, stomping, good-time single that makes great use of Ian's off-the-cuff vocals and a feverish string section that seems to be there only to heighten the absurdity...Pure brilliance. I had to listen to "Pardon" a couple of times before it grew on me, but now I can see the glory in the normally roughshod Ian apologizing poshly for two and a half moments straight...

To be honest, I found some of the stuff in the second half of side one a bit rote, but side two is nothing but wall-to-wall glory...I think this is where the real theme of the record begins to sink in...Song after song of despairing struggles with depression and alcohol set to some of the bounciest, most fun music imaginable and slapped with the title, "Laughter." The band even write their "Hey Jude" with "Fucking Ada," or to be more precise their "Hey fucking Jude."  Nothing but foulmouth grandeur...

It's Friday, right? Let's make this short and cut straight to the brew-ha-ha's ...We should probably put on some music though...Here's the video for "Superman's Big Sister" by Ian Dury and the Blockheads...Enjoy...

Ian Dury and the Blockheads: Do It Yourself

 Ian Dury and the Blockheads: Do It Yourself

1979

Stiff Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyyl

Track Listing: 1. Inbetweenies  2. Quiet  3. Don't Ask Me  4. Sink My Boats  5. Waiting For Your Taxi  6. This Is What We Find  7. Uneasy Sunny Day Hotsy-Totsy  8. Mischief  9. Dance Of The Screamers  10. Lullaby for Francies



This record came out with a bunch of different covers, each one showing a different, textured wallpaper sample. The blueish-gray one (which according to the 2015 Friday Night Record Party Wallpaper catalog, is called "Bouquet of Blue Molds") shown above is the cover I own...Here are some others...

Sample No. 1001: Rubber Vomit Rose

Sample No. 00008083: Mustard Autumn

Catalog No. 01012016: Post-Blackout Paradise

Catalog No. 0000666: King of Diamonds

Anyway, that's just a few of them...I've seen over a dozen different varieties...Who knows how many different covers are out there...

As for the contents of the record, this is Ian Dury's first album with the Blockheads as his backing band...They were lumped in with the punk/new-wave crowd, however that categorization would probably befuddle your average be-mohawked Exploited fan...Musically speaking, they're a smooth & slick disco-funk band, but Ian on the mic makes it punk in with his coarse language, ashtray vocals and shambling stage presence...Absolutely one of the most unique frontmen of all-time...There's no one else even remotely like him...

I think I covered my introduction to the Blockheads in the "Concerts for the People of Kampuchea" post......If'n you don't remember, here are the relevant passages:

"I can remember seeing Ian Dury and the Blockheads for the first time on an old videotape I bought back in the 90's called "British Rock: The Legends of Punk & New Wave" that I used to watch non-stop all the time...

I'll never forget watching Ian walk out, all stiff gait and grimy suit, with a voice that sounded like he smoked every cigarette in existence, barking out "HIT ME WIFF YOUR RHYTHM STICK!"  Oh yea, I remember also being blown away that their sax player played two saxes at the same time...Damn! "

But yea, it's definitely the gulf between the clean, posh and spongy backing and Ian's gruff vocals that makes the whole thing special...The only time the band approaches anything close to "punk" is on "Uneasy Sunny Day Hotsy-Totsy" which ends up in game show territory during the chorus anyway...For chrissakes, "Sink My Boats" sounds like damn Supertramp!! But Ian and his foul-mouthed lyrics and dirty stories have a way of sucking you in...It's just so much fun to hear him  growl, scream and howl over incongruous disco until suddenly you can't imagine it being any other way...

 It's hard to pick a highlight...It's all about the cumulative effect of the madness... "Inbetweenies" gets stuck in my head all the time, so I'll nominate that..."Uneasy Sunny Day Hotsy-totsy" breaks things up at exactly the right time..."Dance Of The Screamers" is supremely funky until it breaks down into what I can only explain as a showdown between a skronking saxophone and a Velociraptor...And I should also mention that "Lullabye for Franci/es" is the most British reggae song ever written, so that should count for something...Not to mention it does its job well...By the end of it, I always find myself gently lulled into a deep, tropical sleep...

Fun record for when you're in the mood for something really smart and off-the-wall...Plus you can usually find used vinyl copies for dirt-ass cheap, so bonus...

Here's "Uneasy Sunny Day Hotsy-totsy" by Ian Dury and the Blockheads...Enjoy...

Duran Duran: Decade-Greatest Hits

Duran Duran: Decade-Greatest Hits

1989

Capitol Records

Format I own the shit on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Planet Earth  2. Girls on Film  3. Hungry Like the Wolf  4. Rio  5. Save a Prayer  6. Is There Something I Should Know?  7. Union of the Snake  8. The Reflex" (7" Remix)  9. The Wild Boys  10. A View to a Kill  11. Notorious (45 mix)  12. Skin Trade  (Radio Cut)  13. I I Don't Want Your Love" (Shep Pettibone 7" Remix)  14. All She Wants Is (45 Mix)


Some greatest hits album that's pretty far inferior to any of their regular studio albums...I pretty much keep this around for some of the remixes and alternate versions of songs I like and so I can listen to Duran Duran on the bus when the mood hits (most of the other Duran Duran stuff I have is on on vinyl, which is a format that discourages portability). I invariably shut this off after "The Wild Boys" finishes and since I've covered all the material up to that point in the last coupla posts, let's cut straight to the shit...

"A View to a Kill." A James Bond theme..This is actually alright-ish, lightweight new romantic pop, but it's hard not to notice that around this point in the album every single track signals a large drop-off in quality from the track immediately preceding it..."Union of the Snake"? Awesome. The remix of "The Reflex"? Eh, I like the original version better, but still good..."The Wild Boys"? Yea, I guess I possibly like it...I liked the video anyway..."A View to a Kill"? I dunno, this is sounding pretty flimsy next to "The Wild Boys" and so on and so on....Plus the song has ten thousand "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" synth brass hits that shred your eardrums if you listen to it on headphones...Ouch!

  "Notorious (45 mix)" Sigh...I like it but in a Devo "Shout" kinda way...I have a huge affection for 80's pop, so as a result I can stomach generic 80's stuff that would probably have most folks pulling the plug by the 2nd acapella "NO-TOR-IUS!!"  Some synth-loving synapse in my brain fires off and I tap my toe, but that's about it...I'm certainly in no position to defend it in any meaningful way...

"Skin Trade"  Man, if "Notorious" is your first single choice, representing the best and brightest your album has to offer then you're in some big trouble indeed...Hence, "Skin Trade." Again, I enjoy it in the most loose sense of the word...It sounds like a Prince song so obviously filler-like that I doubt even he would made room for it on side eight of his unreleased album quadruple album "The Next Crystal Generation"...Still, funky enough that I think I felt something move somewhere when I was listening to it...

"I Don't Want Your Love" (Shep Pettibone 7" Remix)" A remix of a track from Duran Duran's blockbuster 1988 album "Big Thing" remixed by Shemp from the Three Stooges. I'm betting your reaction was probably not too far removed from mine: "Wha-? Duran Duran were still making records in '88?" I was utterly unaware of "Notorious"'s existence, let alone its even more obscure follow-up...By this point every last shred of mystery is gone...This sounds like a New Kids on the Block B-Side...Yuck.

"All She Wants Is." I don't even know if I've ever made it to the end of this song...It's soooo doinky and boring that I forget how the song goes even as I listen to it...Bleh...I know Duran Duran released later albums but I can't do it...I can't subject myself to anymore of this jive...I want to remember them as they were...Shadowy, dashing figures who had the ability to craft some of the greatest damn hooks in the 80's...The early 80's anyway...

Damn, why didn't they cut the last 4 songs and replace them with "New Moon on Monday," "The Chauffeur," "Careless Memories" and "Friends of Mine"? That would have made it one of the greatest hits albums of all-time easily...

Here's "Planet Earth" by Duran Duran...Enjoy...

Duran Duran: Arena

Duran Duran: Arena

1984

Capitol Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Is There Something I Should Know?  2. Hungry Like the Wolf  3. New Religion  4. Save a Prayer  5. The Wild Boys  6. The Seventh Stranger   7. The Chauffeur  8. Union of the Snake  9. Planet Earth  10.  Careless Memories



A live album with one new studio track, although if you're not paying close attention you might not even notice it's a live album...They reproduce their studio counterparts with incredible accuracy, essentially mix out audience noise, put empty spaces between each track and the new studio song is smack dab in the middle of the album...So yea, they're not exactly going for a "live vibe" here...

 They also rely pretty heavily on sequencers and choreographed video footage, which hems you in musically when you're putting on a live performance...They can't really go off or else the whole thing would fall apart, so yea, don't expect any radical reinterpretations or too much spontaneity and you'll find that it works as a greatest hits package...I actually like it better than their official greatest hits releases (due to fortuitously being recorded the split second before the band started to suck)...

Oh, yea...The new studio track is "The Wild Boys," which is (again) a song that looms large over my childhood...I used to have a videocassette that contained the video...

The clip was a ghoulish spectacle like little else I had seen...With freakish monsters, unsettling purple lighting and a post-apocalyptic feel, I could tell that it was obviously more than just a "music video, but what exactly was it?

I needed additional information, so I reached out to an adult who obviously had zero idea either but decided to hazard a guess anyway..."This is Star Wars," they informed me. That was all I needed to hear! I was obviously looking at expanded universe Star Wars material! I proceeded to watch the video no less than 10 gazillion times...I manged to drive everyone I lived with absolutely nuts while I struggled to work out where in the Star Wars saga this new sequence fit in...

Turns out it wasn't Star Wars at all...This video was basically a test reel for an unproduced film adaptation of William S Burrough's "The Wild Boys"...Which would explain the homoerotic vibe I was getting as a kid...

 (Y'know, between "The Wild Boys" and the "Union of the Snake" video, I get the distinct feeling that Duran Duran were actively trying to terrify their audiences...)

(The song remained lodged in my head for decades after the fact, mainly because my band used to always play at this club called "Rock M Billiards" that was attached to a make strip club called (you guessed it) Wild Boys...)

All in all, this is nothing earth-shattering...Just a sterile, slightly hollow live album with a new single that's probably only memorable due to its off-the-hook video...Still, fans looking for a live fix (or more accurately a greatest hits album featuring slightly alternate versions) will like this, although I doubt even the biggest Durannie on Planet Earth will get too excited about any of this...Practically the definition of a "get it only if you find it cheap" album...

Here's the amazing video for "The Wild Boys"...Enjoy...

Duran Duran: Seven and the Ragged Tiger

Duran Duran: Seven and the Ragged Tiger

1983

Capital Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. The Reflex  2. New Moon on Monday  3. (I'm Looking For) Cracks in the Pavement  4. I Take the Dice  5. Of Crime and Passion  6. Union of the Snake  7. Shadows on Your Side  8. Tiger Tiger  9. The Seventh Stranger



Seven and the Ragged Tiger...Grrrrowwwwlll....This is definitely one of those post-superstardom albums...Where everything is suddenly bigger, gaudier, not as good, yet super awesome...Pumped up to arena levels...Bright, sudden splashes of neon paint thrown on every surface...

They sound like they're somewhat torn between two different directions...The album alternates between music that's much more dance oriented than what came before (See "Union of the Snake" and "The Reflex" (BTW, the version of "The Reflex" on the album is much more listenable than the version I'm used to hearing on the radio...I didn't think I cared for the song until I heard the album cut of it...Much less gaudy...)).

 The other direction they seem to be going for is straight-up Roxy Music worship...Check out "(I'm Looking For) Cracks in the Pavement " and the verses on "New Moon on Monday" for the band at their Roxy-est..."New Moon" shows the band  proving they could still do the "slick new wave pop" thing by tossing off what is probably their best example of the form (outside of "Hungry Like the Wolf")....Geezus, that chorus is massive...

The only track I don't care for is "Tiger Tiger" which sees the band returning to the murk of their debut album, but they're just no longer good at it...Oh, man that fretless bass is so obnoxious...The one moment they should have dropped the pageantry and went for a more understated approach...The very definition of a "Skipper" track...Skip, skip, skip...

...aaaaand this is pretty much as far as I go into the Duran Duran studio album discography...I think this is the last moment of magic (but we'll get to that in the next coupla posts)...The band was still on top and you barely notice that this isn't quite as good as the two albums that preceded it...But again the spectacle is so great and there's some stellar stuff on here...

Here's "New Moon on Monday" by Duran Duran...

Duran Duran: Rio

Duran Duran: Rio

1982

Capitol Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Rio  2. My Own Way  3. Lonely In Your Nightmare  4. Hungry Like the Wolf  5. Hold Back the Rain  6. New Religion  7. Last Chance on the Stairway  8. Save a Prayer  9. The Chauffeur



Oh man, this is one of those albums that looms large over my childhood...I can tell you that these guys were huge back in '82-'83...I clearly remember Friday nights at my house, my Parents would be out grocery shopping and me and my siblings would be left at home, cranking the radio to 11....And I clearly remember during that era that "Hungry Like the Wolf" was in constant radio rotation, and paired with "Rock the Casbah" it was probably the first time that a pop hook really and truly wormed its way under deep under my skin..

I was obsessed with "Hungry Like the Wolf," glued to my boombox 24/7 hoping for a sighting, so I could capture it on a Chrome High Bias, Type II cassette...

1982-ish Tape: 1. Eddy Grant: Electric Avenue  2. The Clash: Rock the Casbah  3. Duran Duran: Hungry Like the Wolf  4. April Wine: Sign of the Gypsy Queen  5.  A Flock of Seagulls: I Ran (So Far Away) 6. Steve Miller Band: Abracadabra  7.  Rick Springfield: Love Is Alright Tonite 8. Kiss: I Love it Loud 9. Aerosmith: Jailbait  10. Loverboy: Working for the Weekend 11. Michael Jackson: Billie Jean  12. Elmo & Patsy: Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

I think that's a fairly accurate approximation of what that 1982-ish cassette would have contained...So yea, this was an album that always takes me back...Capitol Records was trying to hedge its bets by remixing the album for US audiences, therefore the vinyl copy and the CD copy I own are completely different  from each other...The vinyl contains dance mixes and "night versions" (which is Duran-speak for extended remix) although the cover doesn't indicate it...I've noticed that recently whenever I hear "Hungry Like the Wolf" on the radio it's always the "Night Version" with the really long intro for some reason, which is odd because back in the 80's it was always the original mix...

I can only recall "Hungry," "Rio" and "Save a Prayer" being played on radio, but when you get right down to it, just about any of these tracks would sound perfectly at home on 80's airwaves...For example, "Hold Back the Rain" is every bit the pop song "Rio" is...However, the hands-down best track on the album is the closer, "The Chauffeur" which is easily my all-time favorite Duran Duran track...Maybe one of my favorite songs from the 80's period... A sparse, creepy, synth-spider of a song that features the single greatest moment in the band's discography when Simon belts out, "SIIIINNNNNNNNNNNG BLUE SILVAHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Ahhgh, it's so effin' cool...The band even named a film after the line...

Second coolest part? When the drums finally kick in...Yea, we should just cut this short so we can listen to this song...I think we can all agree we've heard "Rio" by Duran Duran...

Anyway, here's "The Chauffeur" by Duran Duran...Enjoy....

Duran Duran: Duran Duran

Duran Duran: Duran Duran

1983

Capitol Records

Format I Own it on: VInyl

Track Listing: 1. Girls on Film  2. Planet Earth  3. Is There Anyone Out There  4. Careless Memories  5. Is There Something I Should Know?  6. (Waiting for the) Night Boat  7. Sound of Thunder  8. Friends of Mine  9. Tel Aviv




Omigawd!

I love Duran Duran! I have all their albums and all their shirts and every issue of Tiger Beat they ever appeared in!

Me and my friends have all totally pledged to lose our virginity to Duran Duran! I'm gonna totally bone Simon. My friends Valerie and Sarah are going to double-team Nick, Cynthia is going to roger Roger, Andrea is going to give it up to John and my gay friend Pete wants to pork Andy.

Duran Duran is gonna play the Sandusky Megadome in November and that's when I'm so going to marry Simon...My Mom doesn't approve of me running off with a 32 year old rock star, but I don't care! It's not her life! It's mine and I can do whatever I want! I'm going to get myself emancipatated when I turn 16 anyway!

I truly believe that Duran Duran are the best band ever in existence ever! Simon is cuter than Paul McCartney and John Lennon put together, Nick is way hotter than any member of Wham! and Roger is a very underrated drummer, who mixes sophisticated middle-eastern rhythms with metronomic krautrock tick-tock to convey a rattling post-punk urgency. The only bad thing they've ever done is John and Andy's Power Station band because the singer is like, so old...

Ew! Why don't all old people just like, stop making music and die or something! Why should I have to look at an old, 40-year old face on MTV? Why make everybody gag? On spoons? Pac-Man, Pac Man, Rubik's Cube, Q*Bert,  Atari, Leg Warmers?

Simon, if you're reading this I'll be at the Sandusky Megadome on November 26th and I don't know how you want to work out the details on the deflowering/marriage combo...I'll be in row 83 seat H17, so if you want to motion to me to come onstage and rest my head on your shoulder when you perform "Save a Prayer" you'll know where I'm sitting.

-Yours forever and ever, 

80's Girl

*********************************************************************


Alright, now that "80's Girl Theater" is over, I'll tell you how I really think of this record (this is Jamin again, BTW)...I'll make this quick-ish:

This was the 1983 American re-release of the band's debut after their second album "Rio" hit it big in the States...Remember, American audiences are thick-headed rubes with minuscule attention spans, so  some of the more "difficult" material was removed in favor of the non-album hit single "Is There Something I Should Know?"...Call me a thick-headed American rube, cos I love this...Probably my personal favorite Duran Duran album...It's got a more of a new wave jitteriness that was maybe downplayed in their later stuff, while still being relentlessly capital-P Pop...

Oddly enough, I don't care for album opener and breakthrough big hit "Girls on Film"...I can't especially find any compelling hook in it...I've always had this feeling they only wrote it so they would have an excuse to make a video full of hot naked chicks...Which I guess is a noble endeavor but it's definitely one of those songs that's only listenable when watching the video...

On the other hand, "Careless Memories" and "Friends of Mine" are two of my favorite Duran Duran songs..."Friends of Mine" sounds like it's going to be a robotic, monotone vamp until that glorious chorus suddenly pops up out of nowhere...

  I really have to give these guys credit...All anybody asked of them was to be some teeny-booper, pin-up, boy-band...They could have had someone write them a couple of empty-headed pop confections, coasted on their good looks and they probably would have been even bigger than they were...Instead they aspired to be nothing less than the junior-league Roxy Music...Their lyrics were often opaquely abstract while their music possessed a late night cool...Their stubborn attachment to these dark, arty tendencies have caused their albums to age much better than other 80's pop records...It still sounds cutting edge to my ears...I can't tell you how many "up and coming" bands I've heard that have strip-mined "Planet Earth" for ideas...Not to mention these guys had the ability to absolutely hammer a hook deep into your memory...

So I highly recommend this to 80's pop fans or to folks who find "Rio" a tad overplayed and/or safe...Let's listen to "Friends of Mine"...Enjoy...