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...