It is not difficult to call Ian Dury the very epitome of British rock music in the '70s. The rough charm of his bawdy Cockney accent, spiced with snotty rock, which he often belted out in a signature pogo-punk style, was just the thing for the boulevard and lent a voice to the British working class.
His penchant for the grotesque, which he often expressed in the most vulgar of words or what Sounds magazine described as "brutal fairground music," gave birth to a "collection of weird characters who were looking for a home on vinyl," as Village Voice observed.
He held nothing back on this, his 1977 debut, New Boots And Panties!!, which consists of a whole gamut of earthy downtown sounds. Beginning with the mechanical drive of disco beat ("Wake Up And Make Love With Me") and pure, unadulterated rock ("I’m Partial To Your Abracadabra"), Dury and his band work towards smirking circus music to arrive at hard punk. His lyrics are honest, coarse and harsh and thus totally unacceptable for glamorous pop venues. You simply had to hear him live, or on this record! |