There is little information available about the album, other than what can be heard on the record. During the performance of "Billericay Dickie" the audience break the venue's floor, presumably in excitement causing Dury to warn the audience to mind the hole as an introduction to "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick" and mention it repeatedly later in the set. Dury forgets the words totally on "There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards" forcing the Blockheads to carry on playing while he remembers them and gets back in time.
Also featured at the concert was a 'Blockheads light' that was presumably a piece of on-stage equipment that falls over and fails to work at the same time Ian Dury breaks his microphone. This can be heard at the start of "My Old Man".
Although the set features "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll", lasting over 12 minutes, the song is played mostly as a long instrumental featuring band introductions and their respective solos with only the song's first verse and an end repetition of the title. "Clevor Trever" features a lengthy instrumental break, including a saxophone solo by Davey Payne and also an ad-lib name checking West Ham United F.C. and Gants Hill, Ilford, Romford, Barking and Dagenham, Dagenham is also name-checked in the performance "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick". These are all areas near the venue.
The album was the first time a recording of "I Made Mary Cry" was released. A song written during Dury's time with Ian Dury & the Kilburns, the latter-day incarnation of his influential pub rock band Kilburn and the High Roads with Rod Melvin (who also co-wrote his first hit single "What a Waste") and a song that Ian Dury continued with the Blockheads as late as 1979. This version, like other live versions with the Blockheads, features a much happier ending than the studio version with the song's protagonist, a criminal, being released rather than dying on the floor of his cell. Also included is a version of Kilburn & The Highroads song "Upminster Kid", like "You're More Than Fair" Dury sings it in his own regional dialect rather than the accent used on the studio recordings.
Track listing
All tracks composed by Ian Dury and Chaz Jankel, except where indicated.
"Wake Up and Make Love With Me" – 4:33
"I'm Partial To Your Abracadabra" – 3:00
"Upminster Kid" (Dury, Russell Hardy) – 4:08
"Clevor Trever" – 7:41
"This Is What We Find" (Dury, Mickey Gallagher) – 4:52
Ian Robins Dury was a British singer-songwriter and actor who rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and new wave era of rock music. He was the lead singer of Ian Dury and the Blockheads and before that of Kilburn and the High Roads.
Charles Jeremy Jankel, better known as Chaz Jankel, is an English singer, songwriter, arranger, composer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer.
"Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" is a song and single by Ian Dury. It was originally released as a Stiff Records single, with "Razzle in My Pocket" as the B-side, on 26 August 1977. The song was released under the single name "Ian Dury", but three members of the Blockheads appear on the record – the song's co-writer and guitarist Chaz Jankel, Norman Watt-Roy on bass and drummer Charlie Charles.
Kilburn and the High Roads were a British pub rock band formed in London by Ian Dury in 1970. The band released one studio album in 1975, disbanding the same year. AllMusic credits the band with being "an undeniable influence on punk and new wave".
New Boots and Panties!! is the debut studio album by Ian Dury, released in the UK on Stiff Records on 30 September 1977. The record covers a diverse range of musical styles which reflect Dury's influences and background in pub rock, taking in funk, disco, British music hall and early rock and roll, courtesy of Dury's musical hero Gene Vincent. Consisting mostly of love songs and character stories based on the working-class people of the East End and Essex Estuary areas where he grew up, the songs are frequently ribald and profane, but also contain humour and affection for his characters.
Michael William Gallagher is an English Hammond organ player best known as a member of Ian Dury and the Blockheads and for his contributions to albums by the Clash. He has also written music for films such as Extremes (1971) and After Midnight (1990), and the Broadway play Serious Money (1987).
"Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick" is a song by Ian Dury and the Blockheads, first released as a single on Stiff Records in the UK on 23 November 1978. Written by Dury and the Blockheads' multi-instrumentalist Chaz Jankel, it is the group's most successful single, reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart in January 1979 as well as reaching the top three in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, and it was also a top 20 hit in several European countries.
David Stanley 'Davey' Payne is an English saxophonist best known as a member of Ian Dury's backing band The Blockheads, and for his twin saxophone solo on their 1978 UK No. 1 single "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick". He also appeared on the first version of Nico's 1981 album Drama of Exile.
Do It Yourself is a 1979 album by Ian Dury & the Blockheads. It was the first album to be credited to Ian Dury & the Blockheads rather than Ian Dury alone, although Dury had used the full band name for the "What a Waste" 7" single of 1978. The album was released in the wake of the chart-topping hit single "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick", and reached number two in the charts, behind ABBA's Voulez-Vous. Do It Yourself sold around 200,000 copies, and was Dury's second Platinum album.
Lord Upminster is the second solo studio album by the English rock and roll singer-songwriter Ian Dury, released by Polydor Records in September 1981.
4,000 Weeks' Holiday is a studio album by Ian Dury and the Music Students, released on 27 January 1984 by Polydor Records. It is Dury's only studio album with the Music Students and his fifth overall.
Ten More Turnips from the Tip is the fourth and final studio album by Ian Dury and the Blockheads, and Dury's ninth overall. It was compiled and released in 2002, two years after Dury's death in March 2000.
"Billericay Dickie" is a song by Ian Dury, from his debut album New Boots and Panties!!. It is narrated by a bragging bricklayer from Billericay, and is filled with name-checks for places in Essex. The song is based around naughty rhymes such as:
"What a Waste" is a song and single by Ian Dury and the Blockheads, originally released in 1978 on the Stiff Records single BUY 27 "What a Waste" / "Wake Up and Make Love with Me". The song has remained in The Blockheads' set following Dury's death.
Handsome is the debut album of the Ian Dury rock group Kilburn and the High-Roads, released in June 1975 by Dawn Records.
"Sweet Gene Vincent" is a song and single by Ian Dury. Taken from his first solo album New Boots and Panties!! it was his second solo single and third solo release and is a tribute to Rock 'n' Roll singer Gene Vincent. It was released November 1977 on the single BUY 23 Sweet Gene Vincent / You're More Than Fair and there was no picture sleeve released.
The Blockheads are an English rock band formed in London in 1977. Originally fronted by lead singer Ian Dury as Ian Dury and the Blockheads or Ian and the Blockheads, the band has continued to perform since Dury's death in 2000. Current members include Chaz Jankel, Norman Watt-Roy (bass), Mick Gallagher, John Turnbull John Roberts (drums). If Watt-Roy is unavailable, bass is often played by Nathan King. There is a rolling line-up of saxophonists that includes Gilad Atzmon, Terry Edwards or Dave Lewis and from time to time, the original sax player, Davey Payne. Between 2000 and 2022, the band's lead vocalist and main lyricist was Derek Hussey.
Norman Joseph Watt-Roy is an English musician, arranger and composer.
Live Stiffs Live is a live album released in 1978 by Stiff Records. It compiles concert performances by several of the record label's artists recorded during the "Live Stiffs Tour", which ran from 3 October to 5 November 1977.
Formed in 1977 to promote Ian Durys' album New Boots and Panties!! on the first Stiff Records tour of the UK, Chaz Jankel, Norman Watt-Roy, Charlie Charles, John Turnbull and Mick Gallagher became known as 'The Blockheads'. As 'Ian Dury & The Blockheads' they went back out on tour, this time without Jankel, and in 1978 released "What a Waste"/"Wake Up and Make Love with Me" a single that reached number five in the UK charts. They were then joined by saxophonist Davey Payne and toured the US supporting Lou Reed across North America, ending with their own dates in California.
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