Baxter Dury bears the burden of not only being the son of a very famous (in England) father, but also the tot at Ian Dury’s side on the cover of his most famous record, ‘New Boots And Panties!!’ (1977). , is. It was the art teacher and musician’s first album with the Blockheads, and includes (later supplemented singles) “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll” and “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick.” The English loved Dury’s rap and his kitchen sink stories about “Plaistow Patricia” and “Clevor Trever”. The boy holding his father’s hand was six years old. Baxter Dury turned 30 before he emancipated himself from his daddy as a DJ.
In captivating, very short pieces, he evokes surrealistic memories and dreams
His first album came out in 2002. But just like his father spoke his lyrics over the modernist sounds of the blockheads, Baxter also lays his spoken lyrics over atmospheric club sounds and lets others sing. For the BED project (with Étienne de Crécy) it was Delilah Holliday five years ago. Intentionally clunky (instead of clumsily programmed) electronica, strings, female choirs and funny children’s songs counteract the bizarre narratives of the author, who, now 51 years old, sets out in search of the past on “I Thought I Was Better Than You”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmELEhTb4cY
In captivating, very short pieces, he evokes surrealistic memories and dreams reminiscent of Massive Attack, Anne Clark and The Streets. Only at the very end, in “Glows”, can an acoustic guitar be heard, just ten songs and a half hour are up. “Hey Mummy, hey Daddy, who am I? Who am I?” That question opens the heartbreaking “So Much Money,” in which the backing vocals sneer, “Hey boy, never gonna be like us.” In “Aylesbury Boy,” he asks, over harsh breakbeats and a piano motif, “Can I , can I, can I? And all the posh kids say yah.”
The genuinely British three-minute comedies of Ian Dury are connoted on this record, as are the songs by Pulp on Different Class and the London vignettes by Madness. “I Thought I Was Better Than You” is also a casually grooving pop record. Baxter Dury moves like a detective through the feverish nights of his songs: “There’s nowhere to hide/ But there’s love in the air now.”
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