New Boots and Panties!! is a 1977 album by Ian Dury.
The title derives from Dury's habit of buying clothes second hand, and refers to the only items he insisted on buying new, according to Ian Dury & The Blockheads: Song By Song the name was chosen by Dury from a list of 20 drawn up by compere Kosmo Vinyl. The album is not credited to "Ian Dury & The Blockheads" as the band was not formed until Stiff's Live Stiffs tour some months after its recording, and two of the band do not play on the album.
It features Ian's son Baxter on the front cover.[1]
History
Much of the album was written nearly a year before its release in Oval Mansions (nicknamed 'Catshit Mansions' by Dury) and was the fruits of Dury's successful writing partnership with Chaz Jankel, but ironically some of the tracks that could be considered the most 'English' were actually co-written with American Steve Nugent. Jankel was later given a dubious third writing credit for these songs ("Billericay Dickie", "Plaistow Patricia", "My Old Man" and "Blackmail Man") on the album's original press and some subsequent compilations, however over the years this credit has been gradually 'phased out' and the current Edsel Records re-issue of the album credits all of the tracks to 'Dury/Nugent' solely.
Dury and Jankel recorded demos of much of the album in the spring of 1977, a session the aforementioned Steve Nugent also sat in on, the demos were recorded in Alvic Studios, Wimbledon, run by two men known as 'Al' and 'Vic'. Jankel played the bass, guitar and piano parts, while Dury sang and played drums: These demos have since been released as part of Edsel's current re-issue of the album. During the making of these demos Alvic's Studio Engineer told Dury about a rhythm section who were acting as session musicians for a bit of extra money, they were bassist Norman Watt-Roy and drummer Charley Charles, and would become key members of The Blockheads, as well as the bassist and drummer on New Boots And Panties.
Dury and Jankel gelled almost instantly, and a week after the demos were finished the final album was recorded in The Workhouse Studio on the Old Kent Road. Dury's management company Blackhill - who would also manage The Clash - owned a 50 percent share in the studio (along with Manfred Mann), and put up the £4,000 to pay for the group to record the album in 'Dead Time' (that is, when the studio is empty - usually late at night). It is quite uncommon for an album to be recorded without the artist being signed to a record label - usually it is the other way around.
The album was produced by Peter Jenner, Laurie Latham, and Rick Walton. Although Latham and Walton were relatively inexperienced, Jenner had been producing since the late 1960s, and had worked with Kevin Ayers and David Bedford amongst others. Davey Payne and Ed Speight of Dury's old band Kilburn And The Highroads, were invited to fill out the sound of the album. Payne, who played saxophone, would stay with Dury for much of the rest of his career. Geoff Castle, who played Moog synthesizer on "Wake Up And Make Love With Me" and "Blockheads", was actually a friend of Speight's who was asked in to help out. During these sessions a chance remark by Charley Charles would later give the name to The Blockheads; while reading the words to the song Blockheads, the name stuck after the Stiff tour; exactly how is under dispute.
Attempts to find a record label to publish the completed album were unsuccessful. Dury's lack of commercial appeal and his unorthodox look worked against him even in the year of the Punk Rock explosion, but the solution to the problem was right under Blackhill's noses - literally. Stiff Records leased office space directly below the offices of Blackhill Management. The album was licensed to the company, who already had Elvis Costello and The Damned on their books, and would go on to score hits not only with Dury, but with Madness, The Pogues, Kirsty MacColl and others. Licensing the album meant there would be no question of who owned it, or its masters.
New Boots And Panties!! was released on 30 September 1977, following the release of Dury's iconic single "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll". The single was not a commercial success and nor was it included on the album's original press (Dury expressed a strong desire for singles not to be included on the album and as such the song and its b-side were omitted) although a subsequent pressing has the track, uncredited, at the start of side 2. This did not affect people's reaction to the album however (at the time it was not as uncommon to produce 'stand alone singles' as it is today) and it was given rave reviews not only in the music press, but in broadsheet newspapers' art columns and other highbrow publications: Robin Denselow, for instance, reviewed it for The Guardian (11 October 1977). The album did not enter the top of the British charts but it did go platinum, and its (much softer) follow-up album Do It Yourself would reach number 2.
In 2000 Q magazine placed it at number 66 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.
It was also ranked as number 495 in the book version of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Track listing
All tracks composed by Ian Dury and Chaz Jankel except where indicated.
Side One
- "Wake Up and Make Love With Me" – 4:23
- "Sweet Gene Vincent" – 3:33
- "I'm Partial to Your Abracadabra" – 3:13
- "My Old Man" (Dury, Steve Nugent) – 3:40
- "Billericay Dickie" (Dury, Nugent) – 4:17
Side Two
- "Clevor Trever" – 4:53
- "If I Was With a Woman" – 3:24
- "Blockheads" – 3:30
- "Plaistow Patricia" (Dury, Nugent) – 4:13
- "Blackmail Man" (Dury, Nugent) – 2:14
"Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" appeared as the first track on Side 2 of early repressings of the 12", but was not credited on the sleeve or label.
Bonus tracks (Repertoire release):
11. "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll"
12. "Razzle in My Pocket"
13. "You're More Than Fair"
14. "England's Glory" [Live]
15. "What a Waste!"
Bonus tracks (2-CD Edsel release):
Disc 1:
11. "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll"
12. "Razzle in My Pocket"
13. "You're More Than Fair"
14. "England's Glory" [Live]
Disc 2:
- "Wake Up and Make Love With Me" [Demo Version]
- "Sink My Boats" [Demo Version]
- "Apples" [Demo Version]
- "England's Glory" [Demo Version]
- "Tell the Children" [Demo Version]
- "I Made Mary Cry" [Demo Version]
- "Sweet Gene Vincent" [Backing Track][*][Demo Version]
- "Blackmail Man" [Demo Version]
- "My Old Man" [Demo Version]
- "Something's Going to Happen in the Winter" [*][Demo Version]
- "Wifey" [Demo Version]
- "Sink My Boats" [Alternate Version] [Demo Version]
- "I'm Partial to Your Abracadabra" [Demo Version]
- "If I Was With a Woman" [Demo Version]
- "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" [Demo Version]
- "Clevor Trever" [Demo Version]
- "Blockheads" [Demo Version]
Bonus tracks [Demon/Edsel 30th Anniversary CD/DVD Edition]:
Disc 1 (CD):
11. "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll"
12. "Razzle In My Pocket"
13. "Close to Home"
14. "Two Steep Hills"
Disc 2 (DVD):
- "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll"
- "I'm Partial To Your Abracadabra"
- "Wake Up And Make Love With Me"
- "Clevor Trever"
- "Billericay Dickie"
- "Sweet Gene Vincent"
- "Blockheads"
Personnel
Additional Personnel
- Davey Payne - Saxophones
- Edward Speight - Ballad guitar
- Geoff Castle - Moog Synthesiser
- Chris Gabrin - Photos
- Barney Bubbles - Brush lettering
Re-Releases
Edsel Records re-released the album in 2004 as part of a series of 2-Disc Ian Dury re-issues. The album was first re-issued for the American market where "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" was added to its track-list. Its initial CD re-issue on the Demon record label included an interview with Ian Dury that was on a 12" record packaged free with the original album.
Since then all CD re-issues have added the bonus tracks "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll", its B-side "Razzle In My Pocket", "You're More Than Fair" a re-recording of an old Kilburn & The Highroads song originally released on the B-side of the "Sweet Gene Vincent" single, and a live version of "England's Glory" by Ian Dury & The Kilburns (the final phase of Kilburn & The Highroads) that was originally released on a rare re-pressing of "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll", given away free by the New Musical Express magazine. Also included on previous versions was "What A Waste" the first single credited to 'Ian Dury & The Blockheads' that included "Wake Up And Make Love With Me" as its b-side/double a-side. Edsel removed this from their version and instead included it on their re-issue of Do It Yourself.
Edsel's 2-Disc re-issue included a bonus disc of additional demos and recordings by Ian Dury and The Kilburns, including songs that would later appear on his albums Do It Yourself (1978) and Apples (1989) and an old Kilburn & The Highroads song "I Made Mary Cry" that would be continued with by Dury as late as 1978, with a live version appearing on his Straight From The Desk live album, released in 2001.
Brand New Boots And Panties
Following Ian Dury's death, the album was remade by as a tribute album under the title Brand New Boots And Panties. Except for "Billericay Dickie" and "My Old Man", The Blockheads played on all the tracks, with vocals provided by various others:
Billy Bragg & The Blokes chose to give "Billericay Dickie" a more Indian feel, a style they were using on Bragg's album England, Half English, the song has subsequently been re-released on the 2006 re-issue of that album, likewise Madness' "My Old Man" was much more in their style than the Blockheads. Sinéad O'Connor chose to change the words of "Wake Up and Make Love With Me" so the sex of the song's narrator was a woman, Cerys Matthews did not choose to the do the same with "If I Was With A Woman". Wreckless Eric, for whom "Clevor Trever" was originally written, meanders and mumbles during the latter half of "Clevor Trever", extending the song to nearly double its original length. The album's cover art is a painting of Ian Dury by Pop Artist Peter Blake, an old teacher and long time friend of Dury's.
Trivia
- If Wreckless Eric's accounts are to be believed, then "Sweet Gene Vincent" was composed on 1 December 1976, the same day as the Sex Pistols' infamous appearance on the Today show (hosted by Bill Grundy). Eric gives an account in Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll: The Life Of Ian Dury of being invited 'round to Dury's flat that day, only to interrupt them working on a new song, when he asked what the song was called, "Sweet Gene Vincent" was the reply.
- Written on the back of the album's sleeve, below the track list is 'there's nothing wrong with it!!' this was apparently the reaction of the musicians upon hearing the first playback of their work.
- The cover shot was taken outside the Axford lingerie shop on Vauxhall Bridge Road, Westminster - a stone's throw from Victoria Station. On the opposite side of the road was the Woolworths store, the name of which can be seen reflected in the shop window.
References
Sources
- Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll: The Life Of Ian Dury by Richard Balls, first published 2000, Omnibus Press.
- Ian Dury & The Blockheads: Song By Song by Jim Drury, first published 2003, Sanctuary Publishing.
- Original copy of the vinyl LP. Cat No SEEZ 4
