Customer Reviews

The Best of Ian Dury

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Yeah, you know "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick". It's not poetry, it's not vague, and it's not literate. But it IS funny, it IS energetic, and it IS a good tune. Ian Dury never took himself too seriously with his music, and the message he usually gave (well, besides "I am horny") was simple: "Lighten up!"

Listen to "Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 3", "What A Waste!", and my personal favorite, "There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards".

You won't hear great guitar licks, nor drum solos, nor political angst, and you will NOT hear any "I-paid-my-dues-and-it's-lonely-at-the-top" tunes. Ian Dury is NOT going for your heartstrings. He's going for your funny bone... and your naughty bits.

In the mid 1970s the music world was awash with corporate manufactured "stars", try-hard artistes, and horrid inoffensive pap masquerading as youth culture (does this sound familiar at all?). Before punk exploded in 1976 there existed in Britain a strain of energetic rock played mainly in pubs, known imaginitively as pub rock. A lot of this was pretty predictable blues-rock, but one of its more unique practitioners was one Ian Dury. The fact that Ian had been partially crippled by polio as a child hightened this, and his uncompromising presence proved to be a big influence on one John Lydon (later to be Johnny Rotten). His other distinctive feature was his unvarnished cockney accent and sense of humour - both of which shine through in spades on this disc.

I could be predictable and say this disc is all you'll ever need by Ian Dury etc etc, but there are a couple of ommissions which mean that isn't true ("There ain't half been some clever [...]" and "You'll see glimpses" are both missing). What you do get are an almost complete set of singles and album tracks that show the real one of a kind quality of the man and band. The band provides a sophisticated funk rock backing to the non-stop one-liners and cartoon-character studies of the lyrics, the likes of which has only ever been repeated by The Specials on "More Specials" (to whom Mr Dury must have been an influence), and more boringly, Steely Dan on "Gaucho" (although it can't be said there is any kind of link there).

A largely forgotten artist who deserves more dues than he has ever been given. Get this and get happy.

I love this album for many reasons but the first and foremost is that it gives the listener a taste of the raw and unpolished talent of this man as well as the very polished music he produced.

Ian Dury was unique in both voice and talent and anyone who studies or simply enjoys learning about music should listen to this album. It will broaden your horizons.