Long Live Block: Ian Dury 80

We're gonna do two Heads in three days, both celebrating milestone birthdays.

We'll begin with a Blockhead long passed, but impossible to forget.

It's a cliché to say it for the millionth time, but to say this guy was a unique talent would fall far short of an adequate description.

He survived a whole lotta hardship and struggle to get to where he did, there's no denying.

A polio survivor, it seems obvious the likes of someone like him would never be allowed past security at the record company these days.

In the late 1970s, he had a string of half-spoken, half-sung tracks that were massive global hits, and remain a part of the cultural firmament to this day.

As identifiable-by-one-syllable as he still is because of those tunes, he was really most powerful as a live performer.

Since he'd have been 80 today, I've cobbled together one of his most legendary performances, from the best available materials, from 1980.

This is from Christmas Eve that year, at the landmark Dominion Theatre in London.

It's an appropriate place for it, as Ian Dury is undeniably one of the most recognizably British artists the world shall ever see.

Anyway I worked really hard on this, to make it all one thing and an accurate representation of the gig.

All in all, I think it's a worthy memento of a legendary one-off and legit Cockney rebel.

Ian Dury & The Blockheads

Dominion Theatre

London, UK

12.24.1980

01 Annie Nightingale BBC introduction

02 The Upminster Kid

03 Clevor Trever

04 Sink My Boats

05 I'm Partial to Your Abracadabra

06 Sueperman's Big Sister

07 Yes and No (Paula)

08 Uncoolahol

09 Billericay Dickie

10 Delusions of Grandeur

11 Dance of the Crackpots

12 I Made Mary Cry

13 What a Waste

14 Hey Hey, Take Me Away

15 Manic Depression (Jimi)

16 Oh Mr. Peanut

17 instrumental medley incl. Wake Up and Make Love to Me/Inbetweenies/Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll/Reasons to be Cheerful pt.3

18 Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick

19 Sweet Gene Vincent

20 Blockheads

21 band introductions

22 Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

Total time: 1:19:57

Ian Dury - vocals

Don Cherry - trumpet & vocals

Wilko Johnson - guitar & vocals

John Turnbull - guitar & vocals

Davey Payne - saxophones, flute, harmonica & vocals

Mick Gallagher - keyboards & synthesizers

Norman Watt-Roy - bass & vocals

Charlie Charles - drums

Nicky "Topper" Headon - percussion

composite of the complete performance, assembled from BBC Rock Hour #215 pre-FM LPs and a 2010 BBC-TV mono video rebroadcast

last song substituted from Lucianatten, Stockholm SE 12.13.1980 FM master cassette

reconstructed -- with TV portion remastered -- by EN, May 2022
495 MB FLAC/May 2022 archive link

That's right, you read that bit correctly... he's got Don Cherry in the band, blowing up on pocket trumpet throughout most of the tunes with a constant, brassy commentary.

I managed to get the full show all crammed onto a single CD, too. Barely.

Maybe someday this barn burner will get an official release, but don't hold your breath, astronauts.

I'll be back in 48 with another kind of Head for your happy hamper, but today is a day to celebrate the life and legacy of Ian Dury, who gave the world quite a few reasons to be cheerful in his time on Earth.--J.

5.12.1942 - 3.27.2000