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Ian Dury

Ian Dury

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Ian Dury: It's Fairly Whassname…

Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 25 February 1978

"WHICH WOULD you rather see; Kenny Rogers or Randy Edelman?" ...

Ian Dury: Body Language

Interview by Mike Stand, Smash Hits, 3 September 1981

"HAVEN'T YOU heard? I'm a Fifth Columnist for the Year Of Disabled People. They've bribed me massively." ...

Audio interviews

Ian Dury (1978)

Interview by Radio Pete, Rock's Backpages audio, 21 March 1978

Dury confesses he enjoys interviews; being on his first American visit and eating "cham clouder"; his fondness for Tom Waits; on being English; on first hearing Gene Vincent; on punk rock and the spirit of rebellion; buying second-hand clothes; finally making it in England; his previous life as a painter and art teacher, and art schools' influence on English rock; and the alleged perversity of his music.

File format: mp3; file size: 30.2mb, interview length: 31' 30" sound quality: ** (phoner)

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Ian Dury: New Boots And Panties!! (Stiff)

Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 1 October 1977

WHAT WE have in New Boots And Panties!! is a long overdue solo album from one of Britain's most unique and uncompromising talents. ...

Ian Dury: New Boots And Panties (Stiff SEEZ4)

Review by Tim Lott, Record Mirror, 1 October 1977

Dury's Verdict ...

Ian Dury & The Blockheads, Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, Wreckless Eric — Bunch Of Stiffs Tour: Town Hall, High Wycombe

Live Review by Tim Lott, Record Mirror, 8 October 1977

A stiff undertaking ...

Ian Dury: New Boots And Panties!!

Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 8 October 1977

LET'S PLAY CLUEDO on this sleeve. What we deduce from this one – Ian standing in front of a shop window full of ladies' bras ...

Ian Dury: Wide Boy Wonder!!!

Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 15 October 1977

"I WONDER WHAT would happen if I drank this? Might do me some good," Ian Dury says grimly. ...

The Stiff Tour: Stiffs Drugs And Rock 'N' Roll

Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 5 November 1977

"SEX AND drugs and rock and roll...sex and drugs and rock and roll...sex and drugs and rock and roll..." Hot damn, m'man, Leicester University is ...

Ian Dury & the Blockheads: Dingwalls, London

Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 4 March 1978

Mighty Dury, due to be mightier ...

Ian Dury & the Blockheads: Dingwall's, London

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 4 March 1978

Down Dury Lane ...

Ian Dury & the Blockheads: Bataclan theatre, Paris

Live Review by Mary Harron, Sounds, 18 March 1978

Sex and Frogs and rock and roll ...

Ian Dury (1978) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Radio Pete, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 21 March 1978

This is a transcript of Mark "Radio Pete" Bliesener's audio interview with Ian. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Ian Dury & The Blockheads: Billericay Dickie vs. Uncle Sam

Report and Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 15 April 1978

Two Cultures Collide: BRIAN CASE on IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS' U.S. tour ...

Ian Dury & the Blockheads: New Boots and Panties!! (Stiff STF 0002)

Review by Susin Shapiro, Rolling Stone, 18 May 1978

IAN DURY has fashioned New Boots and Panties!! out of the more vile and pernicious aspects of his social persona: he's the midnight rambler in ...

Ian Dury

Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 27 May 1978

THE FIRST time I met Ian Dury – nearly two years ago in Dingwalls when I was little more than just another wide-eyed and a ...

Ian Dury: Tales of sex & drugs & rock & roll

Interview by Fred Schruers, Rolling Stone, 15 June 1978

IAN DURY, between sets at the Bottom Line, is lolling on a chair in the just-cleared club. "With, with, wiv, with," he says. "Not for ...

Ian Dury: New Challenge For Esperanto

Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 23 December 1978

JUST OUT of Holland, about ten miles from the Dutch/Belgian border, the coach pulls into the Flemish equivalent of a Motorway Chef. There's four hours ...

Ian Dury: The Quare Fella

Report and Interview by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 23 December 1978

BRIAN CASE goes on the road with Ian Dury and the Blockheads in Dublin. ...

Ian Dury: Where Blockheads Dare…

Report by Danny Baker, ZigZag, January 1979

IN 1979 THE music press could well go the way of The Times. Rock'n'roll is all about crucial exhibitions of art, quiet spoken interviews with ...

Ian Dury is an Xmas Cake (Relax, it's a compliment)

Profile by David Hepworth, Smash Hits, 8 February 1979

1979 is still only a few weeks old, and already the No. 1 singles slot has been occupied first by a buncha camp New Yorkers ...

Ian Dury & the Blockheads: Do It Yourself (Stiff SEEZ14)

Review by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 19 May 1979

Dury: the tra-la days are over ...

Ian Dury And The Blockheads: Ludwigshafen, Dusseldorf, Germany

Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 2 June 1979

IMAGINE THE tattiest curtain material, maybe the type your gran's got covering an old sofa; a couple of awful patterns flung together to make a ...

The Ian Dury Interview

Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 2 June 1979

"Beetroot juice and prune juice help the regular of the bowels...""If somebody's looking at me with rapture all over their face I want to throw ...

Ian Dury: Eye-On Mashes the Swedes

Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 30 June 1979

  THE DOG and bone tinkles into action and an East End accent barks out from deepest Deutschland, "Garry, Kozmo 'ere, the Dury feature's on. Meet ...

Ian Dury & the Blockheads: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by David Hancock, Evening News, London, 6 August 1979

Back to front for Dury's six ...

Ian Dury & the Blockheads: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 8 August 1979

ONE OF IAN Dury's most endearing mannerisms on stage is to extend the length of his microphone stand two feet above his head, accentuating his ...

Ian Dury & The Blockheads: Live at Hammersmith Odeon

Live Review by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 11 August 1979

FIRST OF ALL I’d like to say I’ve always felt ambivalent towards Ian Dury. His work has always been, like his persona, male-orientated without being ...

Ian Dury: Hats off to Ian

Interview by Barry Cain, Record Mirror, 18 August 1979

A spiv, a brat, a clown. No we're not talking about BARRY CAIN. That's Ian Dury's own description of himself. ...

Ian Dury: The Cuddly Cosy Comfort Of A Tame And Trusted Teddy

Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 18 August 1979

Ian Dury And The Blockheads: Hammersmith Odeon, London ...

Ian Dury and the Blockheads: Do It Yourself (Stiff/Epic)

Review by Ariel Swartley, Rolling Stone, 1 November 1979

IAN DURY'S new album — on which the sharp-tongued British satyr with the heart of you-know-what goes dancing with a vengeance — is something of ...

Ian Dury and the Blockheads: Laughter (Stiff)

Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, January 1980

I'M IN the mood for superlative hyperbole (oh – and love). I may have caught some flak from the Arts Page faction when in a ...

Ian Dury & The Blockheads, The Clash and Matumbi: A Concert for the People of Kampuchea

Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 5 January 1980

It could only be cold comfort to them, but this isn’t the first time rock ‘n’ roll has played a distant part in the lives ...

Ian Dury & Wilko Johnson: The Odd Couple

Interview by David Hepworth, Smash Hits, 4 September 1980

The Class of '73 holds a reunion. David Hepworth takes the roll call. ...

Chaz Jankel: Is There Life After Blockheadism?

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 October 1980

When Chaz Jankel left The Blockheads last year, Kosmo Vinyl described him as "a brave lad who's going to come a cropper." But instead of ...

Ian Dury: Oi! Oi! Anchors Aweigh

Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 November 1980

Ian Dury And The Blockheads: Hope & Anchor, London ...

Ian Dury: The Royal Academy of Jackthelademy

Interview by Mike Stand, The Face, December 1980

THE ARTIST, cultivator of a thousand verbaceous boarders, sits on a plastic chair in this desert of a room. Cropped short his greying hair gives ...

Ian Dury: How Not To Get Lumbered

Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 13 December 1980

IT'S DARK and it's cold and it's raining: a wind with a grudge against warm flesh knifes through the clothing and the matted thing behind ...

Danny Baker presents Ian Dury: A Turn For The Verse

Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 8 August 1981

"There's a cock-eyed yellow poodle to the North of Gongapooch There's a little hot cross bun that's turning green, There's a double jointed wop-wop ...

Ian Dury and Chaz Jankel: Teeth and Smiles

Interview by Mike Stand, The Face, September 1981

IAN DURY is in prime form. He is just back from a short holiday in Greece and is, if not exactly bronzed, then distinctly off-white, ...

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Report by Betsy Sherman, Boston Rock, 1 October 1981

Merit Badges Goes To Dianaland ...

Ian Dury: Too Much Noddy Business

Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 1 October 1983

WHERE HAS IAN DURY BEEN FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS, AND WHY HAS HIS LONG-AWAITED NEW LP, 40,000 WEEKS HOLIDAY BEEN DELAYED UNTIL JANUARY? GAVIN ...

Ian Dury: Well Hung

Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, The Face, April 1984

Ian Dury's verdict on the nation's art heritage ...

Echo & The Bunnymen, Ian Dury et al: Glastonbury CND Festival, Pilton, Somerset

Live Review by Jack Barron, Sounds, 29 June 1985

"JESUS WEPT," from St Mark's Gospel is, I'm assured, the shortest verse in The Bible. That his Divinity did so over this event when 40,000 people decamped ...

Ian Dury: Triffic!

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Q, February 1987

MADNESS ALWAYS called him Uncle Ian, and there's still that avuncular earthiness about Ian Dury. "They always say, we are entertainers," he notes, "and I'll ...

Peter Jenner Journeys Through The Minefields Of The Rock World

Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 9 January 1990

IN HIS 46 years, Peter Jenner has seen a lot of rock 'n' roll, and a lot of rock 'n' rollers, come and go. He's ...

lan Dury: Hello Tosh, Got A New Career Strategy?

Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, June 1991

"ME AND The Blockheads were gigging in Spain a few weeks ago, partly to see if we really did want to get together again. ...

Superannuation Terrorists: Madness/Morrissey/Ian Dury & The Blockheads/Flowered Up: Finsbury Park, London

Live Review by Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, 15 August 1992

THE TEE-SHIRT READS "Madstock"; the reality sporadically veers from such cheery celebration. Somewhere in the fun and the frolics, the grubbiness of moronicism smears the ...

The Stiff Records Story Offers Lots Of Delights

Review by Jim Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 24 September 1992

THE ADVERTS, a glorious mess of a punk band with a great pop sensibility but possessing limited musical capabilities, spat out a catchy rocker called ...

Ian Dury: The Bus Driver's Prayer & Other Stories (Demon Fiend)

Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, January 1993

"I TOOK a sudden notion/To go down to the ocean", Ian Dury imparts in 'Poo-Poo In The Prawn'. ...

Ian Dury: Reasons to be Cheerful

Retrospective and Interview by Chris Welch, unpublished, Summer 1995

In the summer of 1995 Chris Welch visited Ian Dury at his Hampstead home on two afternoons to talk about the glory days of Kilburn ...

Ian Dury

Interview by Terry Staunton, Uncut, August 1998

Sweet Gene Vincent, sozzled Max Wall, sexy Marilyn Monroe, and the stiff upper lips of Dickie Attenborough and Johnny Mills are among Blockhead IAN DURY's ...

Ian Dury’s High Road

Book Excerpt by Richard Balls, Omnibus Press, 2000

An extract from Sex & Drugs & Rock’n’Roll: The Life of Ian Dury, by Richard Balls, first published by Omnibus Press in 2000. (300pp, currently ...

Ian Dury 1942 - 2000

Obituary by Charlie Gillett, The Observer, 29 March 2000

THE FIRST TIME I saw Ian Dury was at the Tally Ho in Kentish Town in 1972, when he had just started to play in ...

The Life and Rhymes of Ian Dury 1942 — 2000

Obituary by Simon Reynolds, Uncut, June 2000

At the peak of his late '70s success, Ian Dury was one of this country’s most beloved entertainers. He kept busy in his post-stardom years ...

Chaz Jankel

Interview by Bill Brewster, Faith, 2002

CHAZ JANKEL made his name as Ian Dury's collaborator and founder member of backing band, the Blockheads. As a solo artist, he's most well known ...

Buried Treasure: Ian Dury and the Blockheads' Do It Yourself

Retrospective and Interview by Daryl Easlea, unpublished, March 2003

HOW CAN A platinum-selling album that reached No. 2 in the UK charts be classed as "buried treasure"? Easily. Do It Yourself remains a well-kept ...

Ian Dury: New Boots And Panties/The Bus Driver's Prayer And Other Stories

Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, December 2004

Welcome double disc reissues for a solid gold masterpiece and a forgotten nugget ...

Ian Dury: Lord Upminster/4000 Weeks Holiday

Sleeve notes by Daryl Easlea, unpublished, 2007

CONGRATULATIONS! You are now holding the least-loved work by one of the UK's best-loved artists. ...

Ian Dury: New chips off the old Blockhead

Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 29 November 2009

He could be warm and witty... or cruel and obnoxious. But there was never any doubt he was a true artist. We recall the life ...

Hit Me With Your Rhythm Schtick: How Did Ian Dury Become One Of The Most Fascinating Rock Stars Of The 1970s?

Retrospective by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 3 January 2010

As a new film reminds us, he was a polio survivor from the suburbs and not much of a musician. ...

Bassists: Let's Stick Together

Overview by James Medd, The Word, February 2012

They are "the glue" that cements the music, the mysterious put-upon souls plying their crucial trade in a cloud of dry ice by the drum-riser. ...

Dad, I wanna be a rock star

Special Feature by Ted Kessler, The Times, 21 May 2016

Rod Stewart's dad gave him football lessons; Chris Martin's joins him on tour; Shaun Ryder's broke his nose on stage; Leonard Cohen is funnier than ...

Top 10 interviews

Memoir by Paul Wellings, Louder Than War, June 2021

10. Terry Farley, Superstar House DJ Terry was my Editor at Boys Own fanzine. He was a country bumpkin from Royal Berkshire but he had ...

see also Kilburn & The High Roads

see also Baxter Dury

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