It was on 22nd April 1974 that Ian Dury (12 May 1942 – 27 March 2000) first moved to Kennington. He was to take up an offer from Clive Davies a reporter friend who was vacating his flat on the third floor of Oval Mansions, Kennington Park Estate. Ian went on to nicknamed it “Catshit mansions” should anyone think that this was some luxury rockstar pad.
It was here at 40 Oval Mansions that he wrote much of his classic debut LP New Booties and Panties.
‘Catshit Mansions’
“It was a one bedroom, no bathroom flat, with an incredible outlook from the top floor of Oval Mansions, You had The Oval cricket ground spread out before you and the gas works behind you, which was dramatic. We spent about a month doing it up which was great because although we were on and off the road, there was not a lot happening at that time. He taught me the basic decorating skills and was a hard task master. I spent hours and hours sanding and watching him paint – he had to put the gloss on.
Denise Roudette, Ian’s girlfriend from Sex & Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Roll: The Life of Ian Dury
Ian Dury – Catshit Mansions on Vimeo.
“We would start the day off with either doughnuts and coffee or Rivitas and cheese and coffee. We were either on the road or coming back at three or four in the morning, if it was a local gig, or if there wasn’t a gig happening, Ian would tending to be writing lyrics. He would write down lines, titles of songs. He always had songs on the go, probably 150 or something. He would come and say to me, ‘I’ve got a great couplet’. He was quite mechanical in how he would write. He was always talking and recounting stories, making fun. The thing about Ian was that he never forgets anything. He is a hard task master, whether it is working out a song with a band, writing a lyric or designing the cover of an album.”
Denise Roudette, Ian’s girlfriend from Sex & Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Roll: The Life of Ian Dury
New Boots and Panties !!
New Boots and Panties!! is the debut album by Ian Dury, released in the UK on Stiff Records on 30 September 1977
Much of the album was written by Dury, nearly a year before its release, at Oval Mansions and was the fruit of Dury’s successful writing partnership with Chaz Jankel and an American writer named Steve Nugent. You can read Chaz Jankel’s recollection here – Mojo Magazine Oct 2017
Listen to New Boots And Panties!! by Ian Dury via Spotify,
Widely considered to be the best album of Ian Dury’s career, it is also his biggest selling, having been certified platinum status in the UK for 300,000 sales, in June 1979. Sales of the album during the first few months after its release were modest, and the album’s only single, “Sweet Gene Vincent“, failed to chart. Subsequently, three singles, “What a Waste“, “Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick” and “Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part 3” all reached the top ten of the UK Singles Chart, and their success kept the album in the spotlight and ensured consistent sales over the next two years.
New Boots and Panties!! was among the UK’s top 30 best selling albums of both 1978 and 1979, and eventually peaked at number 5 in the UK Albums Chart in February 1979, 17 months after its release, after “Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick” chart-topping success.
The album’s title derives from Dury’s habit of buying clothes second hand and refers to the only items of clothing he insisted on buying new.
The photograph for the album’s cover was taken by Chris Gabrin outside Axfords underwear and lingerie shop at 306 Vauxhall Bridge Road, Westminster, close to Victoria Station (closed in 1990). The boy next to Ian is his son Baxter Dury.
Dury and Stiff’s in-house designer Barney Bubbles cropped the photo and added the hand-drawn lettering on the front and back covers. The phrase ‘There’s nothing wrong with it!!’ appears on the back cover below the tracklisting: this was apparently the reaction of the Blockheads upon hearing the first playback of the finished record.
Dury later discovered that unknown to him at the time, his father Bill had died in 1968 in a bedsit just around the corner from where the photograph was taken.
All kinds of naughty – Exhibition
March 27th 2020 marked the 20th anniversary of Ian Dury’s untimely death from colorectal cancer. In commemoration, the Thames Group of Artists has produced a mixed-media exhibition entitled ALL KINDS OF NAUGHTY.
Named after an unrecorded Dury lyric, the exhibition will include a collection of paintings, photography, ceramics, sculpture, and live performance, all inspired by the songs and lyrics of the great man himself.
It is due to appear at the Morley Gallery at some point in the future.
Film
A biopic entitled Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll starring Andy Serkis as Dury was released on 8 January 2010. The title of the film is derived from Dury’s 1977 – 7″ single “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll”.
Further Reading
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