Lord Upminster
Encyclopedia
Lord Upminster is a 1981 solo album by Ian Dury
. It was his first record for Polydor Records and was recorded in The Bahamas
with his old writing partner Chas Jankel
and the famous reggae duo Sly and Robbie
.
Lord Upminster was re-issued on CD in the UK, but it is currently out of print and arguably harder to find than the original vinyl LP itself. A recent CD re-issue was released in Japan.
' Chris Blackwell
suggested that Dury and Chas Jankel, who had returned from America
and temporarily buried the hatchet with Ian Dury fly to Nassau
and record with Sly Dunbar
and Robbie Shakespeare, the duo who were renowned as both reggae
musicians and producers, and were also on Island Records.
However, Dury and Jankel were greatly unprepared and without enough material for a new album, so they wrote much of the album either on the plane or at their destination. The final album was 8 tracks long, and both of them were ultimately disappointed with it.
While recording the album Dury and Jankel were mobbed by Jamaican band Smokey
, who mistook a line from his hit "Reasons To be Cheerful, Part 3" to be about them. The reference to "sing-alonga Smokey" was actually about Smokey Robinson
. Dury politely agreed to listen to their new album while his co-writer sneaked away.
One of the songs, "Spasticus (Autisticus)
", proved to be controversial. 1981 was the official "Year Of The Disabled", a notion Dury thought was ludicrous and patronising (he was disabled himself by Poliomyelitis
he caught at Southend-on-Sea
as a child). On his BBC
Documentary On My Life Dury mentioned plans to tour the country with a band named 'Spastic & The Autistics' until a friend (Ed Spieght, who had played on Dury's seminal New Boots and Panties!! LP) suggested the name 'Spasticus' bastardising the name of the freed slave Spartacus
. Despite accusations of courting controversy, "Spasticus (Austisticus)" was released as a single (August 1981) and was banned with an odd ban that only covered the period before 6pm. The single's chart success was nil but "Spasticus" was to remain in Ian Dury's set until his death, even after other raucous songs like "Plaistow Patricia" and "Blockheads" were dropped.
Beside Spasticus, another noteworthy track appears on the album; "Girls (Watching)" is the only officially released cover version
Ian Dury recorded, it was written by Sly Dunbar. However MP3s of Dury, performing The Stranglers
single "Peaches" and "Bear Cage" live, along with Hazel O'Connor
and members of The Stranglers can be found on some download services. As well as being found on two Stranglers live albums And Then There was Three and Stranglers and Friends both CDs are of the same gig, when Hugh Cornwell
was in prison, various artists including Dury took turns to sing.
Lord Upminster was a commercial failure and received lacklustre reviews from critics and Dury himself later admitted that the only track he would listen to again was Spasticus. Chas Jankel was a little kinder and continues to praise "Lonely (Town)" as an underrated gem on the album. "The (Body Song)" and "Funky Disco (Pops)" are the tracks most currently selected for greatest hits compilations (along with "Spasticus").
and Chas Jankel
unless otherwise stated.
Note : the original US release re-arranged the running order of the tracks as follows :
Some compilations mistakenly do not put parts of the song titles in brackets (especially "Spasticus"), it is a 'theme' of the titles on the album and all of them do have words in brackets as shown above.
Ian Dury
Ian Robins Dury was an English rock and roll singer, lyricist, bandleader and actor who initially rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and New Wave era of rock music...
. It was his first record for Polydor Records and was recorded in The Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
with his old writing partner Chas Jankel
Chas Jankel
Charles Jeremy Jankel professionally known as Chaz Jankel, is a musician best known as the keyboard player and guitarist with Ian Dury and the Blockheads...
and the famous reggae duo Sly and Robbie
Sly and Robbie
Sly and Robbie is the prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production team of drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare who joined in the mid 1970s after having established themselves separately in Jamaica as professional musicians...
.
Lord Upminster was re-issued on CD in the UK, but it is currently out of print and arguably harder to find than the original vinyl LP itself. A recent CD re-issue was released in Japan.
History
Island RecordsIsland Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
' Chris Blackwell
Chris Blackwell
Christopher Percy Gordon "Chris" Blackwell is a British record producer and businessman, who was the founder of Island Records, acknowledged as the most successful and groundbreaking independent record company in history. Blackwell has been a music industry mogul for over fifty years...
suggested that Dury and Chas Jankel, who had returned from America
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
and temporarily buried the hatchet with Ian Dury fly to Nassau
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
and record with Sly Dunbar
Sly Dunbar
Lowell "Sly" Fillmore Dunbar is a drummer.-Biography:Dunbar, whose nickname was reportedly given for his passion for Sly & the Family Stone, launched his musical career while still in his adolescence, playing with a local group, The Yardbrooms, at the age of fifteen...
and Robbie Shakespeare, the duo who were renowned as both reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
musicians and producers, and were also on Island Records.
However, Dury and Jankel were greatly unprepared and without enough material for a new album, so they wrote much of the album either on the plane or at their destination. The final album was 8 tracks long, and both of them were ultimately disappointed with it.
While recording the album Dury and Jankel were mobbed by Jamaican band Smokey
Smokey
Smokey may refer to:*Smokey , an album by Smokey Robinson*Smokey , mascot of the University of Tennessee*Smokey , a character from the 1995 film Friday*Smokie or Smokey...
, who mistook a line from his hit "Reasons To be Cheerful, Part 3" to be about them. The reference to "sing-alonga Smokey" was actually about Smokey Robinson
Smokey Robinson
William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...
. Dury politely agreed to listen to their new album while his co-writer sneaked away.
One of the songs, "Spasticus (Autisticus)
Spasticus (Autisticus)
"Spasticus Autisticus" is a song written by Ian Dury and co-written by Chaz Jankel, released both as a single and on the album Lord Upminster.- Criticism and history :...
", proved to be controversial. 1981 was the official "Year Of The Disabled", a notion Dury thought was ludicrous and patronising (he was disabled himself by Poliomyelitis
Poliomyelitis
Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an acute viral infectious disease spread from person to person, primarily via the fecal-oral route...
he caught at Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea is a unitary authority area, town, and seaside resort in Essex, England. The district has Borough status, and comprises the towns of Chalkwell, Eastwood, Leigh-on-Sea, North Shoebury, Prittlewell, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay, and Westcliff-on-Sea. The district is situated...
as a child). On his BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Documentary On My Life Dury mentioned plans to tour the country with a band named 'Spastic & The Autistics' until a friend (Ed Spieght, who had played on Dury's seminal New Boots and Panties!! LP) suggested the name 'Spasticus' bastardising the name of the freed slave Spartacus
Spartacus
Spartacus was a famous leader of the slaves in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the war, and surviving historical accounts are sometimes contradictory and may not always be reliable...
. Despite accusations of courting controversy, "Spasticus (Austisticus)" was released as a single (August 1981) and was banned with an odd ban that only covered the period before 6pm. The single's chart success was nil but "Spasticus" was to remain in Ian Dury's set until his death, even after other raucous songs like "Plaistow Patricia" and "Blockheads" were dropped.
Beside Spasticus, another noteworthy track appears on the album; "Girls (Watching)" is the only officially released cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
Ian Dury recorded, it was written by Sly Dunbar. However MP3s of Dury, performing The Stranglers
The Stranglers
The Stranglers are an English punk/rock music group.Scoring some 23 UK top 40 singles and 17 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are the longest-surviving and most "continuously successful" band to have originated in the UK punk scene of the mid to late 1970s...
single "Peaches" and "Bear Cage" live, along with Hazel O'Connor
Hazel O'Connor
Hazel O'Connor is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of a soldier from Galway who settled in England after World War II to work in a car plant...
and members of The Stranglers can be found on some download services. As well as being found on two Stranglers live albums And Then There was Three and Stranglers and Friends both CDs are of the same gig, when Hugh Cornwell
Hugh Cornwell
Hugh Alan Cornwell is an English musician and songwriter, best known for being the vocalist and guitarist for the punk/new wave group, The Stranglers, from 1974 to 1990.-Career:...
was in prison, various artists including Dury took turns to sing.
Lord Upminster was a commercial failure and received lacklustre reviews from critics and Dury himself later admitted that the only track he would listen to again was Spasticus. Chas Jankel was a little kinder and continues to praise "Lonely (Town)" as an underrated gem on the album. "The (Body Song)" and "Funky Disco (Pops)" are the tracks most currently selected for greatest hits compilations (along with "Spasticus").
Track listing
All tracks are by Ian DuryIan Dury
Ian Robins Dury was an English rock and roll singer, lyricist, bandleader and actor who initially rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and New Wave era of rock music...
and Chas Jankel
Chas Jankel
Charles Jeremy Jankel professionally known as Chaz Jankel, is a musician best known as the keyboard player and guitarist with Ian Dury and the Blockheads...
unless otherwise stated.
- "Funky Disco (Pops)" - 3:30
- "Red (Letter)" - 3:47
- "Girls (Watching)" (Sly DunbarSly DunbarLowell "Sly" Fillmore Dunbar is a drummer.-Biography:Dunbar, whose nickname was reportedly given for his passion for Sly & the Family Stone, launched his musical career while still in his adolescence, playing with a local group, The Yardbrooms, at the age of fifteen...
) - 4:28 - "Wait (For Me)" - 3:41
- "The (Body Song)" - 5:08
- "Lonely (Town)" - 4:10
- "Trust (Is A Must)" - 6:20
- "Spasticus (Autisticus)" - 4:57
Note : the original US release re-arranged the running order of the tracks as follows :
- "Spasticus (Autisticus)Spasticus (Autisticus)"Spasticus Autisticus" is a song written by Ian Dury and co-written by Chaz Jankel, released both as a single and on the album Lord Upminster.- Criticism and history :...
" - 4:57 - "Red (Letter)" - 3:47
- "The (Body Song)" - 5:08
- "Lonely (Town)" - 4:10
- "Trust (Is A Must)" - 6:20
- "Funky Disco (Pops)" - 3:30
- "Girls (Watching)" (Sly Dunbar) - 4:28
- "Wait (For Me)" - 3:41
Some compilations mistakenly do not put parts of the song titles in brackets (especially "Spasticus"), it is a 'theme' of the titles on the album and all of them do have words in brackets as shown above.
Personnel
- Ian Dury: vocals
- Chas JankelChas JankelCharles Jeremy Jankel professionally known as Chaz Jankel, is a musician best known as the keyboard player and guitarist with Ian Dury and the Blockheads...
: guitar, keyboards - Robbie Shakespeare: bass
- Sly DunbarSly DunbarLowell "Sly" Fillmore Dunbar is a drummer.-Biography:Dunbar, whose nickname was reportedly given for his passion for Sly & the Family Stone, launched his musical career while still in his adolescence, playing with a local group, The Yardbrooms, at the age of fifteen...
: drums - Tyrone DownieTyrone DownieTyrone Downie is a Jamaican keyboardist/pianist who is most known for his involvement as a member of Bob Marley and The Wailers. He studied at Kingston College and joined the wailers in the mid-1970s, making his recording début with the band on Rastaman Vibration, having previously been a member of...
: clavinet, prophet, Steinway
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.
- On My Life BBC2 Documentary first broadcast September 25th, 1999