Lord Upminster is the second solo studio album by the English rock and roll singer-songwriter Ian Dury. It was released by Polydor Records in September 1981.

It was recorded over a period of one month at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas with his old writing partner Chas Jankel and the reggae duo Sly and Robbie. It is also the first Dury album distributed by Polydor. It was his first solo album in four years, since New Boots and Panties!! (1977), and like that album covers a diverse range of musical styles reflecting Dury's influences and background in pub rock, taking in funk, disco, British music hall and early rock and roll, courtesy of Dury's musical hero Gene Vincent.

Unlike New Boots..., however, the album was received negatively by the majority of music critics, while other reviewers noted good points to the album. It was a commercial disappointment failing to make the Top 40, and the album's only single, "Spasticus Autisticus", failed to chart in the UK.

Composition and recording

Background Island Records' founder Chris Blackwell suggested that Dury and Chas Jankel (who had returned from America and temporarily buried the hatchet with 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 eight 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.

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 The Stranglers and Friends – Live in Concert both CDs are of the same gig, when Hugh Cornwell was in prison, various artists including Dury took turns to sing.

Dury himself later admitted that the only track he would have listened 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").

Critical reception

Lord Upminster received negative reviews from contemporary music critics.

In a contemporary review music critic Robert Christgau gave the album a "B−" and panned that "Spasticus Autisticus is every bit as startling as Dury must have hoped after Laughter got lost in the hustle" but added that "I suppose the idea is to let the riddims of Steve Stanley, Chaz Jankel, and Sly & Robbie turn jingles into rallying cries"

Retrospective reviews In a retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that "Lord Upminster turned out to be a set of uninspired funk that lacks the joyful energy of his three previous records." Emma Greatrex of the Daily Express gave the album two stars writing that the album was "largely overlooked", but also noted that "many of the songs are repetitive and indistinguishable from each other".

Track listing All songs written and composed by Ian Dury and Chas Jankel, except where noted.

UK edition

US edition

Notes Some compilations mistakenly do not use parts of the song titles that are 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 Jankel – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, arrangements Robbie Shakespeare – bass guitar, arrangements Sly Dunbar – drums, arrangements Tyrone Downie – Clavinets, Prophet-5, Steinway & Sons pianos, backing vocals Tina Weymouth – backing vocals Laura Weymouth – backing vocals Harold Dorsett – backing vocals Gina – backing vocals

Technical Ian Dury – production Chas Jankel – production Steven Stanley – production, engineering, mixing Harold Dorsett – engineering, assistant mixing Paul Kaye – cover photography

Charts + Chart performance for Lord UpminsterChartPeakpositionTotalweeksSwedish Albums Chart321UK Albums Chart534

Release history

+ Release history and formats for Lord Upminster Territory Release date Format Label Cat. no. Europe September 1981 Vinyl, cassette Polydor 2383 617/POLD 5042 United States November 1981 Vinyl, cassette Polydor PD-1-6337/2383 617 Yugoslavia 1982 Vinyl, cassette PGP-RTB 2220946 United Kingdom December 1989 CD Great Expectations PIPCD 005 Japan 25 July 2007 CD Universal UICY-93269 United Kingdom 3 June 2015 CD Salvo SALVOCD056

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 25 September 1999

References

External links