Ian Dury - Reasons To Be Cheerful (The Best Of Ian Dury) [PA] (CD 2005)

If you are of a certain age, this CD will take you back to the days of Punk, Pub Rock, A Bunch of Sticks and the amazing innovation of "New Boots and Panties".

That was my first introduction to the music of Ian Dury and most of the best tracks from that album are on this double CD, albeit some recorded live.

The album starts off with a series of classics, making me wonder why I hadn't bought this before or at least dusted off my old vinyl. The early killer tracks include the incomparable "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll", the hard rocking "Sweet Gene Vincent" and the moody "What a Waste". By this time you've already had a reminder of the superbly quirky lyrical quality of Dury's work - "See my Tailor, he's called Simon, I know it's going to fit" and "I could be the ticket man on Fulham Broadway station".

Also on CD.01 are "Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3" and "Hit me with your Rhythm Stick" but from this point onwards the quality seems to drop off.

Compared wih the thundering opening to the album, CD0.2 is a bit of a let down. I was expecting the highlights to be "Blockheads", "Billericay Dickie" and "Clever Trevor" but these are all live versions that I don't consider to be as good as the studio takes. Having said this, if you already have "New Boots..." on CD this may augment your collection.

Finally, don't play it in the car when your kids are in the back...