“My first job was in a watch shop on Oxford Street, but I accidentally burned it down. The flames went up and triggered the sprinklers, and eventually they went off in every shop nearby which then flooded the whole road,” chuckles Baxter Dury. Serenaded into the world by his dad’s band The Blockheads banging out Chuck Berry’s ‘Johnny Be Good’ in the basement below, and with 6’8” ex-Led Zeppelin roadie named ‘Sulphate Strangler’ for a babysitter, Baxter was never destined to work in a ‘proper’ job. Regal Records must have agreed for they snapped up the Buckinghamshire-bred chap and are currently gearing up to release his third full-length album ‘Happy Soup’.
Produced by Craig Silvey (Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Portishead) and recorded in Baxter’s hometown of London, the album will be released in digital and CD format. ‘Claire’ is the first single to be taken from it, released on 4th July.
‘Happy Soup’ is worlds away from the darkness and romantic disappointments of previous LPs ‘Len Parrot’s Memorial Lift’ (2002) and ‘Floor Show’ (2005), so much so that Dury refers to his new effort as “seaside psychedelia”. Its ten tracks narrate everyday tales of dancing on the patio in Marigolds and seedy sex in Portugal, yet Baxter’s lyrical playfulness and acute character analysis ensure the songs are anything but mundane. Just take the amusing picture painted of London’s Portobello Road in love song ‘Trellic’ or ‘The Sun’ in which Madelaine Heart’s honeyed guest vocals swim in-between bursts of Baxter’s mad, infectious laughter and colourful, rippling guitars. First single ‘Claire’ meanwhile slings his cockney charm around bus fare funk and unforgettable bass hooks. It’s not quite all rainbows and carousels though – had Joy Division scored a Batman soundtrack, the looping bass and menacing spoken-drawl of ‘Picnic On The Edge’ would undoubtedly have made the cut.
