Brand New Boots and Panties: Tribute to Ian Dury

The concept was to re-record Ian Dury And The Blockheads' 1977 smash hit album with the annoying title "New Boots And Panties" with the Blockheads supplying the instrumental talent and a group of guest vocalists replacing the late Ian Dury. It could be seen as tasteless to replace the very person to whom you're paying tribute, but because Dury's talents lay as much in the field of songwriting as in performing, this isn't the case. That said, some performers, especially Madness take their vocal inspiration directly from Dury's style and thus their offerings are as much tributes to the singer as his songs.

The album opens with Sinéad O'Connor's sexy version of Wake Up And Make Love To Me. Slight changes in the lyrics and Sinéad's inimitable voice render the song completely different from Dury's carry-on naughty-humour original, yet retain the integrity of the piece.

Robbie Williams, a great chum of Ian's in real life performs Sweet Gene Vincent possibly better than Ian himself, while the Blockheads rock it up in the style they perfected over years of live performance. This would make a great single if Robbie's record company would agree.

Another contender for strongest song on the album is Paul McCartney's Partial To Your Abracadabra. This is the Paul McCartney who sang Long Tall Sally back in action and the piano accompaniment is reminiscent of Lady Madonna. It's astonishing how well he fits in with the Blockheads.

Madness perform without the Blockheads, but this is all right, because their band set-up, the use of the saxophone, and some of Suggs's vocal mannerisms were copied directly from Ian & The Blockheads, and the band makes a polished imitation of the original.

Then it all goes horribly wrong. Yes, Billy Bragg is a cockney too, but he lacks the charm of Ian Dury, and his backing band is less cohesive than the Blockheads. His version of Billericay Dickie is just annoying.

Wreckless Eric's Clever Trevor manages to be funny and interesting, with a very toppy vocal, and the last four tracks are unremarkable, if competent covers.

I would give this album 5 stars for the first four songs, three for the last five, but Zero for Billy Bignose, hence my average rating of ****

Cerys from Catatonia and Sinead O' Connor give Dury's songs a sexy twist. Paul McCartney produces a track that would sound great live, but not so fantastic through your CD player. Grant from Feeder and Keith Allen are brilliantly cockney. Madness are superb. Shane McGowen is just frightening. Robbie Williams, hmmmmm....well it's for a good cause. Personally my highlights are Wreckless Eric and Billy Bragg, mainly because they made their tracks completely different to the original LP. Bragg's version has a slight Egyption feel, and Wreckless sounds as though he's doing his track through a megaphone.

The reason I like the different tracks is because, although the other tracks are great, they are pretty much the same as the original versions (with the exception of Madness, who sound just like they always do with their ska flavour). And if you want to hear the tracks done perfectly, buy the original LP. But, if you already have the original, get this album to hear some different vibes and also to realise just how brilliant Ian Dury is.

Wreckless Eric, Cerys Matthews, Grant Nicholas and Keith Allen have delivered excellent versions of Clevor Trever, If I Was With A Woman, Blockheads and Blackmail Man. For these alone the album deserves 4 stars.

Robbie Williams attempt at Sweet Gene Vincent and Madness' rehash of My Old Man are passable. Shane MacGowan is Shane MacGowan - brilliant lyricist, unbelievable performer, but give him someone elses song and he'll do his best to destroy it.

The real villians, however, are Paul McCartney (why is he on this album?), Sinead O'Connor (trying to sound sexy on Wake Up and Make Love to Me, but failing, miserably) and most surprisingly of all - Billy Bragg. Surely of all the performers on this tribute album to everyones favourite Diamond Geezer and all-round-decent-bloke that other all-round-decent-bloke Billy Bragg could have treated Billericay Dickie with more respect. This song is probably Ian Dury's finest moment with some wonderfully simple yet incredibly effective wordplay and catchy tune to boot, but Billy Bragg murders the song. How can BD be reduced to the least accessible and most dislikeable song on an album which is intended to demonstrate what a fantastic album the original is? Anyone listening to these songs for the first time must wonder what the fuss is about after hearing the likes of Bragg and McCartney - surely that wasn't the point.

I don't mean to be too negative though, the album is worth buying for the four excellent tracks.