To truly love a Baxter Dury record is to spend time with the words. On a Dury record, meanings slowly reveal themselves like one of those magic eye pictures from the nineties. However, that is to mistakenly assume that there is just one meaning. Play the album to a room of 20 and you’d probably be met with at least a dozen interpretations. What all would agree is that he has a nuanced understanding of the human condition: the emotional ups, the let-downs, and the everyday exposure to total dickheads.
Left with just the words, new album Allbarone would read as poetry—a collection of on-the-nose, cynical, and endlessly quotable lines of social commentary. However, with producer Paul Hepworth matching his verbosity by blending inventive and varied electronic influences, Allbarone is elevated to a level near Dury’s best album to date.
Thumping opener “Allbarone” serves as a spectacular statement of intent. As close to a full-on house tune as he has ever done (barring his Fred Again collaboration). Paul Epworth’s dance-infused production shines with Dury laying his lines over throbbing synths and pulsing beats. JGrrey’s bubblegum vocals add some feminine yin to Dury’s droll yang as Dury details being stood up in one of the UK’s most popular drinking establishments it initially comes across as a hilarious take on modern dating but on repeat listens it could just as easily be about the creepy, desperate actions of a man unable to come to terms with being left in the lurch.
Whichever interpretation you prefer, there is no denying that it’s as fresh as one of Druy’s crisp, linen suits. The banging vibes continue in “Schadenfreude”. A curtain of twitchy, arpeggiated synths allows Dury to poke his head out and fling bitter barbs at the one who got away (“you were off with that doughnut”). The more percussive, “Kublai Khan” addresses the unfinished feeling as he experiences a “sliding doors” moment, seeing the object of affection travel in the opposite direction on an escalator.
After the opening trio of dancier tunes, the record morphs into more recognisable, yet no less thrilling, Dury territory. “Alpha Dog” lounges in a disco bed with a bass line that Bernard Edwards would be proud of. Once again featuring JGrrey, who effortlessly weaves in contrasting melodies that quickly take root in the subconscious.
On the more introspective “The Other Me”, a hypnotic, circling, post-punk bassline sits front and centre, augmented by sudden stabs of horns like being stuck in a particularly disconcerting traffic jam. The even more uneasy, “Hapsburg” opens with anaesthetised, dislocated vocals and off-kilter synths. There’s a more pronounced feeling of things quickly deteriorating, as if the bottom is suddenly much closer than anticipated. Musically, it’s another example of just how rich the album is.
Over washes of synths and rumbling bass, “Return of the Sharp Heads” could well take the honour of featuring the funniest lyrics Dury has ever written. It finds Dury going on a stream of consciousness rant about the people of Shoreditch (“You’re just a bunch of soul-fuckers / Who rate yourselves”). Even after repeated listens, it still has the power to make the listener spit out any liquid they may have foolishly attempted to consume at the time.
On a record of highlights, “Mockinjay” could justifiably lay claim to being the standout. As the percussion tumbles and falls, Dury effortlessly bounces syllables off each other in an incredible show of his wordplay. Surprisingly inspired by the Hunger Games film, “Mockingjay” details the sad romantic type whose romantic intentions don’t extend beyond a computer screen. Closer, “Mr W4” could well be Dury’s tongue-in-cheek theme tune. It’s a beguiling, beautiful, lounge disco finish with barroom piano notes swirling like whips of smoke. It’s a tale of deluded west Londoners with delusions of grandeur and Dury at his most wonderfully sardonic.
Baxter Dury has created that rare album that continually reveals hidden depths, both lyrically and musically. Allbarone is a richly observed record drawn from a wealth of experience studying human relationships. It also slaps.