IAN DURY AND THE BLOCKHEADS – REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL (PART THREE) (STIFF RECORDS)
This is a terrific single. The Blockheads produced a string of them. In Ian Dury they had the most amazing leader, a uniquely driven creative mind that led a solid and tight team into the good fight often emerging winning on the way.
In spite of grotesque circumstances and surrounds, “Reasons To Be Cheerful” is a wonderfully upbeat song. It expresses the kind of mindset that was needed in order for such a circus of a music act to succeed, not least after being inspired by a near fatal electrocution that occurred in Italy
There is a real swing attached to this song. Always with the Blockheads it felt as if their sound had as much to do with songhall as it did punk. With this a genuinely unique and inventive din was accomplished.
Listened to with a modern ear it is surprisingly slick. Dury is tastily relentless in dealing out a fine shopping list of fun stuff while a chopping disco guitar lends bite as parrot fashion backing empowers proceedings. There is also cowbell, a weird guitar solo and an unnecessary saxophone solo. It was also the last single to be released by the band with their original line-up.
On the flipside “Common As Muck” is a more Cockney than Cockney track with a piano line that could be pulled straight from the Chas n Dave songbook while Dury’s delivery itself wouldn’t be out of place in a musical. This is the sound of a band having fun. And sometimes that is all you need of your favourite artists.
Thesaurus moment: hoist.
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