New Boots and Panties!! - History

History

Much of the album was written by Dury, nearly a year before its release, at Oval Mansions (the top floor flat at 40, Oval Mansions, Kennington which he shared with Denise Roudette, and which he nicknamed 'Catshit Mansions') and was the fruit of Dury's successful writing partnership with Chaz Jankel. Ironically, however, some of the tracks that could be considered to be the most 'English' were actually co-written with American Steve Nugent. Jankel was later given a third writing credit for these songs ("Billericay Dickie", "Plaistow Patricia", "My Old Man" and "Blackmail Man") on the album's original press and some subsequent compilations; however, over the years this credit has been gradually 'phased out' and the current Edsel Records re-issue of the album credits all of the tracks to 'Dury/Nugent' solely.

Dury and Jankel recorded demos of much of the album in the spring of 1977, a session the aforementioned Steve Nugent also sat in on. The demos were recorded in Alvic Studios, Wimbledon, run by two men called Al and Vic. Jankel played the bass, guitar and piano parts, while Dury sang and played drums. These demo tapes have since been included as part of Edsel's current re-issue of the album. During the making of these demos Alvic's studio engineer told Dury about a rhythm section who were acting as session musicians for a bit of extra money; bassist Norman Watt-Roy and drummer Charley Charles, who would become key members of The Blockheads, as well as playing on New Boots And Panties.

Dury and Jankel gelled almost instantly, and a week after the demos were finished the final album was recorded in The Workhouse Studio on the Old Kent Road. Dury's management company Blackhill - who would also manage The Clash - owned a 50 percent share in the studio (along with Manfred Mann), and put up the £4,000 to pay for the group to record the album in 'dead time' (that is, when the studio is empty - usually late at night). It is quite uncommon for an album to be recorded without the artist being signed to a record label - usually it is the other way around.

The album was produced by Peter Jenner, Laurie Latham, and Rick Walton. Although Latham and Walton were relatively inexperienced, Jenner had been producing since the late 1960s, and had worked with Kevin Ayers and David Bedford amongst others. Davey Payne and Ed Speight of Dury's old band Kilburn And The Highroads, were invited to fill out the sound of the album. Payne, who played saxophone, would stay with Dury for much of the rest of his career. Geoff Castle, who played Moog synthesizer on "Wake Up And Make Love With Me" and "Blockheads", was actually a friend of Speight's who was asked in to help out. During these sessions a chance remark by Charley Charles would later give the name to The Blockheads; while reading the words to the song Blockheads, the name stuck after the Stiff tour; exactly how is under dispute.

Attempts to find a record label to publish the completed album were unsuccessful. Dury's lack of commercial appeal and his unorthodox look worked against him even in the year of the punk rock explosion, but the solution to the problem was right under Blackhill's noses - literally. Stiff Records leased office space directly below the offices of Blackhill Management. The album was licensed to the company, who already had Elvis Costello and The Damned on their books, and would go on to score hits not only with Dury, but with Madness, The Pogues, Kirsty MacColl and others. Licensing the album meant there would be no question of who owned it, or its masters.

New Boots And Panties!! was released on 30 September 1977, following the release of Dury's iconic single "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll". The single was not a commercial success and nor was it included on the album's original press (Dury expressed a strong desire for singles not to be included on the album and as such the song and its b-side were omitted) although a subsequent pressing has the track, uncredited, at the start of side 2. This did not affect people's reaction to the album however (at the time it was not as uncommon to produce 'stand alone singles' as it is today) and it was given rave reviews not only in the music press, but in broadsheet newspapers' art columns and other highbrow publications: Robin Denselow, for instance, reviewed it for The Guardian (11 October 1977). The album did not enter the top of the British charts but it did go platinum, and its (much softer) follow-up album Do It Yourself would reach number 2.

In 2000 Q magazine placed it at number 66 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. It was also ranked as number 495 in the book version of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.