Len Parrott's Memorial Lift

He may be the son of the late Ian, but Baxter Dury’s fragile falsetto vocal style owes more to John Lennon, Robert Wyatt and Damons Albarn and Gough than to the cheeky, cheerful Blockhead.

To give further credit, rather than tread the musical path well worn by Dury père, Baxter inhabits a soundscape very much of the moment, with lots of atmospheric noises, shuffling rhythms and shifting arrangements that have you on the edge of your seat for most of the album.

Stand-out track is ‘Oscar Brown’, reminiscent of the Velvets if not quite as threatening. It benefits from the presence of Portishead’s Geoff Barlow and the delicious voice of Joanne Hurley who leads it into a Hey Jude-style finale. Hurley also shines on the more animated ‘Lucifer’s Grain’, her sinister, sultry voice an admirable foil for Dury on a track that swings with strings. On ‘Fungus Hedge’ Dury’s voice has a Robert Wyatt quality, while ‘Beneath The Underdog’ evokes the Mercury Rev of the bleaker end of Deserter’s Songs, with Hurley’s voice again playing a starring role.

The memory of Ian D is evoked on the quirky ‘Gingham Smalls’, an Ian Dury title if there ever was one, and the title track sashays slowly across the universe with Baxter’s brittle voice just barely hanging in there. The final track ‘Boneyard Dogs’ paints a scene of urban desolation and alienation, with Baxter’s voice again taking on that fragility that makes you wonder if he’ll make it to the end. He does, which means he’ll be back for more. We’ll be ready.