Happy Soup

Released

As a musician, it canโ€™t be easy operating under the shadow of a more famous parent (just ask Jacob Dylan, Adam Cohen or any Beatles-offspring). Baxter Dury, however, has managed to create a voice for himself that is not only distinct from the imitable cockney growl of his Blockheads-leading dad, Ian, but is also unlike any of his contemporaries. The first real showing of this was on third album Happy Soup. Here, Duryโ€™s sad-eyed, glottal-stopping vignettes are both witty and heartfelt, all told with a vivid imagination and inventive turn of phrase. His geezerish mumble, meanwhile, is perfectly offset by co-vocalist Madelaine Hart and the sparse backing that makes it feel like youโ€™re being told these tales from within a spartanly decorated West London flat.

Chris Catchpole