Baxter Dury – Allbarone Review

When Baxter Dury announced not just their return, but the first album Paul Epworth had worked on in five years, expectations skyrocketed. The Night Chancers would have cemented Dury as a formidable voice, one representing the unspoken fear of collapse in the cities which are seen as defining stars on the world map, had it been released at a time when everyone was not stuck indoors. But that serves the claustrophobic skill at hand, and it was followed up well by I Thought I Was Better Than You. Perseverance and self-preservation go hand in hand, and the scope of this is explored on Allbarone. Dury and Epworth are a delightful pairing, and the nine tracks which form this ninth studio album are quite unlike anything either artist has worked on before. They pull from their enviably deep pool of influence, that much is clear, but the result is a startling reworking of what has, up to this point, defined Dury as a performer.   

Harsher techno tones on the title track are an indication of where Dury is headed. The darker heart, the hope which feeds an expectation, fuels the yearning and fiery passions. These are typical displays from Dury, whose lyrical quality shines throughout these nine tracks. You can feel the stage presence Dury has crafted over the years come to life on Allbarone, the jutting elbows, the pulsing movements wrapped in nylon clothing. The sweat, the style, the sincerity, it all mixes on Allbarone as Dury finds new thrills in familiar streets. Everyday encounters amplified by minute detail. It is his speciality. But he is not set to explore those same experiences, that much is clear. Schadenfreude has Dury feel the thrill of being better than someone, a direct continuation of I Thought I Was Better Than You, but this time taking sickening, twisted joy in being proven right by a third party. Epworth’s production flourishes, and those whispered, backing vocals paired with the instrumental build, are nothing short of beautiful.  

Paradise-chasing Kubla Khan is a wonderful, soft adaptation of the themes found in the Samuel Coleridge poem. We are but projections of our dreams, the vision we hold so dear is explored. But those projections are just that, and the unanswered texts, the flashing lights which feature on Kubla Khan is another incredible tech-infused adaptation of the self-satisfying modern-day we live in. Dury bleeds contemporary culture into the formidable, still-relevant influence of great works from history with ease. He makes it sound like a seamless, suggestive experience on Alpha Dog and uses those rising string sections beautifully. Dury has grown as an artist not out of choice, but out of the inevitabilities of life. We learn, we grow, we do what we can to separate ourselves from the past, as is the case for the heavy-hitting double bill, The Other Me and Hapsburg.  

Those spoken-word thrills, the familiarity of spilt drinks and microscopic detail becoming intense spectacles, that is what Dury works over so well on Allbarone. Swear-infused jabs at those “soul fuckers” who rate themselves highly, who see themselves as the big picture, rather than the landscape before them. The latter stages of Allbarone are filled with such a burning contempt, a complete discard for lyrical smarts on Retrun of the Sharp Heads where the nihilistic toffs are lashed out at. Rightly so. Sometimes it is the simple anger, the desire to put those on a level above down in the ground. Contrast is everything on Allbarone, the instrumental thrills, staggering as they are, never let the focus on Dury’s worldview slip away. A responsible and often incredible blur which lasts as a comment not just on the shortcomings of the world, but the hopelessness of trying to reason with the commercially inclined, the man in the street who sees nothing but a chance to conform. Dury challenges that, and listeners will be all the better for it after listening to Allbarone, a blueprint for how to survive the revolution.