Demon Records, as part of our ongoing catalogue initiative, is pleased to be making ‘Ten More Turnips from the Tip’, the fourth and final studio album released by Ian Dury & The Blockheads, widely available on vinyl, pressed for the first time on classic black vinyl and featuring the singles ‘Dance Little Rude Boy’ & ‘One Love.’
Posthumously released in 2002 after Ian Dury’s premature death in 2000, from cancer, aged 57, the album was a labour of love and family affair, and organised by Ian’s second wife, Sophy Dury, Ian’s daughter Jemima, his son Baxter, the Blockheads and Jamie Spencer of East Central One. The album was originally assembled from a list of songs found by Sophy, amongst his paperwork, under the title Ten More Turnips from the Tip. The family gave their blessing for the Blockheads to finish the album with long-standing co-producer Laurie Latham (who mixed many of Ian’s other albums, including ‘New Boots and Panties!!’). The album cover artwork is by Sophy Dury and her brother, Jake Tilson, and features a photo of Ian aged 1½ , with his dad and their dog Bella.
The album is a treasure trove of songs recorded between 1991 and 2000, some from the original sessions for the Ian Dury & the Blockheads’ album, ‘Mr Love Pants’, with additional Blockheads dubs added in 2001. Other recordings date back to the Sonet Studios sessions for ‘The Bus Driver's Prayer & Other Stories’ (1991). Two songs that bring the recordings up to date, written by Dury towards the end of his life when he was too ill to record a guide vocal, are ‘I Could Lie’ and ‘You're the Why,’ recorded with vocals by Chaz Jankel and Robbie Williams, respectively. Robbie and Ian spent time together during a 1998 UNICEF mission to Sri Lanka, after which Dury became something of a mentor to Williams and presented Robbie with the Best British Male award at the 1999 BRITs.
With songs written by Dury, Jankel, Merlin Rhys-Jones and Norman Watt-Roy, and recorded with original Blockhead members including Chaz Jankel, Mick Gallagher, John Turnbull, Norman Watt-Roy, and Davey Payne, this album is a fitting and final testament to the late great Ian Dury.