Album Review: Prince of Tears by Baxter Dury

Baxter Dury had a sorry 2016: his heart got broken and he spent a few months crying in his flat. "I got the fire brigade round to put out sandbanks around my emotions," he quipped recently. So 'Prince Of Tears' is an adult break-up record. It's also a Baxter Dury one, which is to say, it's despairing, comically cutting and never dreary.

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Break-up albums are 10-a-penny. But the truly brilliant ones - the ones that turn from despairing to life-affirming, that strip their creator to his or her most nakedly intimate yet offer solace for all; the likes of Dylan's Blood On The Tracks and Beck's Sea Change - are far more costly. Patently, Baxter Dury paid in physical and mental wellbeing to make Prince Of Tears.

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Mood swings abound on Baxter Dury's whimsical album Prince of Tears. It's what can be expected from an artist that creates original music sounding like a combination of a less trippy of Montreal and a less quirky The Real Tuesday Weld all while channeling Lou Reed. Each song is built on a steady rhythm section framework of bouncy bass lines and balanced beats.

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As anyone who has seen Andy Serkis' fantastic portrayal of him in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll will know, Ian Dury was not always a particularly nice bloke. Despite his charming, charismatic persona he projected on stage and on record, he could be selfish, arrogant and vindictive when he wanted to be. These darker qualities seeped into his lyrics on songs like 'I Made Mary Cry' and 'Poo-Poo In The Prawn', and in many ways set him apart from his more fantastical new wave peers.

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