On Track – Rush 1984 – 2015 / Ian Dury

Author:Richard James, Opher Goodwin

The last thirty years of Rush’s long career broadly speaking are not their strongest, a view which the author seems to agree with. Gone were the long prog epics and the great songs such as Tom Sawyer and Red Barchetta, with the band seeming to favour a new wave influenced sound, almost sounding like The Police at times. That’s not to say there aren’t some good songs among the dozen studio records they released in this period and actually there are some good albums too – I always liked Power Windows even though it sounds rather of its time now, Vapour Trails was a decent comeback after a six year hiatus, and their swansong, Clockwork Angels, is one of their best and is hugely underrated and too often overlooked. In fact, although this new style divided the fan base, they became an increasingly big draw on the live circuit. The author does an excellent job pf picking apart the albums, even though he often doesn’t appear too enamoured with much of the music on offer. He also covers the eight live albums from this era, which in their later yeas seemed to accompany every tour – for me the best are 1998’s Different Stages and 2003’s In Rio, although the Clockwork Angels Tour is also a good one. A very interesting and well pit together book for fans of the band.

When New Boots and Panties appeared in 1977 along with the non album single Sex and Drugs and Rock n Roll, it seemed like a breath of fresh air. Inventive witty songs that each seemed to tell their own mini tale of salubrious characters delivered in that cockney diamond geezer accent. The follow up, Do It Yourself, was also good, with again a number of first class non album songs such as Hit Me, Reasons To Be Cheerful. What A Waste and There Ain’t Half Been..but then came the parting of ways with musical foil Chas Jankel, with long lasting consequences. The commercial success rapidly tailed off and never reached the dizzy heights of the early years again and I for one lost touch with him, and even though there were still the occasional flashes of inspiration they were often hidden away on otherwise quite humdrum albums. Even Jankel’s return for 1998’s Mr Love Pants didn’t quite relight the fire, and after Ian passed in 2000 there was just one more (posthumous) release. It’s hard to believe it’s over twenty five years since this charismatic figure left us – part punk, part teddy boy, part vaudeville act, he was certainly a unique figure, and this well researched intelligently written book does a comprehensive job of looking in depth at his career, including live records and his earlier formative years with Kilburn & The High Roads.

Length of Read:Short

Might appeal to people who enjoyed…

The work of these artistes.

One thing you’ve learned

It will be interesting to hear what the reconvened line up of Rush sounds like when they begin their US tour later this year, a show which will hopefully eventually make its way over here in 2027.

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