I Thought I Was Better Than You

Album review

On his 2023 album I Thought I Was Better Than You, Baxter Dury turns his trademark louche rambler persona with a line on late-night, neon-slicked grooves one twist to the left. With the help of producer Paul White -- who had worked with Danny Brown and Charli XCX in the past -- Dury turns his gaze to the privileged, fame-adjacent upbringing he enjoyed/suffered and sets his self-lacerating musings to a R&B- and hip-hop-inspired sound. To get the desired effect, White took Dury's homemade demos and gave them a polish. The result is a smoother, more relaxed backdrop for Dury's spleen venting and toxic reminiscences that focus on the strange benefits that came with being the son of a well-known musical icon. He doesn't spare himself much here, and the results can be a little bleak, something Dury knows all too well, and as in the past, much of the sonic landscape is taken up by sweetly sung choruses. These angelic commentaries are delivered here by a new cast of characters that includes Eska Mtungwazi, JGrrey, and Madeline Hart. They play their roles perfectly, and Dury's eye for collaborators is as sharp as his wit. As usual, that's very, very sharp, and to that end there are a sackful of memorable lines, rhymes, and asides to be found on the record. "Burger King trousers" and "kettlebells in the stairwell" are two fine examples of the kind of language not usually found on pop records, but they are the kind of gems that drop from Dury's lips like they were nothing. The choice this time out to adopt more of a hip-hop and R&B influence was a good one, and he and White make it work without lapsing into rip-off territory. Though his passion for the sound is evident, Dury never seems like a poser. As he says, he might want to sound like Frank Ocean, but he always ends up sounding like Ian. Dury, that is. And like himself, now. In fact, after releasing as many excellent albums as he has over the years, and forging a path that's truly unique despite the resurgence of blokes and birds talking over indie rock, Baxter Dury deserves to be considered fully free of his father's shadow. Maybe after releasing this subtly brilliant and pleasingly scathing album, he'll finally believe it too.
© Tim Sendra /TiVo