This artwork for the tribute album to the amazing Ian Dury was a collaboration between original album photographer Chris Gabrin and artist Sir Peter Blake, the artwork mixes the old and new images seamlessly and makes for a great signed limited edition print.
New Boots and Panties!! is a 1977 album by Ian Dury. Despite popular misconception the album is not credited to 'Ian Dury & The Blockheads' as the band was not formed until the Stiff's Live Stiffs tour some months after its recording, and two of the band do not play on the album. The title derives from his habit of buying clothes second hand, and refers to the only items he insisted on buying new, according to Ian Dury & The Blockheads: Song By Song the name was chosen by Dury from a list of 20 drawn up by compere Kosmo Vinyl. It features Ian's son Baxter on the front cover.Much of the album was written nearly a year before its release in Oval Mansions (nicknamed 'Catshit Mansions' by Dury) and was the fruits of Dury's successful writing partnership with Chaz Jankel, but ironically some of the tracks that could be considered the most 'English' were actually co-written with American Steve Nugent. Jankel was later given a dubious third writing credit for these songs ("Billericay Dickie", "Plaistow Patricia", "My Old Man" and "Blackmail Man") on the album's original press and some subsequent compilations, however over the years this credit has been gradually 'phased out' and the current Edsel Records re-issue of the album credits all of the tracks to 'Dury/Nugent' solely.

Dury and Jankel recorded demos of much of the album in the spring of 1977, a session the aforementioned Steve Nugent also sat in on, the demos were recorded in Alvic Studios, Wimbledon, run by two men known as 'Al' and 'Vic'. Jankel played the bass, guitar and piano parts, while Dury sang and played drums: These demos have since been released as part of Edsel's current re-issue of the album. During the making of these demos Alvic's Studio Engineer told Dury about a rhythm section who were acting as session musicians for a bit of extra money, they were bassist Norman Watt-Roy and drummer Charley Charles, and would become key members of The Blockheads, as well as the bassist and drummer on New Boots And Panties.

Dury and Jankel gelled almost instantly, and a week after the demos were finished the final album was recorded in The Workhouse Studio on the Old Kent Road. Dury's management company Blackhill - who would also manage The Clash - owned a 50 percent share in the studio (along with Manfred Mann), and put up the 4,000 to pay for the group to record the album in 'Dead Time' (that is, when the studio is empty - usually late at night). It is quite uncommon for an album to be recorded without the artist being signed to a record label - usually it is the other way around.

The album was produced by Peter Jenner, Laurie Latham, and Rick Walton. Although Latham and Walton were relatively inexperienced, Jenner had been producing since the late 1960s, and had worked with Kevin Ayers and David Bedford amongst others. Davey Payne and Ed Speight of Dury's old band Kilburn And The Highroads, were invited to fill out the sound of the album. Payne, who played saxophone, would stay with Dury for much of the rest of his career. Geoff Castle, who played Moog synthesizer on "Wake Up And Make Love With Me" and "Blockheads", was actually a friend of Speight's who was asked in to help out. During these sessions a chance remark by Charley Charles would later give the name to The Blockheads; while reading the words to the song Blockheads, the name stuck after the Stiff tour; exactly how is under dispute.

Attempts to find a record label to publish the completed album were unsuccessful. Dury's lack of commercial appeal and his unorthodox look worked against him even in the year of the Punk Rock explosion, but the solution to the problem was right under Blackhill's noses - literally. Stiff Records leased office space directly below the offices of Blackhill Management. The album was licensed to the company, who already had Elvis Costello and The Damned on their books, and would go on to score hits not only with Dury, but with Madness, The Pogues, Kirsty MacColl and others. Licensing the album meant there would be no question of who owned it, or its masters.

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