Happy Soup

It’s with this record, after two interesting attempts, that the cockney crooner finally managed to have his monologues about romantic complications, idleness, sweet melancholy, absurdities and British irony heard by a wider audience. A sort of unlikely crossover between Gainsbourg, Sleaford Mods and Ian Dury (his dad), Baxter talks much more than he sings; on his records, his backup singers are the ones who mainly handle the latter task. Supported by music ranging from new wave to offbeat disco and acid pop, all coloured by arrangements that are never too extravagant, Baxter Dury nonchalantly imposes his unique and quite charming style.