Baxter Dury

Baxter Dury: Allbarone [Vinyl LP]

Baxter Dury: Allbarone [CD]

When is a record ever really finished? Baxter Dury's eighth album, Allbarone, seemed wrapped after its release last autumn, but super-producer Paul Epworth decided to reopen five tracks and push them somewhere else entirely. These are not just extensions. They are full electro-disco reworks, pulling the originals apart and rebuilding them as classic 12-inch remixes for the small hours, with echoing dub, flickering percussion, addictive basslines and beautifully loose disco rhythms. Each mix locks into its own groove: Kubla Khan with its hefty low end, Alpha Dog as deconstructed nightclub dub, and Schadenfreude driven by Eurodisco bass and a fizzing hi-hat pulse. Paul Epworth lifts Baxter Dury's tracks to another level. Allbarone is finally done.