Given the all-too-evident theatricality of the songs that made him a household name, it was perhaps only a matter of time before Dury went the whole hog and wrote a stage musical. Apples debuted at London’s prestigious Royal Court Theatre in 1989, and centred upon a tabloid hack, Byline Browne, investigating a scandal involving a politician called Hugo Sinister, seemingly stitched together from real-life Westminster bad boys John Profumo and Cecil Parkinson.
This original cast recording, which includes Dury sparring with West End star Frances Ruffelle, may not have garnered as much attention as New Boots And Panties!! or Do It Yourself, but it’s clearly cut from same cloth. There are trademark pithy couplets aplenty (“Don’t be suspicious of Golden Delicious”), and manically catchy melodies, knocked into shape by Blockheads Mickey Gallagher and Davey Payne.
Many of the songs’ resemblances to earlier chart glories are understandable, as Dury had been working on-and-off on the project since the mid-70s, the musical finding space for one of the high watermarks of his time fronting Kilburn & The High Roads (England’s Glory). It also heralded the first sighting of one of his most enduring compositions, The Bus Driver’s Prayer – a reworking of The Lord’s Prayer featuring numerous London locales.
