- Audio CD (16 May 2005)
- Number of Discs: 2
- Format: Extra tracks
- Label: Polydor
- ASIN: B0009F9O1W
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Vinyl
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 137,651 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product details |
Track Listings
| Disc: 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Cuts Across The Land | |||
| 2. Stubborn Stitches | |||
| 3. Darling You're Mean | |||
| 4. Win Your Love | |||
| 5. Hello To The Floor | |||
| 6. Bottom Of The Sea | |||
| 7. Fades The Sun | |||
| 8. You Were Born Inside My Heart | |||
| 9. Lion Rip | |||
| 10. Lovetones | |||
See all 13 tracks on this disc
| |||
| Disc: 2 | |||
| 1. Scratching Around (demo) | |||
| 2. So Good To Hear (demo) | |||
| 3. Patients (demo) | |||
| 4. Wooden Heart (demo) | |||
| 5. The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter (demo) | |||
| 6. Hello To The Floor (Steve Lamacq Live) | |||
| 7. Lion Rip (Acoustic Virgin Razorcuts) | |||
| 8. Cuts Across The Land (XFM Session) | |||
| 9. Win Your Love (Acoustic Virgin Razorcuts) | |||
| 10. Dark Is Light Enough (XFM Session) | |||
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
This 2-disc Limited Edition version includes a bonus CD of live tracks and rarities. Cuts Across the Land, the debut album by The Duke Spirit, comes with no small amount of expectation, particularly after the release of their promising EP "Roll Spirit Roll" way back in 2003. And on the whole, Cuts Across the Land lives up to the hype. Rather than following the legions of British bands who seem desperate to sound like the Strokes, the Duke Spirit don’t look overseas for inspiration. It’s a raucous rock & roll album, displaying an energy that manages to stay on the good side of shambolic, lending songs like "Lion Rip" and "Love is an Unfamiliar Name" an excitement that’s reminiscent of classic 1960s British groups such as the Rolling Stones and the Faces. And like those bands, The Duke Spirit’s music is steeped in soul and the blues (right down to the occasional--and wholly appropriate--harmonica breaks). Liela Moss is a charismatic frontwoman, somewhere between Patti Smith and the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Karen O, she practically embodies cool in her vocal style. It may seem a bit overlong, but Cuts Across the Land may just demonstrate that the future of British rock & roll lies in its past. --Robert Burrow
Album Description
This 2-disc Limited Edition version includes a bonus CD of live tracks and rarities. Cuts Across the Land is the debut album from The Duke Spirit. A year in the making, the album is worth the wait and includes the singles, "Love Is An Unfamiliar Name", "Cuts Across The Land" and "Lion Rip". In between working with legendary producer Flood (U2, Depeche Mode) to finish the album, the band have the likes of Mercury Rev, Kasabian and Razorlight. The album draws on the band's disparate influences, from the deep 60s soul of Irma Thomas and Sam Cooke right through to the white-noise guitar sounds of the Velvet Underground and My Bloody Valentine. At the heart of the record, though, are singer Liela Moss' strident vocals and oblique poetic lyrics. It's no surprise that she's been compared with the likes of Patti Smith and PJ Harvey - and a recent description of the band as Patti Smith fronting The Rolling Stones is a great way to describe this thrilling debut.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
It seems like (and is) years since the Duke Spirit hype machine rolled into action, but its taken until now to finally release a full length album. Thus, much of the content (Dark is Light Enough, Lion Rip and the fantastic title track) has already found its way into fans singles collections, along with B-Sides such as You were Born. The album remains essential however, with the double disc providing a particularly enticing glimplse at the fantastically raw live sound.
For those of you who do not know the Spirit (so to speak), its safe to say that theirs is a well trodden path of My Bloody Valentine feedback, but there is a clearly defined pop sensibility that sets them apart from morose plagarism. Leila shrieks and purrs in equal measures, whilst the thumping drum and bass cut right through layers of artfully constructed noise. At their best, the band provide hugely powerful and animalistic rock pump, with a live rawness that is translated very well into a fantastic debut album. There are flaws (there needs to be a little lyrical development here one feels, particularly on Lion Rip), but overall this is a confident and coherent bunch of songs from a very exciting British band. And Leila's beautiful.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
When I first heard about this band, I was initially put off by the way people seemed to be permanently referring to the 'Celtic' sound of the guitars, harmonies etc. When I finally listened to them I was completely surprsied because to me, hardly anything on this album sounds celtic. The opener, Medicine, is more post-punk than folk, and the only thing which can be connected to the folk tradition is the rhythm, a kind of guitar based stomp. But then, if you want to call music with a four four beat and loud guitars folk, then almost everything rock-based can be included. The singer has a great voice, she is loud, shouty, aggressive, almost soul in places, and the songs are short and never outstay their welcome. My problem with the album is that there is a lack of variation, a lot of the songs sound pretty similiar, but there are a handful of really good pop songs which thankfully do not feature bagpipes, penny whistles or any other form of Celtic instrumentation.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is an excellent debut from the Duke Spirit. It had been a work in progress for over a year and many of the songs have already been released on other formats. The songs are a noise-fest of guitars and pounding drums. With the beautiful Leila's vocals over the top they have a distinctive sound and while the record justs fails to match the energy of their fantastic live performances, this is simply an album full of really good songs. The bonus CD is also worth hearing with some fully produced demo tracks and live radio perfomances.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
buy it!
truly a great album. bought it after discovering leilas (singer) vocals on unkle tracks. its not unkle, they're more guitar based. Read more
Published 12 months ago by jon
Raw luxury
Take a wall of sound. Turn the "Raw" control to maximum. Add the vocals of a posh English Debbie (or should I say Deborah) Harry. And that's this record. Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2008 by Lurkalot
Almost there
I like this album alot but its not quite there. While the sound is strong, confident and raw its like there is a small ingrediant missing, not sure what but i feel if i saw them... Read more
Published on 25 Oct 2007 by Mr. B. D. Waters
Holy Cow!
This is the first album that I can safely say I hated and then loved all in the space of about 3 months. Read more
Published on 29 Jan 2006 by D. Lodge
Railing against the tide
There has been a deplorable fashion in recent years in the British mainstream, and doubtless elsewhere, for insincere sounding plodding mid-tempo songs by groups of faux-sensitive... Read more
Published on 21 Dec 2005 by Laurence Upton
Very impressed!
I bought this album on a premise of reading mixed reviews, but I am quite spontaneous these days with music, I have it in my head that I will not like a certain band and I can be... Read more
Published on 7 July 2005 by J. SULLIVAN
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