The Stage, The Book And The Silver Screen [Box set]

This box set is the culmination of 3 very ambitious recording projects undertaken by Duke Special in the past few years. Each has its own sound and feel so the set works as 3 individual records rather than a cohesive three disc collection with a theme that runs throughout.

The Huckleberry Finn EP contains songs from an unfinished musical by Kurt Weill, recorded and released for the very first time here. The songs are full of whimsy, creating an intimate atmosphere, calm and comforting. With the exception of the first track, each song is quite short, meaning that the EP breezes past quite quickly but this only adds to the ethereal feeling. It also contains some of his strongest vocal performances, with 'Come In, Mornin'' one that stands out particularly. 'Apple Jack' and 'Catfish Song' show off very theatrical performances - further examples of which are seen on the Mother Courage album - that is reminiscent of a live show.

Duke Special Presents: The Songs Of Mother Courage & Her Children is made up of the songs that were written for the recent production at the National Theatre. It is surprising how well these tracks stand up away from the stage; the orchestration is excellent, creating shifting dynamics and adding to the atmosphere of the record, and giving much needed body to the songs. It is quite a dark album, dealing with the theme of war and death. It is a very theatrical and dynamic record, with jarring strings and military drums that makes listening an uncomfortable task at times, as heard on each of the Mother Courage songs. These are counterbalanced by touching ballads of love like 'Yvette (Song of Fraternization)' or lighter drinking songs. It is a very cohesive record, following the story of the play well. This is occasionally problematic as some knowledge of the play may be required to understand the narrative that is being told. It is something of a grower and takes time to appreciate all of the nuances on the album, perhaps best listened to on headphones.

The Silent World Of Hector Mann is a pastiche of (or perhaps an homage to) 1920s music, recorded in a pre-rock style. Based upon Paul Auster's silent film star of the same name (from The Book of Illusions), Duke Special gave several musicians a title of one of Mann's films and asked them to write a song about it. This means that the album is united by theme rather than sound, but it is the most successful of the three projects, full of energy and wit. Each song is a vignette, telling its own story. There are humorous moments such as 'Prop Man' or 'Wanda...' but also touching and emotional songs like 'Mister Nobody'. It is a strong body of work with some excellent moments from the supporting musicians, my favourite being Ben Castle's solo on 'Hearth And Home'.

Overall it is an excellent collection, and beautifully presented too, with each album coming in a cardboard sleeve complete with liner notes. My only complaint was that the holding box that contains all three is slightly flimsy. The songs themselves are all brilliant and highlight several different sides to Duke Special, from the whimsy or downcast ballads to the more theatrical tracks on 'Mother Courage'. He has a knack of drawing the listener into these worlds and telling them a story. It is hard not to be moved by the story as Hector Mann struggles against the world in 'Mister Nobody' or the tale of Mother Courage as she battles through the war. Buy it, you won't regret it.

The first Amazon reviewer Mr B.Wright has summarised the three artistic projects that make up this superb album collection extremely well. However it is perhaps worth making a few comments about Duke Special for those not familiar with the artist. He doesn't fit into any popular genre and has been called "vaudevillian" but the range of subjects and emotion he covers goes way beyond this and he is simply unique. The beautiful tone of his voice, soft Belfast accent, incredibly clear diction and the passion he brings to each song makes each one a self-contained story within each theme.

Having seen Duke Special in the Mother Courage Play at the National Theatre it was wonderful to hear the songs again but I take the point that they may take more time to appreciate in isolation. Everyone knows Huck Finn of course, and all of these songs are easily accessible and a delight.

The remarkable aspect of "The Silent World of Hector Mann" as the first reviewer has noted, is how the songs of twelve talented and diverse songwriters have somehow come together as a remarkably unified theme when sung by Duke. All twelve songs are gems and it's one of those albums where your "favourites" will change regularly. At the moment for me it's between Ben Castle's hilarious dance instructor Hector in "Tango Tangle" and Ed Harcourt's salesman Hector in "Jumping Jacks" but it will be different next week!

You will be richly rewarded by immersing yourself in the music and lyrics of each song and have a treasured and unique album set to add to your music collection.

Pure genius

Having been a fab of Duke Special for only a short (ish) time, I was curious to see how this culmination of three works would take shape.
Well I have seen, I have heard and I have loved!!
Huckleberry Finnis simple, sweet and shows off duke's wistful singing voice to perfection. Hector Mann conveys all the humour and drama you expect from any Duke Special record and the accompanying music is beautiful.
Mother Courage transports me back to the theatre, with all the gritty drama interspersed with pointiency and sadness as well as humour.
All 3 cds stand alone as great pieces of work, and together they form a masterpiece.