Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Something a bit Special, 5 May 2007
I first heard of Duke Special through the Divine Comedy so I knew that they were probably a band I'd enjoy. I didn't know their music would be this good though.
I'm fickle with the music I listen to, changing album and band at least every other day, but this cd didn't leave my stereo for over two weeks. It's brilliant. It's refreshing to hear somebody trying to do something a little different to the mainstream 'chart' music.
The instrumentation is fantastic, rising and falling to fit the songs, and the songs themselves are so elegantly crafted with a sense of love that you can't help but smile; from the clarinet solo in 'Portrait' or the soaring strings in 'Freewheel', there's something about this album that just exudes happiness. It's refreshing to hear an Irish lilt in Duke's (Peter Wilson) voice too; I probably like the album more for it!
There is a song for every situation here, from the upbeat 'Salvation Tambourine' and 'Portrait', to the quiet yearning of 'Freewheel' and 'Wake Up Scarlett' (probably my favourite four from the album, but they're all very good). It's a brilliant album, probably the best I've bought this year. Turn down the lights, put some headphones on and listen to this album to appreciate the layers behind it and all of the music. Then turn it up on a sunny day and enjoy it too. In fact, just listen to it whenever you can.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Duke Plants His Flag, 22 Oct 2006
Few of his local supporters doubted the class of his first full-length, Adventures in Gramophone, but with a bigger label behind him, Duke Special has been able to pull out all the stops on this glorious work. With orchestral backing, the songs which first appeared on Adventures and which have been re-recorded sound fantastic as ever, but it's Mr Wilson's new work which really raises the eyebrows. There's some proper toe-tapping going on in the great first single Portrait, Everybody Wants A Little Some and Salvation Tambourine, some heartstring pulling, nay, <u>wrenching</u> on This Could Be My Last Day, No Cover Up and Something Might Happen. Slip Of A Girl sounds like Avalon Sunset-era Van Morrison with a sweeter voice, and last but no least are my two favourite new songs, and what I feel are the most interesting ones on the album. The intro to Brixton Leaves sounds like a phrase from a piece by one of the great Russian composers of old, and sure enough, the chorus has that sort of "cossack" feel that just makes you want to put on a furry hat and drink vodka. Then the chorus kicks in, all strings and soaring vocals, singing of hope and rebirth, quite fitting after the last verse, about our troubled shared hometown of Belfast. Ballad of a Broken Man is (IMHO) the best song on this album, mixing Peter's phenomenal ability to craft lyrics of maturity and poignance (and still get them to rhyme!), and then mix them with graceful melodies. A pefect song off an almost perfect album by the best European singer-songwriter in the past 20 years (at least). This album should catapult Duke Special above all the record-company-pleasing trash posing as singer-sonwriters in the charts, and it's about time too. Best of luck, Duke.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Is this in the right century?, 9 Jan 2007
Imagine a film made entirely in sepia, using only candlelight. Then imagine its hero, a vulnerable yet loveable character with a ready wit and a taste for vaudeville. We see temptations and temptresses, distractions and restraints come his way and he bears them all with lyricism and the reserves of beauty that he holds in his heart.
Then imagine the soundtrack to such a film. Nostalgic without losing any of its stunning originality, wistful and melancholy without losing itself in depression or sadness - even the dead are a comfort.
This CD is the single most original, beautiful and moving music that I have heard for a very long time.
Buy it. Listen to it. Cry. Tell your friends how great it is.
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