Zeyneb
05-11-2006, 8:05 pm
As mentioned, here's the review. The journo seems to like the duke very very much because the gig review, which I'll post later, was also very positive.
http://users.pandora.be/tdc/dukereview.JPG
Cd of The Week
Duke Special: Songs from the Deep Dorest.
To come straight to the point: the debut of the year.
A forest full of perfect pop
A couple of times per year one comes across a record which hits you like a coupe de foudre when you first listen to it. Songs from the deep forest is one of those records. The band ?in fact the name the 28 year old Peter Wilson uses- deals in a sound in which vaudeville, ragtime, musical and pop music go hand in hand.
The result is a dozen of elegantly constructed songs that are arranged more richly than on the self-released EP Adventures in Gramophone, released last year, which already featured a couple of songs. Freewheel still impresses after 50 listens and Last Night I Nearly Died is not only a great punch line, but also a song which every radio station should put on their A-list for airplay.
True, Duke Special doesn?t create sharp eighties wave music the way it?s being popularized by bands such as Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys, but one just can?t miss the quality of the compositions, and Duke Special uses his own, self-created music instruments, so you immediately know you?re hearing a unique talent. Salvation Tambourine comes close to Randy Newman?s ?uvre, but doesn?t stand in its shadow, Wake Up Scarlett could?ve been a Billy Joel song from the days when he still had something to say, and the bittersweet Everybody Wants a Little Something sounds easy to digest until you take a closer look at the lyrics.
Add to this a crystal-clear expressive voice which sometimes gives away Wilson?s Irishness, and the fact that there isn?t one song on Songs from the Deep Forest that isn?t excellent, and the conclusion is quite obvious: a brilliant pop record.
*****
http://users.pandora.be/tdc/dukereview.JPG
Cd of The Week
Duke Special: Songs from the Deep Dorest.
To come straight to the point: the debut of the year.
A forest full of perfect pop
A couple of times per year one comes across a record which hits you like a coupe de foudre when you first listen to it. Songs from the deep forest is one of those records. The band ?in fact the name the 28 year old Peter Wilson uses- deals in a sound in which vaudeville, ragtime, musical and pop music go hand in hand.
The result is a dozen of elegantly constructed songs that are arranged more richly than on the self-released EP Adventures in Gramophone, released last year, which already featured a couple of songs. Freewheel still impresses after 50 listens and Last Night I Nearly Died is not only a great punch line, but also a song which every radio station should put on their A-list for airplay.
True, Duke Special doesn?t create sharp eighties wave music the way it?s being popularized by bands such as Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys, but one just can?t miss the quality of the compositions, and Duke Special uses his own, self-created music instruments, so you immediately know you?re hearing a unique talent. Salvation Tambourine comes close to Randy Newman?s ?uvre, but doesn?t stand in its shadow, Wake Up Scarlett could?ve been a Billy Joel song from the days when he still had something to say, and the bittersweet Everybody Wants a Little Something sounds easy to digest until you take a closer look at the lyrics.
Add to this a crystal-clear expressive voice which sometimes gives away Wilson?s Irishness, and the fact that there isn?t one song on Songs from the Deep Forest that isn?t excellent, and the conclusion is quite obvious: a brilliant pop record.
*****