review of the album/gig in Belgian newspaper De Morgen

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.

Originally Posted by Bart Steenhaut

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.

*****

[Stephen]

Another glowing review.
Thanks for the translation by the way!

[arginite]

My sister posted this to me YAY - hasnt arrived yet though

[thesneakybandit]

"a forest full of perfect pop"

that's the kinda beautiful little one liner i wish i could write...

[Guinness]

It was a nice review right enough...

More from the same journo who must've become just as smitten with DS music as I have:

Divine Comedy **** and Duke Special **** in Botanique
Timeless, like perfection.
Brussels. It doesn?t happen very often that a band that has released 9 albums already succeeds in producing one that should be considered as one of the albums of the year. But look: TDC have delivered yet another masterpiece with Victory for the Comic Muse.
Even though they?re not being played constantly on Studio Brussel, Le Botanique had sold out months in advance.
Neil Hannon, neatly suited, even in Brussels, has become a popular songwriter in recent years. This year he delivered songs for the new albums of Charlotte Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, but above all, the blond Irishman is the face of TDC.
The sound in which his band excels, touches the ?uvres of Ennio Morricone, Scott Walker, Burt Bacharach and of course The Beach Boys, though all those influences have crystallised into his own, familiar sound.
Neil Hannon was accompanied by 7 musicians, amongst which a cello player and a violinist who had to help the crowd forget the string orchestra which decorates the albums. They did a pretty good job and the songs got a bit of a raw edge through it.
Lady of a Certain Age, wrapped up in autumnal melancholy, about the best song Hannon ever wrote, was an early highlight, and the rest of the new album passed any criticism. It was also remarkable how diverse their music really is, from melodic rock (the quick Something for the Weekend over blood-curdling chanson (Our Mutual Friend) to perfect sixties pop (the ace Becoming More Like Alfie). Time after time, Hannon mastered the trick perfectly and managed to come up with lyrics in which humour goes hand in hand with melodrama.
That love for drama is what marked the performance of Duke Special. The young Irishman had been asked to support, and it has to be said: seeing a support with such limited equipment ? the Duke had only brought is percussionist and his piano- win over a crowd so easily is a rare view. The cross-fertilisation between vaudeville, musical and pop worked and songs such as Last Night I Nearly Died and Freewheel already sounded like the classics they?ll probably be. Duke Special and The Divine Comedy: completely different, yet related. Most of all: an extraordinary combination.

Bart Steenhaut

[Glentoran 1967]

Thanks for that Zeyneb.
I fell in love with them when I first saw them in Paris.
The Divine Comedy aren't bad either! :wink: