Duke Special - I Never Thought This Day Would Come [Album]

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May 7, 2009, 04:43 PM

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If Billy Joel, Tom Waits and Rufus Wainwright were to concoct some kind of genome assisted love child.... well lets not beat around the bush, that baby would be one ugly fucker. However if said progeny were to grow into their parents profession the resulting sound would very closely resemble that of Duke Special's rather lovely third album "I Never Thought This Day Would Come". The man born Peter Wilson released his second album "Adventures In Gramaphone" back in 2006 to great critical praise and commercial indifference (as is sadly so often the case) however this record pares back that albums vaudeville stylings in favour of a sound altogether more immediate, warm and human.

The album has been kicking around the top end of the irish charts for the best part of the last 8 months and has now earned a belated UK release. Considering the UK music scenes ever growing dependance on style over substance and image over music I doubt Duke Specials home-grown success will be replicated over here. Which makes no sense from a musical point of view as there are at least 4 or 5 songs on 'I Never Thought' that could be top 5 hits if they were sung by James Morrison or produced by Xenomania. Lead single "Sweet Sweet Kisses" is the records most obvious commercial high with a defiantly upbeat melody and a carnival fanfare pomp that would sound right at home on radio 1. However it's very much a red herring, much of the other 11 tracks on the record plough much more downbeat and melancholic territories.

Opener "Mockingbird Wish Me Luck" is a subtly moving piano ballad which proves much more indicitive of what Duke Special is trying to achieve. The literate, affecting lyrics and Wilsons soft irish purr create a warm blanket of sound which really sets the stage for the rest of the album. This style is expanded upon with "Those Proverbs We Made In The Winter Must End" (co-written with suede's Bernard Butler) which is for money the album strongest song. A gorgeous melody and longing lyrics ("we're dying tied to rules we can't comprehend") are complimented by a sparse orchestral arrangement and stop/start burlesque drums and the effect is spell-binding. It's a shame that by the end of the album Wilson comes across almost as a one trick pony as up to this point that trick really worked wonders on me.

"Diggin' An Early Grave" sounds almost like a lost track from Tom Waits seminal Rain Dogs album with a rambunctious eastern european groove and dubby bass taking centre stage. The chorus here is a little un-imaginative but it's catchy and resolves wonderfully at the songs climax. The title track takes everything Rufus Wainwright wrote prior to the 'Want' albums and condenses it into 3 minutes, so it should be fantastic..... But a perfectly lovely verse melody aside it never really catches fire until the last minute where a mournful female backing vocal joins Wilson's desperate plea ("I just wanna feel something"), it's a great moment that saves the track from mediocrity.

"Why Does Anybody Love" takes us back into the familiar Duke Special framework of swirling orchestral arrangements and melancholy, piano driven melodies. The vocal work here is more restrained and delicate with a a shuffling beat and soaring chorus that sounds at once fresh and familiar, it's one of the records most low-key moments and also one of it's most rewarding. The lovelorn lyrics seem to lament a failed relationship "you once were a believer but i've seen you turn your faith so cold" but there is redemption as the climax kicks in and the intricate arrangement falls into a tumbling, epic declaration of love, it's the last time the album really shines before we descend into the far inferior second half.

Songs such as "Flesh And Blood Dance", "Let Me Go" and "By The Skin Of My Teeth" really overplay the campy vaudeville elements of Duke Special's sound without the engaging melodies and lyrics that made the albums first 6 songs so enchanting by comparison and it's at this time that I began to loose patience. None of these songs are particularly bad but neither are they particularly striking, it's music that would sound great sound-tracking a family barbeque or a summer dinner party ("Flesh And Blood Dance's" bizarre bridge aside) but doesn't stand up to closer scrutiny.

"If I Don't Feel It" and "Nothing Comes Easy" buck the trend by relying on Wilson's more tried and tested fail-safes. The sombre piano and insistant 3/4 rhythms of "If I Don't Feel It" are complimented by the albums most defeated lyrical passages ("If I can't feel it anymore, I know it's for show") and a real sense of understated drama and "Nothing Comes Easy" shows Wilson truly exposing himself on possibly the records most heart-felt and genuine moment. Album closer "Nothin' You Could Do Can Bring Me Round" ends proceedings on a high with a triumphant, playful melody and a defiantly optimistic lyric ("someday I'll be ready for this new world"). It's an odd choice as the records last word but it's a lovely little song that for some reason made me think of "Rainbow Connection" from the Muppet Movie..... make of that what you will.

"I Never Thought This Day Would Come" is an album which after multiple listen reveals itself to be far more than the sum of it's parts. Although there are dips in quality throughout it's never less than pleasant and even the lesser songs contain sporadic moments of invention. Add this to the 5 or 6 genuinely great tracks here and you have a pretty special album. If he were born 30 years earlier Peter Wilson would probably be a star, as a noughties performer though he'll probably have to settle for cult fandom, I doubt this will faze him.

Tracklisting

1. Mockingbird Wish Me Luck
2. Sweet Sweet Kisses
3. Those Proverbs We Made In The Winter Must End
4. Diggin' An Early Grave
5. I Never Thought This Day Would Come (And Now It Wont Go Away)
6. Why Does Anybody Love
7. Flesh And Blood Dance
8. If I Don't Feel It
9. Let Me Go (Please, Please, Please)
10. By The Skin Of My Teeth
11. Nothing Comes Easy
12. Nothin' You Could Do Can Bring Me Round

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