The name is Duke Special, and they have released two ep's that is now combined into one full length album entitled "Adventures in Gramophone"


Check out the reviews on this one


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DUKE SPECIAL
He’s not a real Duke, apparently, but *Adventures In Gramophone* ensures his surname is well chosen.
By Gareth James

Think Badly Drawn Boy without the annoying bumbling bits, think Mull Historical Society with a better voice, think Teenage Fanclub played by a one man band and you are getting somewhere close to an adequate idea of the sound of Duke Special. Essentially one chap, Peter Wilson, the Duke is a man with an obsession with the musical capabilities of the past - to the extent that he peppers the album with the warm crackle of a gramophone that remains part of his stage act.

Not afraid to entertain the idea of three minute pop songs nestling up against the quirks and charms of the sound of music hall, Duke Special has succeeded in creating something that sounds both new *and* old-fashioned in the space of forty-five minutes. *Don’t Breathe* stomps around like *Daydream Believer’s* long, lost cousin, while opening track, *Last Night I Nearly Died* has the kind of harmonies for which Brian Wilson would give his sanity, or failing that, his right arm.

At a time when most singer-songwriters appear to be stuck in the David Gray or Damien Rice mould, it’s a relief to discover that someone still has some musical signs of life. That said, one imagines it would take some effort to sound depressed and insipid with a Wurlitzer twirling around in the background of many of the songs. Few artists emerge with a sound they can honestly claim is theirs and theirs alone, but at times this record sounds like nothing that has gone before it.
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Duke Special - The Two EPs (Hag) UK release date: 9 May 2005
Duke Special is the recording alias of one Peter Wilson, a dredlocked piano playing songwriter from Belfast. Adventures In Gramophone is a compilation of songs from his first two EPs, Lucky Me and My Villain Heart.

'Enough' I hear you sigh, 'the world is full of piano playing bores'. Thankfully this is more early Tom Waits, Rufus Wainwright or Antony And The Johnsons than the supine, middle of the road drivel served up by the likes of Keane.

The songs are shot through with passion and energy. The piano playing is melodic, rhythmic and controlled. You can hear the stamp of a youth listening to classic pop from the vaults of the Brill Building, Tin Pan Alley and Motown throughout the LP. Peter Wilson's powerful voice carries an aching Belfast inflection.

The opening Last Night I Nearly Died (But I Woke Up Just In Time), bounces out of the speakers. A pure pop confection, sugary Beach Boys bass, a summery vocal and high hat splashes that sound like sunlight reflecting of a boating lake on an August evening. Its like The Thrills if they could reach the heights of the hype that surrounded them.

Belfast's Connswater River provides the inspiration for Some Things Make Your Soul Feel Clean. It's like a version of Dirty Old Town, rewritten for the 21st Century, with vibes and the piano chime along in the background. The whole album has an analogue warmth, gramophone crackle and value amp dust swirl in the ether of the mix.

Freewheel's melody is as catchy as MSRA. After one listen I was humming it for days. The chorus has hit written into its DNA. The melody is slowly revealed by the piano, an ancient synth whirls behind it adding an undertow of sadness.

Slashed guitars, hammered piano chords and a two note organ riff quicken the pace on I Let You Down (Like a Tonne Weight). Wilson's voice is full of regret and heavy with his Belfast brogue. It's an apology and a self-examination rolled into one.

It doesn't all work. Regarding The Moonlight In Eastbourne, uses a string section in a vain attempt to polish up a tiny fragment into a three minute song. The piano playing, chugging rhythm and pipe organ on Closer To The Start are a little too saccharin and one paced. Don't Breathe apes the Bacharach/David dynamics a little to closely, and ends up more Carpenters than Tim Hardin. They sound like the B-sides that I guess they are.

Luckily the collection closes with two more gems. Tiny fragments of a music box melody repeat as the vocals crash in at the chorus and out again into the quiet verses. You Don't Slow Me Down is grunge played on nursery school instruments, Duke Special's weary wisdom replacing grunge's juvenile rage.

"She opened up herself tonight, like a sacred heart or a code that cracked..." so starts the closing, Love Is A Series Of Scars. Backed by little more than his own subtle piano playing, a few ghostly whispers and echoes of strings, it is full of emotion and soul.

It's criminal that someone like Duke Special struggles to get by. Someone give this man the cash to be let loose in Abbey Road. I am sure that a wide screen masterpiece is waiting to escape from his junk shop muse.
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'This is truly unlike anything you have heard before. The opening track boasts a skiffle-like Mungo Jerry warmth and the final number a beautiful lullaby supported only by a piano. His use of household gadgets, harp and strings blend beautifully, creating a tenderly offbeat sound without being clumsy' 4/5 - Buzz, May issue

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The London Line

Peter Wilson released a few EPs in his native Belfast, which he recorded on old instruments and household gadgets, and shifted 5000 copies. Now they've been collected on one album - and it's an unexpected pop masterpiece. Melancholy without ever being maudlin, melodic without being predictable, and all underpinned with the crackle of an old 78rpm disc which gives the record its title. Delicious tunes run riot - tunes which McCartney or McAloon would be sick not to have written themselves. "I mucked it up," he sings in his gorgeously lilting Norn-Iron brogue. Pete, you most certainly did not. RM * * * * * (5 stars)

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Entertainment.ie

Not to be confused with London 5-piece The Duke Spirit, Duke Special is another kettle completely. Belfast artist Peter Wilson, aka The Duke, is a rare breed. Refreshingly authentic, his lyrics smart with tangible sincerity and his soft Northern brogue is a far cry from the fake American accents singing about a California they've never seen which currently dominate the charts. Wilson's antique-sounding songs are emphasised by a rather unique combination of noisemakers. Namely: cheese graters, wardrobe doors, pianos, harps, brass, strings and a gramophone which fizzes continually in the background like an old friend. Unsurprisingly this heartfelt and talented young man has already played support to Aqualung, Rufus Wainwright, Paddy Casey, Jack Power and BellX1. After several listens, Adventures in Gramophone becomes something you find yourself singing to, dancing to and, occasionally, mooning to. And who can fail to be charmed by a man asking you to choose him above the best? The Duke certainly wears his heart on his album sleeve for our listening pleasure. And a real pleasure it is. A wonderfully interesting debut, the prospect of where a second album may take him is positively gleeful.

Elaine Reilly
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www.dukespecial.com


check this out..

This album is amazing.. i give it 4 and 1/2 stars out of 5..


brilliance... simply beautiful

this album looks like its not in the USA yet.. but I found it at amazon.uk

at some reasonable prices