And, yes, the Stranglers will be back.......when people send me stuf, though, I am anxious to post it asI am a "True' TEAM PLAYER......first let me point out that the great Cliff (Reggae man) is having some health issues, lets' all say a prayer for him that he gets well quickly, he's a FINE contricutor to this blog, and I hope he recovers 100%.........hope all you gys agree with me, too...
What we DO have tonight is Part 1 of a spectacular posting from our new great contributor Jonder......he is planning on sharing ALL of his great Duke Spirit materieal with us (sounds GREAT to me), and he has told me of a few other bands he'd like to feature......THAT is how I want this to work, with EVERYONE contributing, so without further ado, here is Jonder, with part ONE of his MEGA-Duke Spirit post.......who knows when the next part will be, it'll probably alternate between his and the rest of my Mega-Stranglers.......and, what the hell is so wrong with THAT?
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The Duke Spirit began releasing singles in 2002, first under the name Solomon, later adopting The Duke Spirit as a band name from the title of an Augustus Pablo track. The first Duke Spirit album, Cuts Across the Land, appeared in 2005.
An old Rolling Stone review of Siouxsie and the Banshees' debut said that Siouxsie's voice "sounds thrillingly like a young Grace Slick." I think the Duke Spirit's singer Liela Moss can be far more accurately compared to Grace Slick in terms of the two vocalists' power as well as their tone and range.
The music of the Duke Spirit has a strong shoegaze influence, but they are primarily a rock band, and a great one at that. Their choices of cover songs reveals the range of their influences (from garage rock to reggae, punk, blues, and psychedelia). I would like to share those covers in another post, with Big Scott's permission.
CUTS ACROSS THE LAND: 01 Cuts Across The Land/ 02 Love Is An Unfamiliar Name/ 03 Darling You're Mean/ 04 Win Your Love/ 05 Hello To The Floor/ 06 Bottom Of The Sea/ 07 Fades The Sun/ 08 You Were Born Inside My Heart/ 09 Lion Rip/ 10 Lovetones/ 11 Stubborn Stitches/ 12 Red Weather/ 13 Take A Look Around/ 14 So Good To Hear/ 15 Boot Hill. This is the US version of the album, with bonus tracks (13-15).The band went to Rancho de la Luna to record their second album, Neptune (2008). This trip brought the Duke Spirit into the orbit of QOTSA and the Desert Sessions collective. Liela Moss has since sung on projects by Jesse Hughes and Dave Catchings.
NEPTUNE: 01 I Do Believe/ 02 Send A Little Love Token/ 03 The Step And The Walk/ 04 Dog Roses/ 05 Into The Fold/ 06 This Ship Was Built To Last/ 07 Wooden Heart/ 08 You Really Wake Up The Love In Me/ 09 My Sunken Treasure/ 10 Lassoo/ 12 Neptune's Call/ 13 Sovereign
The third Duke Spirit album, Bruiser (2010), was their last. The band continued playing live through 2012. Moss and Duke Spirit guitarist Toby Butler formed a duo called Roman Remains, and signed to Dhani Harrison's label. Toby Butler has done remixes for other artists, and Liela Moss has been in high demand as a guest vocalist for numerous bands and soundtrack albums. I have a lot of Liela's songs to share as well, if there is interest among you readers. BRUISER: 01 Cherry Tree/ 02 Procession/ 03 Villain/ 04 Don't Wait/ 05 Surrender/ 06 Bodies/ 07 De Lux/ 08 Sweet Bitter Sweet/ 09 Running Fire/ 10 Everybody's Under Your Spell/ 11 Northbound/ 12 Homecoming/ 13 Procession (Gary Numan remix)/ 14 Cherry Tree (remix) 15 Bodies (remix)/ 16 Don't Wait (remix). Tracks 13-16 were added to a 2012 re-release.
In January 2015, the band announced on their Facebook page that they were recording a new album with Simon Raymonde from the Cocteau Twins (who produced part of the Duke Spirit's debut). The band is scheduled to play a UK festival in September, and hopefully their new record will come out around then.CUTS ACROSS THE LAND: http://www87.zippyshare.com/v/le6ovQ5K/file.html