Duke Special

PaulieC

there's definitely something I'm missing here. How can someone like this be almost universally critically lauded when he sounds exactly like Brian Kennedy, who is almost universally reviled?

A case of the emporer's new clothes methinks

gucci

HAHA quality!! in fairness the music that accompanies his singing is bit better (although i have only listened to D special twice and kennedy......never!) but i dont really see what all the fuss is about either.

MLM

I think its down to clever marketing. I've never heard any of Duke Special's music, but I have read articles about him, which gave me the impression that he would sound something like a modern Leonard Cohen on steroids, or a Nick Cave. So he actually sounds like Brian Kennedy? Interesting!

veryslowey

his amazing i rekcon

Thom Ped

I really like him/them. There was a great show about Nordy bands last night on BBC 1, anyone catch it??

goodfela

You fools - Duke Special is Brian Kennedy!! He didn't wash his hair for 3 months and hey presto!!

eamon234

they're both wastes of musical space, cling film on the toilet bowl of humanity:mad:

John

Duke Special - what a misnomer!

catch--22

MLM wrote:

I've never heard any of Duke Special's music.............. So he actually sounds like Brian Kennedy? Interesting!

You should listen to him and make up your own mind...but I think it might be tarnished already! Same as if a friend rubbished a film before you see it...always hard to like it then, no matter how good it might be!

I like Duke Special! He puts on a very good live show too, which is worth checking out.

veryslowey

my frend calles him duke specail olympic:rolleyes:

AnonoBoy

Heard him cover a Nina Simone song on the Ray D'Arcy show - what a bland, boring cover. Pointless, utterly pointless. If his own stuff is as uninteresting then I couldn't be arsed checking him out.

PaulieC

I had heard and read a lot of hype about him prior to hearing him. Then one day in the car, he was on the Ian Dempsey show chatting away and then Ian announced he was going off to the studio (or wherever they go) to sing. He then started playing and I just assumed they were playing Brian Kennedy while he was getting ready to play.
I just can't understand all the media fawning over him the way they do. OK, he looks like Robert Smith, but he sounds like BK. Surely it would be better to be the other way around? This guy was a favourite to win that music award that Neil Hannon won ffs
Just goes to show the power or marketing

Boo-yah

He has a nice voice and writes some great songs. The northern accent makes him sound a bit like Brian Kennedy but Duke Special can pen a tune.

Andy-Pandy

First this i did when i heard my flatmate playing him was ask her what the hell she was playing brian kennedy for

eamon234

and I seriously doubt his Royal lineage:)

DáireM

The Northern accent makes him sound a bit like Brian Kennedy but his lyrics are really good, I reckon.

ellenmelon

i think he's great, and his new single "freewheel" is amazing. dismissing an artist because of his accent is fairly ignorant.
do some of the lads from therapy? sound like brian too? what about ash or snow patrol? if im correct, they kind of do so you may as well not listen to their music eh?
you may as well be consistent.

PaulieC

I wasn't dismissing him because of his accent. My point was that he is being hyped at the moment as the next big thing. I was contrasting this to the almost universal disdain that Brian Kennedy receives. Both of them sound the same.
The fact that they are both crap doesn't really enter the equation.

As for Snow Patrol, don't make me laugh...that guy couldn't sound more American if he tried...

magpie

I'm waiting for 'freewheel' to feature over the end credits of a romantic comedy. I don't really get the fuss, it all sounds a bit 98fm daytime radio to me.

Piste

He only sounds like Brian Kennedy cos they have that Northern accent, otherwise they're both totally different.

gucci

got some junk mail in the post from vodafone yesterday, they described him as a "one man arcade fire", perhaps they meant he was 1/7th as good as them.....although that would be stretching it:)

booth

I supported Duke Special last year, the day before he played the electric picnic and I think his stuff is quite good. I think it's failry narrow-minded to compare him to Brian Kennedy because of his accent. In fact this is the first time I've heard anyone compare the two.
Also at his shows he has a brilliant percussionist called Chip Temperance who plays a Stompfiddle!!!!
Fair enough some of the melody lines are quite simple and stick to a formula but at least he's playing an instrument and singing himself and he's the most down to earth person ever. I was talking to him last weekend and he even remebered me and asked if I had been doing any recording recently.

ellenmelon

booth wrote:

I supported Duke Special last year, the day before he played the electric picnic and I think his stuff is quite good. I think it's failry narrow-minded to compare him to Brian Kennedy because of his accent. In fact this is the first time I've heard anyone compare the two.
Also at his shows he has a brilliant percussionist called Chip Temperance who plays a Stompfiddle!!!!
Fair enough some of the melody lines are quite simple and stick to a formula but at least he's playing an instrument and singing himself and he's the most down to earth person ever. I was talking to him last weekend and he even remebered me and asked if I had been doing any recording recently.

i have to agree with you there, as you probably read what i thought of him earlier in the thread. really nice, sound guy.

nettranny

I don't know what it is about Duke Special that i don't like. He sounds like a mix between Daniel O'Donnell and Rufus Wainwright but with less soul.
I listened to a few songs live on the radio once and it just made me feel ill. I can't quite place it. I don't know why it makes me feel ill. Very rarely does music make me feel ill. And i feel like i should like him cause he sounds like he should be good. I keep thinking it's his accent but that can't be it alone, surely?

booth

One would hope not anyway :-)

I guess he does have some very predictable parts of his songs but that is probably to counteract some of the other crazy stuff. I'm just speaking from the way I wrote songs sometimes.