Marmaduke Duke - 'The Magnificent Duke' (Captains Of Industry)
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
There's a very long story behind all this apparently. Some say it's one kid's quest to record a trilogy of albums, this being the first, based on novels written by his parents about a character called 'The Duke' and his descent into madness. Other rumours have raised the idea of the name simply being a front for another, better-known band and the exercise of their desire to record a pretentious, 4000 pressings only concept album where they can play at sounding a bit like Mr Bungle. Either, or neither, could be true, and it doesn't really matter. No explanation for its existence will make 'The Magnificent Duke' any less bonkers.
It really is the most peculiar of records. It's divided into three easily distinguishable parts; and we're not talking of the possibility of the existence of the three parts according to some far-fetched hypothesis of our own: this actually does happen. If this mysteriously anonymous bunch is to be believed, each is the soundtrack to a possible personality of the schizophrenic Duke. The first is named 'When the world explodes'. It's the sound of an aggressive, shouting punk band with no interest in sticking to one particular rhythm, somewhat akin to Biffy Clyro if they abandoned the melodies and had something proper to be pissed off about, other than just being Scottish. Perhaps it is Biffy Clyro? Interesting. Regardless, things such as 'The Red & The Number' and 'The Kiss & The Consonant' are great slices of angst-ridden rock and roll.
The second is called 'When the world implodes', and is where the melody happens. Often quite touching it is too - songs constructed by the book where acoustic guitars are plucked and harmonised over with a welcome warmth and sincerity. Again, everything here deliberately sounds very similar, but check 'An Imposter And A Magician' or 'An Eagle And An Eye' to experience how these guys best go about doing mellow. Then there's 'When the world corrodes...' the weird stuff, the bits that sound like Lightning Bolt gone lounge jazz ('Fridge & Fromage') or as on 'Coast & Guard', Aphex Twin soundtracking something on CBBC.
It's a cycle that repeats itself every three songs, and a very effective, cunning trick it is too. Somehow, brilliantly, it makes the album an utter joy to listen to. If this truly is all based on some literary character then after a while you really start to share in the guy's madness, the uncomfortable switches between the serene, the manic and the downright bizarre throwing your head around until you start to believe you yourself could well be the subject of a similar concept record. It has its own curious flow, jolting, chopping and changing, adhering only to its own crazy logic. It's thoroughly unique.
But the real vision is in how a marvellous album is so constructed out of what are, at times, rather mediocre songs. Sequencing the tracks so that, for example, you'd have one period of madness for six songs, then calm for another six and so on, would show up Marmaduke Duke for not being quite the pioneers their clever track-placing tricks make them out to be. Are they a particularly amazing punk rock band? No. They're passable and often fairly exciting. Neither are they quite deft enough at the melody to make us want to concentrate on this side of their game. They're certainly not weird enough to write a whole record of 'When the world corrodes...'-style material, that's for sure.
But somehow a record like this works just fine. More than fine; it's a complete pleasure. A lot of geniuses were also slightly mad, or went that way in the end. And it was the kind of intelligence that was very difficult to explain. For a record to truly capture the early stages of a decline into lunacy, it would have to have as elusive a grasp on what made these people quite so interesting anyway, and reflect that to us. 'The Magnificent Duke' manages this admirably. Quite how, and quite why, is a complete mystery.
Artists in this article: Marmaduke Duke
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment