The Duke Spirit - early singles

I saw The Duke Spirit for the first time at one of those awful NME Award shows at the Brixton Academy. I think the other bands on the bill were The Bravery (yuck), The Rapture and someone else. And I've a feeling that it was the someone else that I'd gone there to see. Woop! Memorable gig. The Duke Spirit were on first and largely ignored. I remember watching from a distance and thinking they had something - but couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. And no, before you jump to conclusions, it wasn't Leila Moss. Now, you might think this is weird, but they actually reminded me of early Thousand Yard Stare. Not in sound or style particularly. It was a sort of laid-back English country vibe that only these two bands have ever produced. No? OK, just me then.

Indeed, it wasn't until the release of their single "Dark Is Light Enough" that I took real notice. And this time it was because of how much the song reminded me of "Black Steel" by Tricky. No? Just me again then.

But their first album and singles have a quality that they've not been able to reproduce on either of their subsequent albums in my opinion. I do like "Neptune" and "Bruiser", but these are more straight forward indie albums. "Cuts Across The Land" has something extra. An attitude. A presence. A vibe. Three things that you could never attribute to Thousand Yard Stare (what was I thinking?).

So here are five of their first six singles. I do own "Darling You're Mean To Me", but haven't ripped it at this current time. I've a feeling that both songs appeared on the album anyway. So first is the "Roll, Spirit, Roll" EP. Six tracks, of which only "Red Weather" made it onto the album.

Tequila - the puke spirit

And then four singles from the debut album, all with exclusive b-sides:

Cuts Across The Land

Dark Is Light Enough

Love Is An Unfamiliar Name

Lion Rip

Enjoy those, and pick up a copy of the Cuts Across The Land Souvenir edition, with a whole host of bonus tracks - demos, session tracks etc.