For some reason I was really taken by
She's the Dutchess, He's the Duke, the first of two albums from this Pacific northwest pair. The "duke" sings lead over hard-folk strumming, with the "dutchess" doing backing vocals, and that's about it. He has a real early-Stones affect to his voice, and the whole exercise feels pretty retro -- but with really, really solid songwriting. This single continues the feel, starting with 'Never Had a Chance' which is good, set up over a twangy guitar part accompanied by a tambourine or some other such percussion. But it's the b-side, 'Scorpio', that kills. It's a sad, simple look back at lost love, with a dual-vocal chorus of 'I'm a long, long way from you / my heart....' that's incredible familiar, derivative even, yet un-pinpointable. The Duke truly dominates this band - his vocals are double-tracked even - but as soon as this song ends, I start it over. I'm fairly certain that this pair has split up and he's gone on to make records as Case Studies, who also made a pretty good album. On pretty green vinyl, too. Let the early 60s live on forever.
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