Dukes Of Stratosphere - inspired by what songs?

Hmmm. Andy said that he wouldn't include the finished track so as to not interfere with sales of Wish List (which is still in print). In fact, I don't remember where it was but he made a special point of this. Seems odd he would go back on that but maybe he was just saying it to be nice? I'll check them when I get home.

 

I thought that there was only one pressing of The Wish List CD. When I wanted to buy it last year I could only find one outlet for it. Heyday Mail Order (http://www.heyday-mo.com/) had it and I got the impression that they may have bought up all of the previously unsold copies.

 

Maybe that's right. Squealy is definitely right, in fact AP says that he "thought the track could use another airing." It sounds a lot better on FW than on the Wish List IMO but its definitely the same track. Now that I think about it maybe AP was saying he hadn't reissued the track before so as to not interfere with Wish List. Sorry for the misinformation.

 

Sadly, it's not that great a song.

 

No. It's fun but not something I go back to like most of the rest of the Dukes tracks. Honestly, "Cherry In Your Tree" or some of the other bubblegum tracks are better IMO.

 

I never picked up the Wish List CD, but I have all the Fuzzy Warbles. Is it the same exact recording, or another version of the same song?

 

Same recording as Squealy pointed out.

Wish List has some better songs on it. Phil Thornalley's "She's Alright" sounds like a big hit - catchy as hell. Also Stephen Duffy has a wondeful song on the CD. Both are way better than the Dukes track.

 

This is a wee bit off-topic, but has anyone picked up the Monstrance album yet? It has Partridge and Barry Andrews in a sort of live improv concert situation from what I understand. Sounds interesting and it was supposed to have been released on Ryko a couple weeks ago.

 

There's been some mixed reviews at the Chalkhills list so I've been holding off. I did listen to one track online at Barry Andrews' website and it sounded pretty good to me. When I get more time I'd like to download a couple of tracks just to figure out if its going to appeal to me. The last album Andy made with Peter Blegvad (Orpheus: The Lowdown) didn't appeal to me all that much. Perhaps it was too much Blegvad and not enough Partridge. Not sure but I sold it shortly after buying it. I gave it a good month and it didn't grow on me at all.

 

As far as "Open" and how it compares to the rest of the Dukes recordings--it's a solid track but I honestly felt that the best songs were on the Chocolate anthology which included the LP and EP. I still feel the best song on there was Colin's "Vanishing Girl" with its Hollies reference. "Little Lighthouse" was a close second and "The Affiliated" was good as well. Interestingly, "The Affiliated" was originally going to be an XTC song but the band didn't want to wait to record it.

On the flip side "Cherry In Your Tree" was originally slated for the bubblegum anthology of fictious bands. Too bad Virgin never warmed up to that idea. I love "Candymine" as well.