DUKE

The Duke album started when the band decided to take songs not used from all the members solo albums. So they took their bad experience in love and relationships in their real life to turn them into stories around this Duke character. This Duke wanted to get away from his frustration in life by hitting the road, but those problems are still in his memories. "Behind The Lines" is born after some experience of Tony Banks during repetition in the studio. It's got a big intro with heavy drums and great synths lines. The vocals of Phil are intense. "Duchess" started with Tony Banks trying to reproduce with his synths a drum pattern melody. It's got a great intro with electronic drums and we have again a Phil making his entry with a lot of impact by his vocals. "Guide Vocals" is that cool short song from Phil and Tony in the spotlight. And then the songs quality started to drop with "Man of Our Times" which contains some big drums sounds and some special vocals effects. "Misunderstanding" is simple, catchy with a Beach Boys kind of vocalization in the back of the melody. It's one of those trouble songs with "Please Don't Ask" coming from Phil. The music return to the quality of the first set of songs at the end with "Duke's Travels" who contains some strong drums/synths parts. A part from some average songs on it, this album could have benefited from more guitars even if it's not Steve Hackett. This album seems to me to be centered around Phil drums and Tony's keyboards and the most interesting parts are the instrumental sections at the beginning and at the end.