Quick Before it Melts

Wednesday 05 October 2011

Standing on the edge

It’s a theme as universal as the universe and everything in it: change.  If there was no such thing as change, there would be no such thing as us.  Though Cuff The Duke may not want to call their latest album, Morning Comes, a concept album, the concept is there all the same.  There comes a point in our our lives–many points–when we are faced with a crossroads, and have to make a decision about which way our lives will go.  It’s there in “You Don’t Know What It’s Like”, the feeling that you and only you could possibly understand the monumental pain and struggle of accepting a paradigm shift.  That the song is followed by “Count On Me”, a declaration of one person’s unyielding support of another in the face of the unknown is probably not a coincidence.  The two songs act almost as call-and-response to each other.  It’s appropriate to note at this point that Morning Comes is the first of a two-part album series, with the follow-up to be a response and continuation to this first one.  The parallels just keep coming.

It’s as fine a record as Cuff The Duke has ever made, but I for one want to hear it alongside it’s sister record.  Before I go any further, I should make it clear that I’ve not heard any of the songs on the new record, so everything that follows is just conjecture, but I have the sense that once Morning Comes can be put in context with album 2, it will reveal itself to be an impressive and pivotal song cycle in the band’s career.  Like the title of one of it’s finer songs says, Morning Comes is “Standing on the Edge” of something grand, some new country that Cuff The Duke are heading towards.  Like all good journeys, the true gift is not arriving at your destination, but the pleasure of taking the trip.  Cuff The Duke are taking us somewhere special, down roads we–and they–have never been down before.  This is one ride you’ll want to pay attention to, enjoy the sights and sounds, and not ask “Are we there yet?”.

Morning Comes was released yesterday, October 4, 2011 on Paper Bag Records.

MP3: Cuff The Duke “Standing on the Edge”
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by J. Di Gioia | No Comments »

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 at 7:00 am and is filed under MP3, QBiM SPiNS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.