intro to the Dukes of Stratosphear!

25 O'Clock

Psonic Psunspot

Chips From the Chocolate Fireball

XTC, a trippy pop band in their own right, heavily influenced by late '60s trip-rock, formed The Dukes of Stratosphear (referring to it as their "psychedelic alter-ego") and managed to out-Syd Syd Barrett his crazy self. Despite two decades of seperation, the Dukes effortlessly maintain the quirky, acid-freshness exhibited (invented?) on Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn. This music is much trippier than anything Floyd or The Beatles could have done, thanks only to the superior mid-'80s production values at The Dukes' disposal. Sadly, these guys only produced 16 songs in their short lifespan. I doubt they ever toured (for the same reason XTC stopped touring in the early '80s: the infamous Andy Partridge stage fright) so their entire existence is captured in the releases below.

Reader Comments

cbunnell@ix.netcom.com (MetalMan)
I just thought that I should point out that XTC did not "form" the Dukes Of Stratosphear, as they didn't hire any extra musicians or band members -- it was just XTC playing psychadelic pop under an alter-ego. Also, you can't say that they really had a "lifespan," as they never broke up since XTC didn't break up. Of course, if you know enough about XTC to review Dukes albums, I don't know why in the world I'm telling you all this. I guess I'm just bored.

HarVSatan@aol.com (Harvey J.Satan)
"Dukes Of Stratosphere" was one of several names Andy Partridge kicked around,before choosing XTC. In later interviews,Andy claimed that the Dukes had all died in a horrible bus crash,so that no more Dukes albums could be expected. ( But he sort of re-negged on that,claiming the Dukes contributed some of the songs on "Oranges & Lemons" album ).

jtmcfarland@comcast.net (Joe McFarland)
Well, in a way they did form "Dukes of Stratosphear" since the line-up included a fourth member (their producer I think) when XTC at that time were a three-piece band. Ahh...I see that the poster posted a self-correction farther down on this site. John Leckie is the fourth member then. Good, that's settled. I've read also that it was Dave Gregory's brother, Ian, who was brought in as E.I.E.I. Owen, the drummer for the Dukes of Stratosphear. John Leckie is the Swami Anand Nagara pictured at the bottom of the back cover.

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This six song ep introduced The Dukes to the rest of the world in impressive style. If psychedelic pop is your thing... you may never need to pick up another record after this one... your life quota will be fulfilled. 25 O'Clock, a mid-'80s creation, is superior to most music of this genre due to its ability to simultaneously utilize late '60s pop conventions AND pay homage to/romanticize its ancestors. You must understand, had this music debuted in 1967 or '68, the hey day of the music it tips its hat to, this planet would now be ruled by The Dukes of Stratosphear! This is hardly an exaggeration.

The title track has a dark edge threatening to destroy time itself. "Bike Ride to the Moon" is a joyful number that is the Syd-ist of anything they did. "My Love Explodes" and "What in the World" are intense astral rockers. "Mole from the Ministry" is a subliminal version of Harrison-Beatle's "Taxman" suggesting the mole (read: taxman) is undermining your world via 'The bad thoughts in your head'.

Reader Comments

rodblanc@webtv.net (Gustavo Rodriguez)
I prefer this one to 25 O'Clock because the affection for the old music is better felt here and by this album they really have mastered 60's psychedelic music reviving sounds we thought could never be recorded again. The references are clear making this album lighter, but much more fun and, yes, humourous. 25 O'Clock, I've noticed gets more critical praise, but I think Psonic Psunspot is much better.

cbunnell@ix.netcom.com (Rich Bunnell)
Since the whole Dukes thing was a side project and a joke, it's amazing how great the releases actually turned out. They stand up easily to XTC's releases. 25 O'Clock is definitely the more inherently psychedelic of the two releases. Sir John John's "FIVE!" that opens the title track sounds almost exactly like it came from a '60s record. "Bike Ride To The Moon" and "Your Gold Dress" impress me as well, as does the Red Curtain's "What In The World?" But honestly, all of the songs are good. Oh also, the information that I gave above (under the name "MetalMan") is false. XTC enlisted non-band member John Leckie for the Dukes project. I suck. 9/10

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The material here is lighter fare than 25 O'Clock (which maintained a sense of frustration and anguish on its periphery). Psonic is playfully pleased with life and pays respects to the more happy-go-lucky acid pop that came out of the late '60s. You know, music by those bands that tried pot once (maybe) and then made "trippy" albums. The irony is, The Dukes are waybetter at pseudo-acid tunage than even those posers milling about back when it was invented. And, I'm guessing, The Dukes may have even ingested actual acid tabs... more than once in their lives. '80s acid even! Better shit!

Whether that's true or not, psychedelic influences are all over the map here and it is up to you to spot them for yourself. However, I will point out how "You're a Good Man Albert Brown" sounds a heck of a lot like a blending of Starkey-Beatle's "Octopus' Garden" and "Don't Pass Me By". There are children's choruses ("Have You Seen Jackie"), songs about psychedelic girls ("She's a Little Lighthouse," and "Vanishing Girl"), a light-hearted attempt at menace ("Collideascope") and an Alice in Wonderland theme running throughout the record to tie it all together. All in all... a psychedelic bedtime story album for your kids if there ever was one.

Reader Comments

cbunnell@ix.netcom.com (Rich Bunnell)
Not as good as the original but that's mainly because 1) it's bigger, and 2) it's less psychedelic. The Dukes spent more time refining this one and had a bigger budget, and as a result the songs are a little less memorable, but who cares? They're still great. "Have You Seen Jackie?", a screwed-up song in itself, is my favorite, and the less-psychedelic-but-still-awesome "Pale And Precious" and "Vanishing Girl" stand up against the best of XTC themselves. "You're My Drug" is also a definite highlight. Can you believe that they wrote that song in 1978, the same time when they were writing songs like "Meccanic Dancing" and "Buzzcity Talking"? Oh wait, I like those two songs. Umm...time to bail out. 8.5/10

DWhitney@charlesrosearchitects.com (David Whitney)
No review of Psonic Psunspot is complete without noting that "Pale and Precious" is XTC doing the Beach Boys. The jingle bells, the Mr. Clean guitar clangs, the vocal harmonies, the exaggerated American accent, the Theremin! Kudos to my friend Matt who pointed this out. Just thinking about it I'm getting goose bumps. You are too, aren't you? The big mystery is how such a clinical homage can be so beautiful and moving at the same time.

HarVSatan@aol.com (Harvey J.Satan)
One joke many miss on this album..... "Collideascope" is a John Lennon homage. It's lyrics are very much in the vein of "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds" and "I Am The Walrus",the bass riff and the "wakey-wakey" are allusions to "Good Morning Good Morning". Note the dream motiff: We hear a log being sawn,until it eventually is sawn off.....thus the dream is over....and we hear someone say "Bloody Hell". There's also some screaming,like in John's song "Mother" which was also part of some therapy that he and Yoko went through.And then there's the warning,"you're staring down a gun"....sort of like Lennon did. I must add,this album is one of those,once you put it on,you MUST listen to it all the way through albums.

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How can you lose with an anthology collecting all of the songs from the Dukes in one comprehensive volume? Oh, that's not a rhetorical question.... you can't!!

Both 25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot are here in their entirety, documenting the brief moment in time The Dukes of Stratosphear existed on this plane. This is the only release you really need to track down by these guys (unless you are into album cover art or have that bizarre collector's gene or something... then you'll need the others). I'm not sure if Chips is still in print, so be prepared to fight over rare used copies of it down at the second hand store.

So there you have it. Do you understand your mission?!

Reader Comments

cbunnell@ix.netcom.com (Rich Bunnell)
Shoved together in 16 songs on one disc, all of the minor problems of the individual albums (which were few) are vanquished and we're left with one hell of a solid collection. It's not an entirely perfect collection but I'd still give it a 10, or AT LEAST a 9.5. After this they went back to being good ol' XTC again and went on to make masterpieces such as Oranges & Lemons, Nonsuch, and Apple Venus Volume 1. Go buy those. Now.

binro@webtv.net (Marc Paskvan)
I agree that 25 O'Clock is a bit more engaging than Psunspot. I have the Chips from the Chocolate Fireball combination of both albums. The tunes are quite good and manage to faithfully recreate some of the Beatles studio album tones, etc. I don't know, though, I have a big Psychedelic collection, and this is a little "freeze dried"--fun, but oddly unsatisfying. Like they were trying so hard to be authentic, that it doesn't jell. But all in all, I'd say it's above average for most psych....

bagofhandsome@earthlink.net (joseph caravella jr)
It seems that there was a track discovered recently called "Open a can of...(Human Beings)" maybe the best Dukes song ever.

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