Duke Special - You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)

 

Peter Wilson, aka Duke Special, is one of the most unique artists that Northern Ireland has produced in recent years. He has released several acclaimed albums over the past few years, including collaborations with Bernard Butler and Steve Albini amongst others, recorded tributes to Ruby Murray, written the music for a Bertolt Brecht play, as well as attempting to get on stage with every single band playing in Belfast (I'm not too sure if the last part is entirely true, but it's nigh on impossible to go to a gig in Belfast without bumping into him at some point).

Duke Special is gearing up to release his latest studio album, "Oh Pioneer", in June. In anticipation of the release, he has recorded a few cover versions, which he has refashioned in his heartbreak-vaudeville style. These include his version of  "Love Will Tear Us Apart", which has been a part of his live set from as early as 2005, as well as a Chaka Khan cover. But the highlight of the set is his radical reworking of Dead or Alive's camp classic "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record). The song tears away the electronic noodling of the original, and replaces it with piano, heartbeat mimicking percussion, and Peter's plaintive vocals, which strip away the irony of the original version and replace it with something more genuine.