THE DUKE AND THE KING – NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY
We have all been wondering where James Taylor went … haven’t we? The Duke and the King – named after a pair of con-men in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – are Felice Brother skins-man Simone Felice and former George Clinton off-sider Robert “Chicken” Burke. The resultant album however sounds little like either the rough ramshackle of the Felice Brothers or the funk-soul of Clinton. Nothing Gold Can Stay comes right out of 70s FM radio with a nod to the Laurel Canyon balladeers. Setting itself in that very same period: “When our jeans were torn … and the music sewed us together” – memories wander, taking their time, as one might expect them to. What works so well is the weave between the two is all but seamless, giving the album a rare coherence as collaborations go. The songs all have an immediacy; as if you first heard them in 1973 and are rediscovering an old classic. Union Street is a stand out amongst a great collection of tunes with barely a slip (“Jesus walked on water, but so did Marvin Gaye”?). Burke and Felice have crafted an album as unexpected as it is brilliant. Essential listening.
****
