A Year of Music

So there was once this pseudo-band called The Dukes of Stratosphear, which is actually XTC wearing floppy shirts and playing British psychedelia that is the definition of “pastiche”. Which is to say that while I love their music for historical reasons, my enthusiasm for it is sapped after spending some serious time with Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, to which it is beyond indebted. The Dukes are one step above being a cover band, and while their ear for that style is uncanny, the resulting songs aren’t very strong. That said, I will yield to no one when it comes to “What in the World”, which is by far the finest song on the album. None of it’s bad, I just thought it was niftier before I knew what a clone job it is.