Album: Mezcal Head
Year: 1993
. . .
One of the precursors of Certain Songs was a feature I wrote in this here blog called “Musical Moments to Die For,” where I would describe a part of a song that utterly killed me, with an actual audio embed of the song that I’d created in Audacity. I also did full audio versions of them as inserts in the long-gone Medialoper Bebop podcast, which I guess you can still find on Apple Music.
Anyways, the very first installation of Musical Moments to Die For, 25 Musical Moments to Die For (the second had 24, the third had 23, etc. I made it down to 15 Musical Moments to Die For before I stopped) featured this song, Swervedriver’s “Duel.”
“Duel,” which was one of the singles from Swervedriver’s second album, 1993’s Mezcal Head, started off with a scraping guitar that turns into a chug as Adam Franklin sings “you’ve been away so long / you can’t ask why” at which point the whole band kicks in, just so he can continue.
You can’t ask why
You’ve been away
You can’t ask why
You can’t ask why
After the last “you can’t ask why,” the band is building and building and building — they’re heading somewhere, no doubt — and it just all dissipates in a puff of smoke, so that Franklin can start the second verse over another chugging guitar.
A million stars out tonight
Could spark neon from candlelight
One million stars
Could spark neon from candlelight
Could spark neon from candlelight
The dynamics here are off the charts: at first its (relatively, this is Swervedriver, of course) quiet as Franklin sings, and then guitarist Jimmy Hartridge and new bassist Steve George and new drummer Jez Hindmarsh join Franklin on some big-ass, near metal powerchords as swirling effects wind in and out as they build and build and build and build and build and then suddenly — on a single chord from Franklin — RELEASE, as the the whole universe suddenly changes and this new universe is an utter jumble of a Franklin lick that is somehow climbing and falling at the same time, Hartridge’s massive chords and Hindmarsh’s utterly precise tom work.
(That single chord that changes everything reminds me of Karl Precorda’s chord that set up the back half of The Dream Syndicate’s “Then She Remembers,” though what happens after is completely different.)
And just when you think “Duel” is going to fall completely apart — nobody can sustain this kind of tension and release — you realize, nope it’s the fucking chorus of the fucking song, with Franklin calling over the big power chords and the band responding with the jumble of drums and guitars after each line.
I’m goin’ down, down to the market place
Goin’ to learn to give
I’m goin’ down, down by the sea market side
Goin’ to learn to live
Oh, and on top of it all Franklin is harmonizing with himself, and sounding good doing it that when I played this a couple of weeks ago for Tim — who isn’t really all that familiar with Swervedriver — he guess that it was an early Teenage Fanclub song he hadn’t.
Anyways, Franklin is so enamored of his lick that is simultaneously rising and falling, he continues it after the chorus, but the rest of the band is quieter: Hindmarsh his playing a straight beat, Hartridge is adding sound effects and George doing some quiet runs. Which makes sense: it’s basically the chill-out room after the utterly intensity of the chorus. After the first chorus, this doesn’t last that long, and they awesomely build back into one last verse and one last chorus, as crazy and intense as the first.
And after the second chorus, they enter the chill-out room, and eventually walk out through an exit on the other side, straight into the ocean.
I realized that what I love about “Duel” is that it reminds me of a Who song. Which makes sense, as they were clearly a big influence, especially in terms of giving the drummer some space for his crazed fills. Anyways, “Duel” was released as a single in the U.K. and topped out at #60, as nothing his utterly batshit crazy could do much better, even in the U.K.
“Duel”
“Duel” Official Music Video
“Duel” Live in Sydney, 2011
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