Duran Duran: Classic or Dud?

I saw that album cover first a couple of days ago and thought it looked pretty good. It's certainly a huge step up from the Medazzaland and Pop Trash (and Greatest, too!) album covers. It's not the most brilliant cover around (in fact, it sorta reminds me of the 7&TRT cover) but it's rather pretty. And the whole artwork theme is exactly that of the artwork presented for the promotional gear during the 25th anniversary tour late last year (and v. early this year).

s1ocki, I guess I'm sorta looking for more love of the band's ENTIRE career, not just the pre-1986 "Fab Five" era. For example, I happen to think that the most amazing artwork connected with the band's releases happened ca. The Wedding Album and I am a HUGE fan of the band's music from 1997 - 2000. And I think the most romantic Duran song out there is the Big Thing-era "Land". And besides, all this love doesn't seem to be making its way to any of the periodicals I scour on at least a semi-regular basis. Every time I read a Duran article or a Duran tidbit in some magazine or newspaper, invariably they will talk about the band's '80s teen idol status, shriek about how "cute" the band were back in the '80s, go on like '80s teenyboppers (thus ignoring the fact that Warren injected a hell of a lot of innovative energy into the band and influenced the band in other ways -- Nick is a vegetarian because of Warren's influence, for instance), or go on about some stupid, inane lowlight of the band's history (e.g. that stupid Q magazine special article that just seemed to focus on Simon's mishap with Drum back in 1985).

So I guess my answer to that is to just go on here and vent about it. And wonder, secretly to myself, why no one says a word about how stupid any of it is, why no one will acknowledge that hardly anyone will write anything serious about this band. I mean, come on -- the last time Duran were teen idols was NINETEEN years ago. Some college students weren't even born when the last teenybopper publication stopped doing any Duran articles. I think it's time to acknowledge they've paid their dues already and for the World Outside to give them the same break they've been giving U2 for nearly forever and a day.

Like it or not, those first two albums remain the most consistent set of songs they've managed to put together (The Wedding Album has too many tangents). I'd love for them to prove the critics wrong and reestablished their credibility, but I'm not holding my breath.

Seconded.

Fifthed - and while Duran's later-80s output gets slammed, I thought "Skin Trade", "All She Wants Is", and especially "I Don't Want Your Love" were all fantastic. Ditto the two big Arcadia singles, "Election Day" and "Goodbye Is Forever".

Duran Duran never wanted that, though.

(I also suppose this is a continuation of a thread I started around here several months back, hitting similar topics to the ones I brought up most recently. Many apologies for carrying over that discussion to this one, though maybe in the end this way is cleaner and more organized centrality.)

Undergoing Treatment
We are undergoing treatment
Watching others in the news
Studying our worst reviews
They say we’ll get over it
Disappear like dinosaurs
To the sound of small applause
Resign to the mid-price section

If you see me walking in the garden
Don’t ever ask me for an autograph
If you ever catch me in the arcade
Don’t even stop me for a photograph

We are undergoing treatment
'Til our ethic fits the scene
Laid out in Q Magazine
They crave our conformity
Mediocre to the bone
Terrified testosterone
But why do we still face the music?

If you see me walking in the garden
Don’t ever ask me...

Now and then you get the strangest notion
There’s something missing
But it keeps you guessing
Wild ambition can you really blame us?
Can you entertain us?
Can you give a little more?

If you see me walking in the garden
Don’t ever ask me for an autograph
If you ever catch me in the arcade
Don’t even stop me for a photograph

We are undergoing treatment
But will the doctors ever cure
These delusions of grandeur

Good night. (Yes, "good night".)

One:  Tantrum the Cat, how I'm lovin' you at this moment. Okay, so you're naming singles, but you're naming singles from BIG THING, which often gets passed up by people talking about Duran. It really is their most underappreciated album, IMHO. I mean, I can see how people who hate Liberty can hate it, esp since it took me about a year and a half to really get to like that album, but for me Big Thing has always been enjoyable.

Two:  fortunate hazel, you make an excellent point there re: "classic rock appeal". I suppose Serious Music People are always going to be looking backwards towards the '70s and the Big Arena Rock Bands as the standard bearers for what makes music good, and I can see how that would leave artists such as the Duran boys completely out in the cold, because as diverse as their musical output has been throughout their 25 years of existence, they have never done anything approaching Arena Rock, nor would they ever. I can see how U2, being Big Arena Rockers, would elicit accolades by the caseload from those individuals who still worship at the altar of the late '60s Beatles, yeah.

Three:  Atnevon, PLEASE tell me that you're one of those people who wished Duran released nothing but sequels to Rio. PLEASE tell me that. Because that's the only way I can process your comments and have them make sense to me. Medazzaland and Pop Trash were both genius to me, so much more preferrable to the band's first two albums, because the lyrical content reflected a band that was more cynical, more bitter, more sarcastic and less idealistic than the band who recorded songs about "aphids swarming in the drifing haze", and because the music was just so much more mature and complex. I can close my eyes and explore a universe completely different than the one I know whenever I listen to "Pop Trash Movie" or "Silva Halo". I can't really do that with "Friends of Mine" or "Lonely in Your Nightmare", no matter how much I love those older songs.

I guess my situation would be different from yours, though -- I've listened to the '81 debut and Rio so many times that all the songs on those two albums have completely lost the magic they used to work on me. I haven't listened to Rio in four or five months and I can STILL mentally play back every single track on that album. I haven't listened enough to the band's post-Notorious albums for that to happen to me. And, as hokey and completely insane as this may sound, the band's music from 1987 onward has helped me out THE MOST. I listened to The Wedding Album to help me get over my fears and apprehensions about entering high school and Medazzaland helped soothe my frayed nerves while I was in the process of graduating from high school and entering college. Later on, Pop Trash and Big Thing provided much-needed entertainment for me when I was in the midst of the most difficult period I've ever gone through in my life. I guess I'm showing my biases here, but maybe this will at least help you to understand why it is that I feel the way I feel on this issue.

Four:  cinniblount, I know how ILM is about U2. I know how much more love the ILM community shows toward Duran than they show toward U2. I really don't have any complaints about the general ILM attitude toward the band. However, in the Serious Music world outside ILM, the situations and attitudes are COMPLETELY reversed. Everywhere. With everyone. Including those publications I personally had held out hope for re: seeing them change their attitudes about the band, e.g. Spin magazine.

I guess I might have ulterior or quite personal reasons for wanting to see some really serious publication devote time to actually taking Duran Duran seriously as a band rather than just dwell on the few years they were "teen idols". See, I wasn't there for the ride back then. I never got the chance to see my favorite musical artist be popular with people in my age bracket. Even with the "comeback" back in 1993, I had to look long and hard for anything written about the band, only to be extremely disappointed about what I read. (I will take time to bring up the two lousy stars and the shallow "review" Rolling Stone gave The Wedding Album back in 1993 -- yeah, thanks a fucking lot.) It has always been my dream to be able to pop into a bookstore, pick up some publication that features my favorite musical artist, read it, and feel like my fanhood was being justified on a serious level (and then purchase it, obv), because I have long since given up hope that my fanhood would be justified on a "popularity" level. And while some of you might enjoy reading what I have to say about this band, it doesn't make up for the fact that I spent so many years of my fanhood feeling like I should be ashamed of myself for loving this band, that I was wasting my time and energies and money devoting myself to this band instead of going off and being a Pearl Jam fan like I was supposed to be. For YEARS I have been waiting for a change in that sort of attitude, only to find it's not coming.

I guess I'll just have to adopt the attitude fortunate hazel has proposed. In the meantime... I'm hoping that the reason that I've never found anyone here on ILM to connect with on a shared Duran fanhood level is because I've come across too strongly with my own fanhood, because that way there would be a solution to that problem, i.e. to not come across as strongly in that arena. It would be really good to have that sort of connection over here, with someone actually willing to discuss the band's music (instead of which member's the cutest or what fanhood-based memories they have of the band ca. 1984, both of which are discussion topics I cannot relate to).

(Okay, I'll leave this thread now.)

Anyway, there's news of a book that might be coming out. While I'm happy at the thought of Duran actually getting something new published about them -- the last time I think they ever had a book released about them was back ca. 1985 -- I feel slightly dismayed about it because I feel like I'll read the finished product and think that I could've done a better job with it. Because it's going to be written by a music journalist, see, and the last time I remember a music journalist writing a Duran book was when Toby Goldstein released a Duran book in the early '80s that was essentially lightweight and mistake-ridden reading. And every time I compare Goldstein's book to the book written and released at the same time by a then-fan named Cynthia C. Kent, I recognize just how much better Kent's book is, in terms of quality and accuracy.

But -- I don't know what's going to happen to this proposed new book. Right now it's at the proposal stage and so it might not even really get off the ground. But I feel like, even though I'm not a writer, I let an opportunity slip by. Which is insanity, I'm sure.

(And I'm never going to find a fellow fan around here to connect with intellectually, right?)

This is not a request, BTW, to recommend me more Duran Duran.

BTW, the "annoying background vocal" in "Come Undone" was sung by none other than Lamya. Yes, THE Lamya. Reason # 523,981 why 2003's pop music scene afforded me chances to laugh.

I'd have found "Sunrise" to be a much more stylized improvement on the demo of said song. I'd have felt "Want You More" was a great driving song to listen to, not incredibly involving or complex but incredibly catchy and liable to bring a smile to the faces of all but the most dour of individuals. I would've thought "What Happens Tomorrow" was a lovely little ditty, not quite the power ballad they might've been reaching for, but still a good reminder that some of the people behind (my beloved) Pop Trash were still involved with this project. I'd have listened to "Astronaut" and realized it was a fully fleshed out relative of the demo song "Pretty Ones", with a distinct difference in lyrical theme. (I was disappointed to find "Pretty Ones" didn't make the cut, when I first saw the track listing, seeing as though that was my favorite demo song. FYI. Hopefully they'll reserve it for a b-side.) "Bedroom Toys" to me would've been a slightly hilarious but very funky track and what Duran must've been trying to reach for when they attempted (but failed) to sound like Prince in the Wedding Album-era track "UMF". I would've gone apeshit over "Nice", thinking it to be a Perfect Pop Song, very danceable, very catchy, very funky, and perhaps a fantastic song to go for in re: a second single. I'd have felt a deep sense of pride about "Taste the Summer", seeing that my old As Sweet As Melody board ID was taken from the lyrics of this song, since it, like "Sunrise", would've been another much more stylized, fully realized improvement on its demo. (Maybe by Astronaut's release, I'll decide to revive the As Sweet As Melody ID.) "Finest Hour" would've sounded to me like a bit of a weak point in the album, still rather crisp and fresh and perhaps a Perfect Pop Song to someone else, but I might've felt it would've been an inferior relation to the Pop Trash-era song "The Sun Doesn't Shine Forever". I'd have listened to "Chains" and happily picked up on its slow-burn nature, its relaxed pace and energetic undertones working together to create an exciting track. I would have been thrilled to discover that "One Of Those Days" was a delightful candy confection that left me with a rush akin to mainlining Pixy Stix. After listening to "Point Of No Return", I could've thought of how complex that song really is, with little musical hooks cluttered throughout its little nooks and crannies. And then finally I would have listened to "Still Breathing", swooned and swayed to the swirly whirly lusciousness of it all, and delighted in how it continued DD's tradition of putting really solid material at the end of (most of) their albums (see: "The Chauffeur", "The Seventh Stranger", "Proposition", "Lake Shore Driving", "Sin of the City", "Undergoing Treatment", "Kiss Goodbye/Last Day On Earth" -- the only studio albums not represented here are the debut and Liberty).

And finally, when I'd have finished listening to the entirety of the album, I would've triumphantly collapsed with a blissful smile on my face, satisfied that the three years spent waiting for this album were well worth it and safe in the knowledge that the people responsible for the album were not just looking to cash in on the novelty value of having the so-called "Fab Five" reunite, but were also looking to record a great pop album in the tradition of Rio and Seven & the Ragged Tiger. That is, if I'd actually previewed the new album.

;)

(Oh, and one more thing -- I would have absolutely, unequivocably still purchased at least one copy of the album, even though I had already listened to the tracks therein. I would have been cognizant of how thrilling actually having the Real Thing in my hands, how Duran's CD booklets are almost always little works of art, and how the "limited edition" album would've also included a special live DVD of Duran's concert performance at Wembley earlier this year. You know.)

Duran Duran To Go Hip-Hop?
Pop act draft in urban producers...
http://www.gigwise.com/news.asp?contentid=17913

Nick Rhodes:

”It'll have an identifiably Duran Duran sound, which we want to preserve, but it's also going to be a lot more modern. So we've been working with American urban producers."

(And, I mean, nobody dectracts from the greatness of "Pet Sounds" just because Beach Boys made "Keeping The Summer Alive" 15 years later.

More on the 'hip-hop' album:

Nearly six years after their last release, rockers Duran Duran are currently working on their upcoming album with the help of Hip-Hop producer Timbaland and his protégé Danjahandz. Danjahandz, a young Virginia native, first caught Timbaland’s attention in 2001 and two years later, the young producer was brought to Timbaland’s studio in Miami to put his production talents to work. "The actual process of making the album [with Duran Duran] was cool," Danjahandz told AllHipHop.com. "We just went in there as musicians, I think that's what was beneficial for me, playing those instruments, came into play. Because I had to become a musician, not a producer a beat maker, I had to become a musician and write songs."

No word on the Ne-Yo/Le Bon duet?

I decided on Monday that Rio > Metamatic.

Sorry, K-Punk:(

I heard Reflex in the store today and I really wanted to kill someone. Much as I love early Duran, that has to be the greatest landmark of where they started to absolutely suck ASS.

Sorry, but the album version -- before Nile Rodgers stuck his mitts in it -- kick serious ass.

I've got early Duran Duran b-side/remix FEVER!! This all started because at work this week I got "New Religion" in my head for no reason.

Anyone heard the likes of "Khananda"/"Late Bar"/"Faster Than Light"? I"ve never heard these before and they are really freaking cool. Their cover of Bowie's "Fame" isn't bad, either. I used to have the damn Carnival EP, I want those mixes again, too. "Faith In This Colour" & "Secret Oktober" & "Tiger Tiger" are some of my fave things of theirs as well.

I cannot believe they covered Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel's "Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)". I'm in speechless shock right now. It's pretty amazing at least until the guitars come in...

Hm. It's outside Le Bon's vocal range, methinks.

check the backing vox on this one

Astronaut and Red Carpet Massacre are superb albums. Far more consistent than most/all of the band's earlier records.

I can't adequately explain what pleasure the b-side of the Rio 45 called "Hold Back The Rain" (wasn't it an extended remix?) brought me when I was about 12 years old. FUCKING 12" MIX FOR THE WIN!

Late Bar is my favourite Duran Duran song, and the 'Night Version' is possibly even better.

Actually, Careless Memory came on in the pub last night and was awesome.

Duran Duran - pop's excreta in a basket.

I always liked Khanada as a kid, it was mysterious-sounding and talked about dragons, was very suitable for sitting in a treehouse thinking about having adventures with Indiana Jones or Doctor Who.

I recorded it onto a cassette by holding the cassette recorder up to the record player.

PLEASE PLEASE TELL ME NOW
IS THERE SOMETHING I SHOULD KNOW

12" MONSTER MIX

=

Happy Bimble