Duran Duran - song-by-song rate & discussion thread

Wow. I hadn't heard this specifically before but knew they tried something as the producers had an open call to bands resulting in a deluge of submissions for TND.

So basically this is the Last Day on Earth demo with TND skewed lyrics. I take it they used this scrapped track to rework as Last Day much as Blondie did with their rejected FYEO theme.

 

The Sun Doesn't Shine Forever
Simon's voice is so great in the verses. The schmaltz factor is high on the chorus bits though. And I love the cello. Really a pretty track.
4,5/5

Kiss Goodbye
It's a thing, pleasant enough.
2.5/5

Last Day on Earth
Wow, had never heard that TND demo, but the interesting time signature in the verse and the power is great on this one. Such a good song.
4.5/5

Prototypes
I like it when Nick gets weird, I like the little sonic experiments.
3.5/5

 

The Sun Doesn't Shine Forever: 5/5 Super juxtaposition here with the intensity of the prior tracks. This is another absolutely gorgeous song and finally one that is a bit more uplifting than the others on this fairly tragic album. I don’t think they could have done much to improve this track. Yes as some have noted it doesn't "sound" like Duran Duran but that doesn't make it a bad song. I'm not sure I understand the logic of docking points for that reason. When I get to later albums I will be giving low scores, not because it doesn't sound like Duran Duran but because the songs actually suck. THIS song does not fit in that camp.


Kiss Goodbye: 5/5 Rating this one as it really does work well here preparing you for the final assault. Plus it’s a take on the theme from the song coming up. The ethereal sound is kind of mysterious and puts you somewhat on alert for the crashing start of Last Day that you know is coming but it shocks you anyway.


Last Day on Earth: 5/5 This reworked proto-Bond theme is a powerful end to a strong and effective album. Despite the seemingly jarring mix between slower ballads and crashing tour-de-forces, the cohesiveness of this album is impressive. This grandiose track does a great job of tying it all together and leaving us with a bit more of the catastrophic lyrics we’ve been hearing pretty much on this whole album.


Prototypes: 1/5 Nick and Warren do their version of The Beatles' "Revolution 9". Except there is nothing exciting at all about this track. However 1 point is awarded simply for creatively thinking of even trying a track like this.

 

Prototypes

Another precursor to the TV Mania album...can't really rate it as it's not really a song, but I don't hate it.

 

Prototypes- never heard it but I have to give some appreciation for the effort . Don't think it works. It might have been better to break up the pieces and use them as interludes on the album. The piece does seem in the spirt of the record.

 

"Kiss Goodbye/Last Day On Earth"
3/5

Not really my kind of music (sounds too Jock Jams/90's alterna-metal for my tastes), but I can appreciate it being one of the better produced tracks on Pop Trash. Can hear traces of the 007 motif throughout, and some of the guitar stabs remind me of Andy Taylor's work, which is a plus.

 

"Prototypes"

Not really a song. Would have been cool if split up and used as interludes between the main Pop Trash tracks.

 

While these albums might not be that great,
the collectors vinyl goes for a lot:

Medazzaland 2xlp either 25 or 50 copies worldwide US$670:
---------
ULTRA RARE! Duran Duran - Medazzaland Double LP Vinyl | eBay


Pop Trash 2xlp was a lot cheaper at $150:
Duran Duran vinyl | eBay



later
-1

 

Prototypes

I feel there is a lot of The Beatles influencing this Duran Duran album, more than any other album in their canon. But did they really need to be inspired by Revolution #9 "Number Nine, Number Nine, Number Nine..."

Besides its not really a constructed track, more like a load of fragments...

1.5/5

 

No new tracks today ... well no new Duran Duran tracks .... but how highly do you rate the Pop Trash album?

And what are you thoughts about the Warren years; and what did you think at the time when you heard Warren had left (been dismissed from) the band; and then the news of the Reunion of the Fab Five Line Up?

Also do you think when Simon appeared in this British ITV comedy drama spoof about a fictional early 80s New Romantic band, who reformed after over 15 years after splitting up acrimoniously; that a penny may have dropped ....

 

Good questions.

Ranking: Rio/DD/So Red the Rose/Medazzaland/Seven/Big Thing/Power Station/Liberty/Pop Trash/Notorious/Wedding Album/Thank You

Honestly, it was time for Warren to leave after Medazzaland. Was really excited that Roger, Andy, and John, were coming back. Sadly, the wait for a new album was quite ridiculous and too many hands were in the pot. Really like Warren's work with Missing Persons. Those sounds were kinda left behind with Duran. The immediate riffs were not there, like "Walking in L.A." for example. I've been listening to Missing Person's three albums again (due to now being available for streaming), and there are some songs on par with some Duran material. On reflection, it was a good match on paper. They tried with Liberty but it wasn't on par. But, all early 80s bands were forced into quasi-late-80s-funk it seems whether they wanted it or not. Nothing wrong with funk but they way it was handled in the late 80s. As stated earlier, if it wasn't for his Wedding Album tracks they would have faded away. So kudos to Warren but John wanted his band back, rightly so...

In that video is also Tony Hadley and Gary Numan and his wife. Had no idea about this show. I will have to check it out.

 

DD Timeline (Post Pop Trash) 2000 - 2001

Jul 21st to Sep 3rd 2000: The POP TRASH USA Tour
With Wes Wehmiller and Joe Travers
During a week of gigs at House of Blues, West Hollywood, CA, USA:

Aug 28th: BBC 1 airs the documentary Wild Boys: The Story of Duran Duran, featuring footage from US summer dates.

Aug 31st: During their extended stay in California, Nick and Simon visit John at his place. They discuss the possibility of the reunion of the original 5. They phone Roger and Andy who claim they are open to the proposition.

Sep: "Aurora: Ordinary World" featuring Naimee Coleman released; the cover version peaks in the UK charts at #5.


Oct 31st: Nick and Stephen Duffy are reported to have finished twelve songs in twelve days in the studio for their unnamed (aka "The Devils") side project.

Dec 9th 2000 to Apr 7th 2001: The Pop Trash Europe / Up Close & Personal USA Tour

Ear Mar 00: John, Andy and Roger secretly spend three weeks working together in Wales.

Mar 19th-20th: A rumor about rehearsals for an "original five" reunion tour hits the Internet via allstarnews.com, causing a flurry of debates on Duran message boards and mailing lists. Duranduran.com posts the following denial: "The band are currently on tour in the USA having a great time playing the shows and know nothing about the current rumours pertaining to a reunion tour and JT says "We have not rehearsed together is all I can tell you."

May 3rd: Warren announces that he is taking part in a Missing Persons reunion in the summer.

May 5th: Simon mentions to a student journalist that a reunion of the original five members of Duran is in the works; within hours, rumors begin to fly over the Internet.

May 6th: After hearing that Simon has already made an announcement, Warren confirms he is leaving Duran Duran.

May 10th: Duranduran.com confirms that Warren will leave after the Japanese dates in June, and that the band will reunite to do a new album and tour in 2002. The news makes the daily news headline bulletins of UK radio & TV.

May: John, Roger, and Andy continue working together, as Simon and Nick finish their work with Warren. Meanwhile Warren puts his house in London (aka Privacy Studio) up for sale. (It is sold in August, and he buys a home in California).

May 23rd: Interview with Simon and Nick airs on MTV News confirming the classic line up of the band are working on their first new material for 16 years.

Jun 1st-15th: Simon, John, Roger, Nick and Andy reunite in San Tropez, France, to begin writing and recording together.

Jun 16th - 22nd: Duran In Japan: The last dates for the LeBon-Rhodes-Cuccurullo incarnation of the band.

Jul 10th: Simon, Nick, and Andy get together in the UK to work on overdubs on those songs already completed.

Jul 31st: Duranduran.com announces that the band is taking a month off from writing and recording, and will resume in September. Which they will do on and off throughout the remainder of the year, and into early 2002.

 

It looks like I'm one of the few here who doesn't like Pop Trash that much.

Rio
S/T
Arcadia - So Red The Rose
Seven and the Ragged Tiger
Medazzaland
Notorious
Big Thing
The Wedding Album
Pop Trash
Liberty
Thank You

 

By the end of the Warren-period, I was losing my faith in them. There were some good tracks on Pop Trash and more so on Medazzaland, but I saw them live a few times around the 98-00 period and I found it depressing. The spark didn’t seem to be there anymore. 93-94 was fantastic and I’m eternally thankful to Warren for what he did for the band but by the end dynamic has shifted considerably and it wasn’t the same.

Pop Trash - 3/5

News of the fab 5 reunion exciting but it did but it did seem like forever before we got to hear new music (nearly 4 years!). I do remember reading a number of DD forums at the time (hello Lizard King!) and how some hard core fans were up to speed on some of the progress. I remember seeing John, Roger and Andy arriving at Heathrow Airport, wher eI was working. They had flown in from Nice. This was early on.

 

Kiss Goodbye - Another short interlude song. Sometimes less is more. 3/5.

Last Day on Earth - To be honest, I hadn't realized that this had been a reworked Bond song until a few years ago - I'm constantly finding out little things about unreleased songs/versions by the band. If you think about it, there were a few bands out there that submitted songs for the Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies - among them were Pulp and Saint Etienne, so it was interesting to hear Duran's submission and then rework. It's an aggressive song for sure. 4/5.

Prototypes - Meh....a few interesting squeaky bits, but it comes off a bit pretentious. 1/5.

 

Not a huge fan of the Warren years, although they did give us the amazing 93/94 comeback with Ordinary World and Come Undone as well as the underrated Medazzaland album. Otherwise, it was a fallow period for the band and saw the departure of a key figure in John. A very tough time to be a fan.

The reunion news was so exciting but then it took forever for the new music to actually arrive. Even then, Astronaut failed to deliver on the promise of the leaked demos.

Ranking the albums through 2000:
Rio
DD 81
Notorious
Medazzaland (a huge discovery thanks to this thread)
Big Thing
Seven and the Ragged Tiger
The Wedding Album
Liberty
Thank You
Pop Trash

 

Rio
DD
So Red the Rose
Seven and the Ragged Tiger
Medazzaland
Big Thing
Notorious
(big drop, then...)
Pop Trash
Liberty
Wedding Album
Thank You

 

My ranking:

RIO
DD 1981
Notorious
So Red The Rose
Ragged Tiger
Big Thing
Thank You
Medazzaland
Wedding Album
Pop Trash
Liberty

 

Are we going to cover the Encore Series? These were “official bootlegs” commissioned by the band. Maybe not every part but maybe as a whole?

 

Doubtful. Arena was a huge release and was skipped.

Also is there some weird psychology I am missing in slipping in the rank of each album on the review? I feel like my brain skips over this exercise and will rank when we get closer to the end.

I've been lucky enough to see the band a lot of places, and saw the heavy Warren years a lot on tour:

• 1993/1994 Dilate Your Mind Tour
• 1995 Radio Station Festival Tour (yikes, John was weird on this one - the whole set was weird with PL You and stuff)
• 1997 Ultra Chrome, Latex and Steel Tour
• 1998 Greatest and Latest (only in December and in the UK, I skipped this)
• 1999 Let It Flow Tour
• 2000/2001 Pop Trash Tour

And by the end of the Warren years, honestly, it was a crapshoot. Sometimes Simon looked like he was having a blast, sometimes it seemed like he was phoning it in.

There was palpable online excitement of the possibility of the reunion of the classic five. To me it always seemed there must have been some cohesive magic that they had in the studio - as a kid, almost every track in the early years were perfect to me.

I probably would've gotten some flak on here if I would've been around at the start of this thread - even stuff like Late Bar and their cover of Fame are like 4.5/5 or 5/5 for me.

The first two albums helmed by Colin Thurston delivered on the promise of what Duran seemed to be at their genesis: a great mix of punk ethos mixed with dance sensibilities. In Thurston's work with the band, each member contributed phenomenal work, the mix is clear, every member is laying down killer hook after killer hook over a great rhythm. It was like a really well concocted symphony. The bass lines are legendary.

Simon's writing was esoteric, poetic, other-worldly, and had few peers in pop music. His voice could layer and harmonize a half dozen times and still sound like a cohesive voice.

As the years crept in, the mixes got less punch-y and immediate, the instruments got weirder, the songs got less art-y and more personal. Warren brought some amazing work that bordered on noise guitar that individually felt like great sonic experimentation, but in the big picture seemed a bit much.

So - yeah. As a long time fan, the idea of the original group reforming to see what they could come up with thrilled me.

Especially as so much of the indie rock I mainly listen to had started skewing towards inclusion of synths after years of decline: Postal Service, Fischerspooner, Stereolab, Rapture, and later The Killers, etc; and stuff like Kylie's Fever album and Madonna's Music in 2000/2001 had some great euro+disco combinations that were really nice; it seemed like the return of classic Duran was just what the doctor ordered.

 

Totally agree. The music got muddier for want of a better word.

I understand the band (fab 5 part II) did sought out Colin Thurston for the new album but by that time he was already ill. It’s a shame as he really did bring out the best in them.

 

i think it was andy's book that offered a look into their working relationship and how instrumental he was in the process. when they were working on "hungry like the wolf" the band actually laid down lots of additional parts and overdubs but thurston was key in keeping only what the track needed.

edit to add the quote from wiki article--
Andy Taylor remembers: "He was a great organizer and arranger, we gave him far more ideas and music than the track actually needed, and he was important in the process of whittling them down to the essential elements." Thurston and the band decided to keep the demo's original electronic backing track and just re-record the other instruments and vocals.

 

my ranking so far falls into kinda defined groups.
within each group it's easy to argue the merits/shortcomings of each and re-arrange.
biggest positive in finding/reviewing this thread--medazzaland (buried in the sand and more)
biggest negative--the wedding album (despite some amazing singles, this one needed editing)

rio/duran duran
so red the rose/seven and the ragged tiger/medazzaland
big thing/notorious
pop trash/the wedding album
liberty/thank you

 

5.0/5 Rio
4.5 So Red the Rose
4.0 Medazzaland
4.0 Notorious
4.0 DD
3.5 Big Thing
3.5 Seven and the Ragged Tiger
3.5 Wedding Album
3.0 Pop Trash
2.5 Power Station
2.0 Liberty
2.0 Thank You

 

Based on the average score per track of the core album (out of 5.00):

1st Rio 4.58
2nd Duran Duran 4.18
3rd So Red The Rose 4.05
4th Seven & The Ragged Tiger 3.91
5th Notorious 3.90
6th Big Thing 3.87
7th Medazzaland 3.85
8th The Power Station 3.45
9th Pop Trash 3.36
10th "The Wedding Album" 3.35
11th Liberty 2.88
12th Thank You 2.68

Whilst the Duran Duran discography track rate up to this point is:

1st Hold Back The Rain 4.78 16
2nd Rio 4.77 15
3rd Save A Prayer 4.76 17
4th Ordinary World 4.74 21
5th Palomino 4.73 15
6th The Chauffeur 4.72 18
7th Come Undone 4.67 18
8th Hungry Like The Wolf 4.67 15
9th Planet Earth 4.61 14
10th Lonely In Your Nightmare 4.59 17
11th Careless Memories 4.59 16
12th The Edge of America / Lake Shore Driving 4.54 12
13th Friends Of Mine 4.46 13
14th Land 4.46 12
15th Skin Trade 4.41 17
16th Girls On Film 4.41 16
17th New Religion 4.41 16
18th Last Chance On The Stairway 4.40 15
19th The Seventh Stranger 4.39 14
20th I Don't Want Your Love 4.38 17
21st The Promise 4.38 16
22nd Communication 4.36 11
23rd American Science 4.35 17
24th Faster Than Light 4.35 10
25th Out Of My Mind 4.32 19
26th Secret Oktober 4.29 12
27th Midnight Sun 4.29 12
28th A View To A Kill 4.25 18
29th Notorious 4.23 20
30th Michael You've Got A Lot To Answer For? 4.23 13
31st I Believe/All I Need to Know 4.23 11
32nd Election Day 4.20 20
33rd Too Late Marlene 4.20 15
34th Union of the Snake 4.19 18
35th Shadows on Your Side 4.19 18
36th My Antarctica 4.19 16
37th Keep Me in the Dark 4.18 17
38th The Flame 4.17 15
39th Anyone Out There 4.17 12
40th Goodbye Is Forever 4.16 16
41st Serious 4.14 18
42nd Missing 4.13 15
43rd My Own Way 4.11 18
44th New Moon on Monday 4.10 15
45th Proposition 4.08 13
46th All She Wants Is 4.06 16
47th Last Day on Earth 4.05 10
48th Do You Believe in Shame? 4.04 14
49th Someone Else Not Me 4.04 14
50th Buried in the Sand 4.04 13

51st Of Crime and Passion 4.03 15
52nd Winter Marches On 4.03 15
53rd The Reflex 3.97 17
54th Night Boat 3.96 12
55th El Diablo 3.94 18
56th Is There Something I Should Know? 3.91 16
57th Starting to Remember 3.90 15
58th Electric Barbarella 3.88 17
59th Playing with Uranium 3.88 13
60th Tel Aviv 3.88 12
61st Vertigo (Do the Demolition) 3.86 14
62nd Be My Icon 3.85 13
63rd Some Like It Hot 3.83 15
64th Lady Ice 3.82 17
65th Sound Of Thunder 3.82 14
66th Falling Angel 3.81 16
67th Get It On (Bang a Gong) 3.79 14
68th Hold Me 3.77 15
69th So Long Suicide 3.77 13
70th The Needle and the Damage Done 3.75 12
71st Medazzaland 3.73 15
72nd Harvest for the World 3.73 13
73rd To The Shore 3.73 11
74th Breath After Breath 3.72 18
75th Too Much Information 3.70 20
76th Big Bang Generation 3.70 15
77th The Wild Boys 3.69 21
78th Perfect Day 3.64 18
79th A Matter of Feeling 3.59 16
80th Silva Halo 3.57 15
81st Lava Lamp 3.57 15
82nd Who Do You Think You Are? 3.57 14
83rd Meet El Presidente 3.54 14
84th Lady Xanax 3.54 12
85th Tiger Tiger 3.50 14
86th I Take the Dice 3.47 16
87th Pop Trash Movie 3.47 16
88th Sin of the City 3.44 16
89th Late Bar 3.44 9
90th Love Voodoo 3.43 21
91st Rose Arcana 3.43 15
92nd None of the Above 3.42 19
93rd (I'm Looking For) Cracks in the Pavement 3.35 17
94th White Lines 3.34 16
95th Khanada 3.33 9
96th Downtown 3.30 15
97th Undergoing Treatment 3.27 13
98th Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) (Live) 3.27 11
99th Shelter 3.25 16
100th Murderess 3.19 13
101st We Need You 3.19 13

102nd Lay Lady Lay 3.17 18
103rd Lonely Tonight 3.17 12
104th So Misled 3.13 16
105th Decadance 3.11 9
106th Liberty 3.07 14
107th Watching the Detectives 3.03 15
108th Crystal Ship 2.94 17
109th Venice Drowning 2.93 15
110th Go to Zero 2.92 12
111th Stop Dead 2.90 15
112th Like An Angel 2.86 14
113th I Wanna Take You Higher Again 2.86 14
114th Say The Word (Theme From "Playing For Keeps") 2.83 12
115th Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over) 2.82 17
116th Time for Temptation 2.77 15
117th Sinner or Saint 2.77 15
118th Mars Meets Venus 2.68 14
119th Faith in This Colour 2.65 13
120th The Sun Doesn't Shine Forever 2.65 13
121st Still In Your Heart 2.64 11
122nd I Do What I Do (Theme For 9 1/2 Weeks) 2.59 11
123rd UMF 2.58 18
124th Big Thing 2.58 13
125th Drowning Man 2.53 17
126th All Along the Water (Water Babies) 2.50 15
127th Burning the Ground 2.50 13
128th Can You Deal with It 2.46 14
129th To Whom It May Concern 2.44 16
130th Drive By 2.43 15
131st I Wanna Take You Higher 2.38 16
132nd Femme Fatale 2.32 17
133rd Read My Lips 2.29 14
134th Thank You 2.27 15
135th Ball of Confusion 2.23 13
136th First Impression 2.21 14
137th Success 2.19 16
138th Diamond Dogs 2.18 11
139th Yo Bad Azizi 2.12 13
140th Someday, Somehow, Someone's Gotta Pay (We Fight For Love) 2.09 11
141st Fame 2.00 10
142nd Drug (It's Just a State of Mind) 1.88 13
143rd Ball and Chain 1.81 8
144th Hothead 1.79 14
145th Hallucinating Elvis 1.79 12
146th 911 Is a Joke 1.63 20