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

Alkan is the main producer of the album. And yes, those last two Ride albums were incredible. And he produced the only decent song from the last Killers album.

 

"Want You More" - 4/5. Love this song - when I first heard the album, I thought "I want to hear more like this!"

 

Want You More! I like this but the Nick Rhodes “Farts ‘n Whistles™️“ are out in full force on this one. 3/5

Getting back to the album formats. I’m led to believe that the CD/DVD Booklet version damaged CD sales figures and chart position due to it being seen as a DVD rather than a CD.

 

Maybe someone has the actual facts, but from my memory the excluded sales meant Astronaut would have otherwise debuted at UK #2 instead of #3; as Ronan Keating released a brand new album out which was half a best of his solo albums; rerecorded Boyzone tracks & a few brand new tracks which still would have easily debuted at #1 that week.

 

Want You More!

On the basis of what made the album. This really should have been Track 1, Single 1 from the returning Fab Five as this has their DNA all over it and it is a near perfect amalgamation of all their elements but fresh up to (2004) date. Roger drives the beat along like only Roger can; John pulls out his best Bernard Edwards; Nick engages in his bells & whistles synths; Andy fills in the guitar sounds brilliantly; and Simon sings like a demon after having just come back from the disco. Why the hell was this not their comeback single?

4.5/5

 

Want You More! - Yeah, this probably should have been a single, but I guess Sunrise was deemed the best choice. What I don't understand is that much such a good album with strong songs, why wasn't the promotion there? Sure, they sold out shows, there were a ton of mixes for Sunrise, but after that it seems like the label lost interest at least in the U.S.. There was no commercial single for What Happens Tomorrow or Nice, but yet both of those received promos in the forms of either CD and / or vinyl. Anyways, I digress. 4 / 5.

 

This was my assumption as well. I bought the CD/DVD combo which debuted at #1 on the DVD charts the same week as its #17 debut on the top 200. I can only imagine it would have been a top 10 debut had the DVD sales not diluted its performance. And I can only imagine it’s longevity on the charts had they released Want You More and Nice as singles (let alone bury Beautiful Colours or Salt in the Rainbow)!

 

Want You More!

Wow...haven't revisited this album in a long time but damn this is a great tune! Need to add it to a playlist immediately!

4/5

 

OK I'm going to do two tracks today (& none tomorrow) seeing as Astronaut album track 3 was the second single, which in a pre released version contained an extended bridge/add on segment which became a corresponding CD single extra track .....

154 What Happens Tomorrow



"What Happens Tomorrow" is a song by British pop rock band Duran Duran and is featured on their 2004 album, Astronaut. It was released in January 2005 as the second single from that album, and the band's thirty-third single overall. The single debuted at number 11 in the UK Singles Chart on 6 February 2005 and was the second single from the album to peak at number two in Italy. It became a minor hit in Flemish Belgium, Germany and Ireland.

A demo version of "What Happens Tomorrow" originally debuted on American radio station STAR 98.7 in 2002, while the band were hunting around for a record deal. During the outro, bassist John Taylor announced that it would be a single later in the year.

Nick Rhodes said a young survivor of the 9/11 terror attacks influenced one of the songs on their new album. He added that the title for the song "What Happens Tomorrow" was taken from a newsreel of a boy being asked what he thought about the situation.

Rhodes said: "The boy simply said 'No-one knows what will happen tomorrow' - and I thought that was so poignant and it just stuck with me. Some of the new album was written around the time of 9/11. In fact "What Happens Tomorrow" was written very shortly after that. I think it influenced everyone in the world."

The video, which showed the band as constellations, was directed by the duo of Smith n' Borin (Frank Buff Borin and Ryan Smith). It was nominated on the Visual Effects Society Awards 2005 for "Outstanding Visual Effects in a Music Video" for media artists Jerry Steele, Jo Steele, Brian Adler and Monique Eissing. Playboy Playmate Nicole Marie Lenz and Steve Talley (American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile) appear in the video.

 

155 Silent Icy River


"Silent Icy River" is a song by Duran Duran, released as the B-side to their single "What Happens Tomorrow" from the album Astronaut by Epic Records on 31 January 2005.

The song was originally part of the demo version of "What Happens Tomorrow". This demo (Which John Taylor debuted on a US Radio station in 2002) was recorded when the band rented a house near St.Tropez in the South of France in 2001. During this period Duran Duran wrote more than 30 songs.

The track was created when the band were finalising the Astronaut album, which omitted the "Silent Icy River" segment from the final version of "What Happens Tomorrow".

 

What Happens Tomorrow - 2.5/5: Pedestrian, middle of the road mid-tempo single with overly earnest lyrics/sentiment. Again, a very safe choice as a single by the band and/or label. However, it’s always great to have an Andy guitar-led song. The final version is an improvement over the demo and live version previewed in 2002 and 2003.

 

Want You More- sounds like Duran Duran. Love Andy's rhythm playing on it.

What Happens Tomorrow- another solid tune . The album in general is a grower.

Silent Icy river- I didn't miss anything here . So far none of the outakes I've heard are better then what made the cut.

 

What Happens Tomorrow. 4/5. Like this song as it has a pulse, rather than side two of this album. Rather dire video, playing to the youth crowd who will never buy their stuff as they were too old even then.

Silent Icy River 3.5/5. Should have remained with What Happens Tomorrow.

They should have taken a chance.

 

What’s Happens Tomorrow- it just plods doesn’t it? Nothing special about this whatsoever. 2.5/5

 

i dunno. the verse is kinda steady and the chorus does take flight even if it’s not perfect. i like it more than lots of middle-of-the-road tracks. it’s not “save a prayer” or “ordinary world,” but how many of those does a band have?

given their status at the time, i think it’s a solid track that should have gotten more play.

 

Want You More 4.5/5 : Solid track, but I think the production is a bit over the top. I like the effects on the acoustic guitar (cfr. Salt in the rainbow).

What Happens Tomorrow 4.5/5 : Also very soccer mom but then again, many bandmembers had children who were growing up and this song came after 9/11 and the Iraq war.
They butchered the song by cutting the bridge though. Although the bridge is not that strong, it sets up the mood for Andy's guitar solo. All that was lost in the final version. I prefer the demo or live version.

Silent Ivy River 2.5/5 : A bridge that is not too strong makes a mediocre song on it's own. I haven't listened to this more than ten times since it came out and it's probably the first time I heard it in a decade. With so many unreleased tracks the bonus tracks from Astronaut are a huge dissapointment.

 

Albums up to 2000:
Rio
S/T
Notorious
Power Station
Medazzaland
Pop Trash
SRTR
Big Thing
SATRT
Wedding
Thank You
Arena
Liberty


I was fully on board for Astronaut and saw the tour twice which was great. I knew there were some other songs but didn't know there was a leaked demo and haven't heard these other tracks before for the most part.

Beautiful Colours
I get why this was left off. It's ok but really unremarkable and sounds very generic. the included live version is much better with the more prominent guitar and is how I remember most songs from the 2004 tour sounding with Andy onboard. 2.5/5
Salt In The Rainbow
I've never heard this before. Really solid track and should have been better promoted. 4/5

I think this album is really underrated and doesn't have a single bad song on it. I think it's way to damn loud of course not nearly as loud as later releases. Some of the production is a bit too 2004 but overall it still holds up well and has the DD identity instead of burying it as happened on RCM later on. Plus the Andy influence/drive cannot be understated. This album is certainly their most exuberant since...well to be honest it's the most fully energized since...perhaps Rio. Yes there was energy on the albums between but not across the board on every single track! Also the stereo mix of the whole album is quite great and I wish I had the uber rare vinyl to have a version less loud. The surround version on DVD-A and SACD is much inferior to the redbook stereo mix.
My scores reflect perpetual spins of this album over the years and it has truly gotten better with age. Sure some tracks are a bit on the nose and trying for commercial success but at this point the band were trying to be relevant again and unlike certain albums with the same goals which do not hold up outside of a few songs (cough ATYCLB cough!) this album is a pleasure start to finish. In my own ranking it's neck and neck with Medazzaland and Pop Trash for the top five spot. I just wish there was a version without loudness compression!
(Reach Up for The) Sunrise
While it got a bit stale being the lead single, opening album track and the chant along live chorus track-it's an infectious song that brought them right into the present and is still great. Over time I got over it being the big opener/single song and am able to properly enjoy it again. This track is a definite upper and has energy. And I totally get it's contrived-it was definitely a bit then and definitely is now-but it actually works!!! 5/5
Know It All
I heard this somewhere once but had forgotten where it was and when. I suppose this could have been a transitional piece. It's ok but doesn't go much of anywhere 2.5/5
Want You More!
This is a great, upbeat, on-point track two. Fun and infectious and it gets better with age. 5/5
What Happens Tomorrow
this got a bit stale at first because it was used live for dedications/message etc. and got licensed to a number of TV shows and commercials IIRC. But it's actually a damn good song that again gets better with age and culminates in a great guitar bit. 5/5
Silent Icy River
Never really heard this before. It's pretty good but stays more of B-side in feeling. 3/5

 

"What Happens Tomorrow" - 4/5. Always thought it was a solid track that deserved airplay. But by this point their career, it was likely radio programmers were making it hard for the band to succeed. For example, I was working for Warner Bros. in Atlanta at this time. New Order released an album about 5-6 months after Astronaut; when the label rep brought the first single to the local alternative station seeking airplay, the program director just said "They're old!!!!" and wouldn't even bother to listen to the song.

So, we can repeatedly say "The label didn't promote it properly" and that may very well be true (I didn't work for Sony), but I have worked for two major labels in my career and this was a common tale. Even with young, new bands - I've seen labels throw endless cash and put endless hours of work behind a record. But if the program directors weren't into it, then the project was DOA.

 

What Happens Tomorrow

Good but not a fan of the pre-chorus with Simon's falsetto. But I really do enjoy this one. Didn't know there was a longer version on the single.

3/5

 

Silent Icy River

So this was a coda of sorts to What Happens Tomorrow? I like it...never heard it before.

3/5

 

What Happens Tomorrow


4.5/5

Silent Icy River

2.5/5

I've attached the Live From London performance featuring an excerpt of Silent Icy River as part of the bridge. I'm somewhat surprise at the underwhelming attitude towards this track. As I do remember when the album was being reviewed and then released that this seemed to be the track singled out as the best song on the album. I think Andy in particular shows what the band had been missing all those years with his classic rock influences on this composition.

Perhaps its post 9/11 message has dated it a lot? Which might (or might not) be a good point to bring up Warren Cucurrullo's 9/11 conspiracy theories (which I remember the British media picking up (along with with his other hobbies), so making him a source of ridicule, which was ironic considering how they freely ran with numerous Princess Diana crash conspiracy theories). Anyway, I thought the video for this was fairly naff as well, which was a disappointment.

 

What Happens Tomorrow: 5/5 This song ranks highly on my all-time favorite DD songs. This one is clearly a winner. Not a thing wrong anywhere. I particularly like how strong Simon’s vocals are on this track. He really powers it out for his voice during the “nobody knows” bits. It just adds some gravitas to this song that I really love. The melody, lyrics, really everything about this track is so great. I can’t say enough good things about it. I agree on the comments regarding the kids in the music video and how they probably marketed it wrong. You really couldn't ask for a better second single off an album and it sort of got wasted. Also agree that as great as the "nobody knows" bits are the falsetto after it is a drag. But I still give it 5/5 because I like it that much.


Silent Icy River: 2.5/5 Opens with the chorus and then mellows out into the verse. I guess it's like falling through the ice into the river and getting swept away? Got some Warren Years heft to it. Not bad for a b-side.

 

Want You More!

Love this. Like Curveboy said, I am adding this to playlists! Such a great track. Simon's singing is top of form here. The chorus is a tiny bit boring, but the verses more than make up for it. And it's interesting to hear Andy with those kind of Nile-like funk guitar bits throughout the electro track.

4.5/5

 

What Happens Tomorrow

I love the lyric in this so much. The music is a TINY bit plodding and I agree how much the demo and Andy's live bits add to everything, but still the recorded works really well for me.

And even one of my favorite lines:

It would seem lonely if you were the only star in the night​

Kind of leads to some of the design elements in the video. To me, the video is not that great at all. The stars thing in the video... doesn't work. The whole thing is cringe-y.

4.5/5

 

"What Happens Tomorrow".
Simon shines on this melodic, mid-tempo track.
"You've got to believe it'll be alright in the end..."
4.0/5.