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

Their best album is Seven & the Ragged Tiger

 

DD enter a new decade with a look back....

183. Boys Keep Swinging




"Boys Keep Swinging" is a cover song by Duran Duran, released as a single from album We Were So Turned On: A Tribute To David Bowie by Manimal on 13 September 2010.

The song was also released as a limited edition 7" vinyl single on 20 December 2010.

Written by David Bowie and Brian Eno, the song was originally recorded during the Lodger sessions in the late 1970s. Bowie wanted to capture a garage band style for the track, and decided the best way to achieve this sound was to get the band to swap instruments. Guitarist Carlos Alomar played drums and drummer Dennis Davis played bass. The final result had a post punk feel.

"Boys Keep Swinging" was recorded by Duran Duran for the We Were So Turned On: A Tribute To David Bowie album, with all net profits going War Child UK.

Duran Duran's version also features with Carla Bruni's "Absolute Beginners" on a very limited 7" vinyl single, released by Manimal on 20 December 2010. A total of 1500 pressing produced, split in the following colours 300 on pink opaque, 300 on clear and 400 on black. Later repressed on 500 yellow vinyl copies.

The cover artwork for the Duran Duran sleeve was designed by Patty Palazzo.

 

Boys Keep Swinging 4/5. Got this as a free download from the local library. No clue this cover was done. They kill it. If only Thank You had this spirit and choice of hard cuts. Great groove!

 

Also cool to know that the Bowie tribute album in question features a Bowie cover (“Ashes to Ashes”) performed by Japan’s fretless bass player Mick Karn (RIP), who was supposed to guest on All You Need Is Now, before being diagnosed with terminal cancer.

 

Boys Keep Swinging- great cover by the band. It’s different yet true to the Bowie original. 4.5/5

 

Cry Baby Cry 4.5/5

Love the track, great intro with the base.
To me the subject matter of the song is close to the song Red Carpet Massacre itself and it belongs in the family of other DD songs : Lady Xanax and, on the following album, Other People's Lives and Networker Nation.

Boys Keeps Swinging (4.5/5) is a great cover and it was very welcome during the long wait for the new album, as was Mark Ronson's song Record Collection. The only reason BKS doesn't get 5/5 is because the mastering is sooooooooooo loud.
Unfortunately all following albums will follow that trend...

 

I didn't know he was going to be on the record . A shame.

 

Boys Keep Swinging- This is horrible, but in fairness I've never liked any of the covers of this song I've heard ( I love the actual song).

 

Cry Baby Cry

Actually love this one a lot. It doesn't feel rooted in any of their past music to me, I don't hear the comparisons to Notorious-era or anything. It's hip, cool, unmistakably Duran. Love the bass and synths.

3.5/5

 

Boys Keep Swinging

Bowie's almost always sounded too much like a demo to me. The delay in his vocals, not like the studio delay, just the amount of time he takes to begin singing each line. Simon's read is a refreshing pop take on it, and improves the song *greatly* for me.

The whole cover is top notch. I LOVE Roger's drum programming, so awesomely highlighted at the tail end of the track.

I remember it was really hard when the cover was released to get a copy of each color of the limited vinyl.

5/5

 

Boys Keep Swinging

One of my favorite Bowie tunes...this does not do it justice.

 

"Boys Keep Swinging"

3.5/5

Good cover that reminds me of DD's first album, from a production/sonic palette standpoint. I can hear the seeds of the retro-themed AYNIN album in this cover.

 

All You Need Is Now

All You Need Is Now is the thirteenth studio album by Duran Duran, released as an iTunes 9-track download on 21 December 2010 and as a 14-track CD on 21/22 March 2011.

Co-produced by Mark Ronson, the album was recorded at Sphere Studios in London, UK over 2009 and 2010. Duranduran.com first announced the title on the 27 September, which includes "All You Need Is Now", the first single released from the album.

This is Duran Duran's first album not released by a major record label; it appeared on the band's own label, Tapemodern in the UK.

During an interview on The One Show in November, Simon Le Bon said that Ronson wanted to make the follow-up album to Rio. He later added on Mancow's Morning Madhouse in February that Nick Rhodes used a lot of old analogue synthesizers and not one digital synthesizer, which helped to create an organic sound.

The title track starts the album by strongly announcing the presence of Le Bon, Rhodes, J. Taylor and R. Taylor, setting the tone with a mix of old and new. "Blame the Machines" has a retro sound that musically and lyrically could fit on Duran Duran's very first album. "Safe (In the Heat of the Moment)" features guest-star Ana Matronic and has a disco-esque beat, a song compared with "Planet Earth" and "Rio" on BBC Radio 4's Front Row. The album's longest track, "The Man Who Stole A Leopard" was inspired by The Collector (1965 film) and begins by invoking Rio‘s "The Chauffeur" before floating to loftier heights. "Before the Rain" closes the download version, again with a blend of old and new.

Clunie Reid created the cover artwork using photographs shot by Nick after he discovered her work at the Saatchi Gallery. In November 2010, Roger Dekker photographed Duran Duran modelling shirts made especially for them by Katharine Hamnett in London for the album packaging.

The album peaked at number 11 in the UK, becoming the band's 13th Top 20 album. It debuted at number 119 on the US Billboard 200 chart on its initial December 2010 digital release, selling 15,000 copies in its first week. It reached number 29 upon its physical release in March 2011. The album had sold 76,000 copies in the US as of August 2015. Duran Duran promoted the album through the All You Need Is Now tour.

For the purposes of streamlining this thread, we will cover each song from the 14 track physical release in 2011 as well as the bonus tracks.

 

184. All You Need Is Now



"All You Need Is Now" is a single by Duran Duran, and the first single from the All You Need Is Now album. It was released as a free download via the iTunes store on 8 December 2010. The song was co-produced by Duran Duran and Mark Ronson and co-written by Duran, Ronson and session guitarist Dom Brown.

On 8 September 2010, Producer Mark Ronson spoke on CCN about his experience working with the band on the new album, and said that "All You Need Is Now" is one of his favorite Duran songs of all time.

In an interview on BBC Breakfast, Roger Taylor said the song is about "living in the moment and enjoy that moment where you are now".

 

All You Need Is Now:

This song has a slightly psychedelic feel and is a major departure after "Red Carpet Massacre". In general the whole album ("AYNIN") is more easy to love than it's predecessor since it steers clear of too drastic measures.

What I love about this song is how it opens the album in a very subtle, slightly anthemic way so you never can be sure where this thing is headed.

4/ 5

Ooooh, tomorrow is the day btw. The day we finally reach that song. Wouldn't it be a great day for the AWOL to come back?

 

"All You Need Is Now"
4/5

I wasn't too into this track upon first hearing it, but it has grown on me substantially since then. The anthemic melody is reminiscent of "New Moon On Monday" and the production (the big, chunky drums, in particular) recalls "View To A Kill." Can't really see any other track on this album working as well as this as the lead-off cut.

 

Annnnndddd we're back. I was much more pleased with this album than with RCM. You had an admirer of the band producing the album, so you knew that material was in good hands. I do like the title track All You Need Is Now, but I still like to poke fun at it by calling it All You Need Are Cows. The opening of the song was a bit jarring, but you soon get use to it. Good song and plenty of versions to choose from:

4:33 All You Need Is Now (Album Version)
3:37 All You Need Is Now (Cut To The Chase Mix)|(Radio Edit)
3:45 All You Need Is Now (R2V2 Mix)|(Radio Mix)
3:45 All You Need Is Now [Alternate HMV R2V2 Mix]
4:33 All You Need Is Now (R2V2 But Longer Mix)|(R2V2 Extended Mix)
3:45 All You Need Is Now [New Radio Mix]
4:53 All You Need Is Now (Youth Kills Mix)
4:53 All You Need Is Now (Youth Kills Alt Doom Mix)
7:51 All You Need Is Now (Tom Middleton Cosmos Remix)|(Tom Middleton Cosmos Mix)
6:03 All You Need Is Now (Pablo La Rosa Remix)
1:15 A Diamond In The Mind [Album Version]
1:33 Return To Now [Album Version]
4:24 All You Need Is Now [Play With It! Multitrack]
4:29 All You Need Is Now [Play With It! Instrumental]

All You Need Is Now - 4/5

 

All You Need Is Now

Let me start with a LOVE the concept of this album...going back and revisiting a better time in DD's history after the disaster of Red Carpet Massacre.

This song has everything a fan could ask for and I still listen to it often.

5/5

 

My album rankings up to RCM:

RIO
DD 81
Arcadia - So Red The Rose
7 & The Ragged Tiger
Medazzaland
RCM
Astronaut
Notorious
Big Thing
Wedding Album
Pop Trash
Liberty
Thank You

 

All You Need Is Now. 3.5/5. To me this song is the worst on the album. The album is stellar though and a better representation should have been chosen for the lead single. Too much Pop Trash in this.

 

All You Need Is Now - 3.5/5.
The first single is by far my least favorite track on an otherwise excellent album.
Annoying synth intro/motif.
Great chorus, though.

 

All You Need Is Now: the synth riff during the verses is grating. A classic example of Nick needing to be reigned in.

But that chorus is an all timer; reminds me of New Moon on Monday in the best possible way.
Also a fan of the strident View To a Kill esque beat. In 2010, it was great to hear John and Roger so prominently again.

3.5/5

 

I read a quote from Roger in which he said something along the lines of "Our fans let us know in no uncertain terms that they did not like Red Carpet Massacre." There is no doubt in my mind that it was the response to Red Carpet Massacre (by the fans, press, radio, cash registers) that led to the decision for them to write and record a more familiar sounding follow up. If you like All You Need Is Now you can thank Red Carpet Massacre. It's a great album, but nearly all the songs inspire a deja vu feeling that weaves between comforting nostalgia and "give the people what they want" damage control.

 

You know how good it feels to finally read a positive comment on a new DD track from you?

 

All You Need Is Now:

Amazing song, love the melancholic guitar riff in the chorus and the contrast with the distorted guitar in the verses that Dom is playing, same goes for Nick's synths, weird in the verses, beautiful in the chorus, it accentuates the beauty of the chorus even more, I get the idea behind it and it is very clever composed. All the credits to Resonant Fire who uploaded these stems.



As for the whole album, a very strong record overall and one of their best IMHO. Although it seems very easy to go back to your past, I think it is very hard to not sound outdated and Mark Ronson did an amazing job while producing this record. Strong songwriting, old familiar Duran sound but with modern sounding drums and vocals (great harmonies by Simon). Like on of the comments on youtube on the full album video (now deleted unfortunately): one of the greatest returns to form that any 80's band came up with and that deserved way more attention than it got (imagine if it was very well promoted by a label).