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

Runway Runaway

Classic everything. Love the synth choices and arpeggiation. Tasteful guitar on guitar action. Roger killing it with the high hats and everything that almosts insists that you dance. Simon kicks it out of the park again with an amazing vocal delivery and harmonization.

But the number one thing that stuck out back then and revisiting this now is not only how insanely great the bass playing is again, but how high it is for the early part of the track. It isn't until the "meat" of the lyric mid-2nd verse that John drops it down. Sh!t gets real lyrically early on in the track as the opening line as she's walking out the door, but the reasons she's leaving are layed out here:

Happy when her heart is jumping
Desperately seeking something
Trying to be strong enough
To choose another road​

It's really the bit where she decides to follow through, and the bass dropping an octave there mirrors the lyric perfectly. So insanely great to match that with that bit.

5/5

 

Return to Now

Owen Pallett doing what Owen Pallett does again. Sounds great, love it in the context here.

4/5

 

Before The Rain

Haunting track. Love when the drums kick in. For some reason it seems more labored/less effortless than Chauffeur or something but is still really pretty.

4/5

 

Networker Nation

I always suspected I would like this at some point, but it never seemed like it would happen. Finally listening along again this morning with the lyrics, and it really did come together well for me. Really nice guitar and synth work. I love the quiet synth bits throughout.

3/5

 

This Lost Weekend

Yikes. How is this song not completely grating to me anymore?? Framing it as a cross between Like an Angel and (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay helps a bit.

It just seems so... demo-y.

Simon's vocal meanderings are rough, the falsetto bits.

But I am liking it a bit more than I remembered. The guitar bits are fun.

2/5

 

Too Close To The Sun

Oh boy. Simon's intro. His whole delivery and the "un-song-ness" of the whole track mostly ruin it for me. But the lyrics are actually quite pretty, reviewing them again with fresh eyes:

You're looking out for something

Some escape from​

The antique dark of nothing new

Automatic sky ​

Out where the cupids dare to climb

soon these pretty feathers burn​

As you'll discover

when you fly too close to the sun​

Too close to the sun
​

But yeah, not to harp on it. Simon's whininess, his harmonization in fifths pretty much assure this isn't a track I will repeat much going forward again.

Dom really does some nice guitar work though.

1.5/5

 

Early Summer Nerves

The verses are so pretty. I think it was Rolling Stone around the time of So Red the Rose that called out Simon's "hog calling" vocals, and I think this is what the reviewer meant. Works really well for me too, definitely has the Khanada-vibe to me too, vocally at least.

I ended up buying that super expensive Vinyl Factory 5xLP edition of All You Need is Now and was baffled at how blah some of the bonus tracks were compared with the rest of the album, but really ended up not hating them as much over time. It's a really pretty release.

3.5/5

 

AYNIN - a reboot and a good one. Some missteps but for a band of this vintage it’s rare to put out all bangers. The physical release sits somewhere in the middle of my album list. Whereas the iTunes version is much higher. 4/5

Diamond In The Mind - This Live album disappointed me due to the effects they have put on Simon’s vocals. I bought the Vinyl Factory version which has encrusted diamond dust on the cover. Just as well that I rarely get it out as they do flake off. 2/5

 

Pop/Rock band with radio-friendly melodies, amazing hooks and luscious harmonies. I'd say they do need the news flash because Paper Gods is definitely not any of that.


As for the Diamond In The Mind album. It's somewhat bittersweet for me. My wife and I had tickets to the Cincinnati show of that tour. Neither of us had seen them live before. We both were very excited about the AYNIN album and were very pumped to go to that concert. This is it! We thought.

Then Nick got sick and cancelled the show that day and the rest of the tour. The show never got rescheduled. The live album is a reminder to me of the thing that could have been but never was.

 

Don't make them seem boring, why not
"excess, sophistication, models, exotic places, champagne, lavishness, designer stuff.... and chopsticks!"?

 

Don't forget their jetsetting playboy personas and beautiful women!

 

My album rankings so far:

Rio
ST 1981
Arcadia - So Red The Rose
Seven and the Ragged Tiger
Medazzaland
Red Carpet Massacre
All You Need Is Now
Astronaut
Big Thing
Notorious
Wedding Album
Liberty
Pop Trash
Thank You

 

sorry that you didn't get to see any of the "all you need is now" dates, they were really good shows all the way around.
totally disagree with you about "paper gods." while there are some tracks that don't necessarily do it for me, the best stuff sounds energetic and vibrant. a band not resting on their previous successes, but continuing to try new things and create new songs/sounds. to do a second "all you need is now" would have been safe but nowhere near as interesting or creative.

 

I would agree with and to some degree applaud them for trying new things.

Papet Gods in my opinion was just a wrong decision. Beats and hip hop are not their thing.

I also know many people like Paper Gods so it is what it is. Lots of variety of tastes here.

 

i actually think that "red carpet massacre" could be more easily categorized as beat/hip-hop driven than "paper gods." if you look at the progression/discography from "red carpet massacre" to "all you need is now," you can almost think of "paper gods" as a combination of the two. the forward-thinking modern sounds of the first, with the enthusiasm and recognition of their more retro work. i actually hear lots of classic duran duran things all over "paper gods," will try to contribute to the track break-downs instead of this little sidetrack.

 

All the pre-Paper Gods chatter is weird - doesn't the song-by-song start tomorrow??

 

Early Summer Nerves : the best of the demo-y bonus tracks. There is some potential in this one, which is more than I can say for the others. 3/5.

Final Thoughts on All You Need Is Now: I always think of it as a pair with U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind, but it so much better.

DD sounds reborn even if the majority of the album is fan service. The album sits around #5 or #6 depending on the day in the discography for me.

My favorite memory from this era is their amazing performance at Coachella. When I saw that they were headlining there, I knew that their time was coming back around.



Just killing it right there.

Unfortunately, A Diamond In The Mind fails to capture their live magic. If I am craving some live DD, I will stream their Hammersmith shows from 81 and 82 or the incredible MSG show on YouTube. I'm sorry but Andy just gave them a certain edge live wise. Very hard to replicate.

 

And the Paper Gods era kicks off with...

203. Pressure Off



"Pressure Off" is a single by Duran Duran, released from the album Paper Gods by Warner Bros. Records on 15 June 2015.

This is the first single released from Duran Duran's 14 studio album Paper Gods. The title was announced on 27 March 2015 when Warner Bros. Records signed a global recording contract with Duran Duran.

The single features critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Janelle Monáe, and producer Nile Rodgers. It was co-written with Ronson, Monae and Rodgers and co-produced with Rodgers, Ronson and Mr. Hudson.

 

Pressure Off. 4/5. Good single. Modern, yet not pandering to youth. Thumbs and Toes Up!

 

Were you at the Coachella show? It was my first year going to Coachella; they were a big part of the reason I ended up getting tickets. Amazing show, and I've been back for every Coachella since!!

 

Pressure Off

This is probably the first single since Notorious that John's bass is given the right treatment in the mix. And the bass line is so soo great.

To ME, the essence of Duran is where each of the instruments plays a fantastic part and is given space not to dominate the whole thing. It's a perfect blend of pop/rock/dance where several musical and vocal elements fill out the entire sound without overshadowing another contribution. Pressure Off fills that so perfectly.

Simon's vocals are so powerful for a band their age. Janelle is perfect as always. The "oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh"s in the chorus are awesome.

The video is super fun.

I remember seeing the show at Capital Theater in Port Chester NY on a weird two-off series of shows between festival dates. The shows at Capital Theater were at the start of August 2015, and featured the live debut of Pressure Off, even though the song was released mid-June and they'd played a few festival gigs in Spain and Netherlands in late June without playing the track at all.

A few other things to note - I don't remember another time that a Duran track had 8 writers on it! The band + Monae + Rodgers + Mr Hudson + Ronson. Also the "Night Version" was actually mixed by John and Nick, also a first to my knowledge. They didn't make an official video for the Night Version, but a fan-made video edit of the official video is below.



5/5

 

I

I didn’t even know there was a Night Version.

Pressure Off: yes, this is a great single. Loads of fun, amazing bass, funky as hell. It’s very much catching the wave of the Nile Rodgers rebirth and the Daft Punk track Get Lucky but still has the Duran sound. The video is great. It should have been massive, but it wasn’t? Why, I don’t know. Antipathy to an old 80s band? Who knows. I recall it getting slated on the Roundtable section of Steve Lamacq’s BBC 6Music radio show but with Lammo, I didn’t expect anything less. The other participants, including Janice Long, who was a supporter of the band back in the day, also disliked it. I was very surprised. It’s a 5/5 for me.

 

yeah for the life of me i don’t know how this track didn’t blow up. it would sit inbetween “get lucky” and “uptown funk” on any radio station and sound perfectly in place. i was underwhelmed with the video, it’s perfectly fine but nothing special.

 

Pressure Drop - an easy 5/5. A brilliant single, with Janelle Monae featured exquisitely.

Of course BBC 6 Music hated it - it has already chosen which 1980s artists are "allowed" to be cool (e.g. OMD) and no-one else is allowed a look in.

 

Pressure Drop- I've never been totally convinced about this single. The chorus seems pretty desperate for a hit. It's fine if not overly unique like their better singles . I enjoyed it this morning.