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

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Blame The Machines, May 5, 2019.

  1. HeavensAbove

    HeavensAbove Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sacramento
    I think this album would be improved by losing 2 tracks.
     
  2. Guapito

    Guapito Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Breath After Breath

    I love this song. I wasn’t so sure upon the album’s release but maturity has made me see it in a different light for the past 15 years or so. It’s beautiful, both musically and lyrically. 4.5/5

    With regards to the length of the DD album. Yes it could be shorter, but so could many albums. I miss the days of a 9/10 song album that didn’t exceed 45 mins. Longer albums tend to make some tracks more forgettable and less cohesive. At least in my brain! There are exceptions but not many. Previously albums were limited due to the amount of space on an LP but with CD the floodgates opened. The cynic in me also believes that artists are paid by track and not by album. At least in some territories.
     
  3. RevolutionDoctor

    RevolutionDoctor Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gent, Belgium
    Anyone notice that a guitar part in Shotgun is lifted from the outro of Sin Of The City ? (or was it the other way around ?).

    I never read that Shotgun was recorded on a Mac. The sleeve notes don't mention it either and they are very specific on what the album was recorded on (an Akai system)

    Breath after Breath is a heavenly song for me. 5/5
     
  4. Guapito

    Guapito Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I was going to say Disintegration!
     
  5. Chris Bernhardt

    Chris Bernhardt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago IL
    I'm not complaining , love this thread, but I wished we at least touched on Andy Taylors first solo record. I'm bringing this up because I hope we can also get some thoughts on the Neurotic Outsiders album, a album I remember enjoying but also havn't listened to since it came out.
     
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2019
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  6. Chris Bernhardt

    Chris Bernhardt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago IL
    Breathe After Breathe- I'm a lot more open to this in 2019 then I was in 1993. Back then it was another WTF are these guys doing moment. Really enjoyed it today. They actually get into a good Brazilian groove. There's also about five different sections of music on this , they could have pared it down into a more poppish structure , but whatever.
     
  7. Neonbeam

    Neonbeam All Art Was Once Contemporary

    Location:
    Planet Earth
    Didn't we agree upon doing these at the very end as quasi bonus tracks? In order not to kill this threads momentum. And... hey.... we've already made it past "Liberty"! :righton:
     
  8. Blame The Machines

    Blame The Machines Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Swindon
    Breath After Breath



    I've always liked this lush sounding Sting like track full of the Brazilian rhythms. It really is superbly executed. Personally, I would have loved to have seen it released as their third single off the album instead of "Too Much Information" as that would have been a really ballsy, brave thing to do.. Easily my favourite track on the album outside of the big two global hits.

    5.0/5
     
  9. Blame The Machines

    Blame The Machines Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Swindon
  10. Curveboy

    Curveboy Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    UMF

    Wow...I must have blocked this song out. This would have fit right in on Liberty.

    0/5
     
  11. omikron

    omikron Avid contributor to Paul McCartney's bank account

    Location:
    Lexington, KY
    Breath After Breath: 4/5 A breath of fresh air on this album. The idea to work in the Latin-sounding themes is brilliant. This track remains light and airy throughout as it floats on Warren’s fantastic guitar work. Another example of mastering the style on this song. Fantastic chorus. Man these guys write some of the best choruses!


    UMF: 3.5/5 A funky, 90s era NYC-styled hip-hoppy tune. Quite a category there! Heads should bounce back and forth like a bobblehead on this song but it isn't going to win any prizes on this album. **Bonus points** for using “zed” in a song. Americans find such things humorous. I actually just had a Canadian say that to me today!
     
  12. HeavensAbove

    HeavensAbove Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sacramento
    "UMF"
    3.5/5
    Like "Drowning Man" and "Breath After Breath," I like this much more now than I did back in 1993. Back then, I thought "UMF" sounded overly stiff and computer-programmed. Either because my tastes have changed or pop music has become even more robotic, I can now appreciate the awkward charm of this song. The section from 1.50-2.10 provides a nice diversion from the main groove. "UMF" does go on a little too long, though; would be improved by losing the section from 4.20 onwards, IMO.
     
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2019
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  13. RTW

    RTW Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    I see a lot of ideas and complaints about the sequencing of this album, from fans who liked the promo track list before “Come Undone” to those who think the album is simply too long. I don’t want to excise any tracks, nor do I think the variety of styles is too much, but I do agree that something is amiss in the play order.

    So here we reach the flabby midsection of the record. Individually each song is great but on certain days it feels like ballad after ballad after ballad. (And I guess it would, because that’s literally what it is.)

    “Come Undone” is nearly perfect, in particular because of that watery guitar and Tessa Niles, but then “Breath After Breath” loses some of the impact of its gorgeousness because it’s anticlimactic positioning immediately afterward. Then two songs later we’re onto the bloated “Femme Fatale” and apathy really sets in. (Imagine how great it might sound to have “Breath After Breath” in the bottom half, i.e. between “None of the Above” and “Shelter.”)

    Anyhow, if song order is all I can complain about then there must be much to commend:

    Come Undone, 5/5
    Breath After Breath, 4/5
     
  14. RTW

    RTW Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    “Ultimate Mind ****”

    I always like Duran Duran when they funk and this is no exception. It’s more Prince than “Skin Trade” even, but catchy as hell. Breaks the mid-tempo monotony that might otherwise set in.

    UMF, 4/5
     
  15. Adegan

    Adegan Forum Resident

    Location:
    U.S.A.
    Ok, I know, I think we were all expecting at some point in the song that Simon would say the word "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" (see what I did there?), but it just didn't happen. And I'll echo what others have said here about it being a Prince like track. I have no qualms with this track - it's a pretty upbeat and funky sounding song. As before and as you will see with the rest of the album, there's more than just the album version out there:

    5:31 UMF [Album Version]
    5:33 UMF [Carmen Rizzo's Original Version]|U.M.F. (Carmen's Orig Ver)
    5:34 UMF [Carmen Rizzo's Remix]|U.M.F. (Carmen's Remix)
    2:06 UMF [Alternate Rough Ending]|U.M.F. (T9 Ending Piece)
    4:10 UMF [Four On The Floor Demo 1] <recorded on 18 May 1991>
    5:46 UMF [Four On The Floor Demo 2] <recorded on 21 October 1991>
    4:05 UMF [Four On The Floor Demo 3] <recorded on 19 December 1991>

    I do prefer the Carmen Rizzo versions though.

    U.M.F. - 4/5
     
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  16. Sea Within a Sea

    Sea Within a Sea Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Playing a bit of catch-up. My second least favorite DD album I've always thought was the perfect Duran Duran album for people who don't really like Duran Duran.

    Too Much Information
    A terrific opener! 4/5

    Ordinary World
    When this came out, I thought it was just a lesser Save A Prayer. I've warmed to it.
    5/5

    Love Voodoo
    Did this ever NOT sound dated?
    2.5/5

    Drowning Man
    I like it until Rappin' Simon comes in. Warren's clearly been listening to Lodger/Scary Monsters, so that's a good thing.
    2.5/5

    Shotgun
    Makes me nostalgic for "Flute Interlude."
    1/5

    Come Undone
    Doesn't resonate with me like a lot of the other hits, but still very good.
    4/5

    Breath After Breath
    People have been comparing this to Sting, as if that's acceptable on a DD album. But actually, this song makes Sting sound like Motorhead. So porque algo está em Portugese, isso não faz bem!
    1/5

    UMF
    Simon, stop rapping. Just stop it.
    1/5

    And the worst is yet to come...
     
  17. Bluepicasso

    Bluepicasso Android Confused

    Location:
    Arlington, Va
    UMF 2.5/5. When I first got the album all those years ago, I thought this song brought a bit of life to the album. Now, it is a track worth skipping. Tend to dislike the way-so-obvious funk tracks. If I do listen to it, my face shrieks back in horror at the "stir it up" lines. More proof they need a hard producer that is firm with them and says, "You guys can't do this. You wrote Hungry Like the Wolf at one time. Come on!"
     
  18. Neonbeam

    Neonbeam All Art Was Once Contemporary

    Location:
    Planet Earth
    Your quote - the "Liberty" bit - just made me smile because:

    UMF

    I love this track. Definitely a Prince-touch here and Simon rapping is... strange. But: "UMF" is tight and very well realised. It's like Depeche Mode trying their hands on more contemporary electronica on "Ultra". It's great. Contemporary. Yet still unmistakably sounding like "the band".

    Finally this album is hitting it's stride. Nice!

    4/5
     
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  19. Guapito

    Guapito Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    U.M.F - I struggle with this one. I find it very cheesy yet catchy at the same time. It was earworm for some time (and maybe tonight) but it’s not the best thing, neither the worst. 2.5/5
     
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  20. Sea Within a Sea

    Sea Within a Sea Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    As an aside, has anyone else noticed that "Astronaut" has been removed from Spotify (at least in the US)?

    Hopefully I have it on my iPod so I can give it a re-listen before it comes up. (Yes, I still use an iPod. Don't judge me.)

    As far as I know, Medazzaland and Pop Trash have never been on Spotify.
     
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2019
  21. GLUDFSSR

    GLUDFSSR Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Drowning Man - 1/5
    Shotgun - 1/5
    Come Undone 4.5/5
    Breath After Breath 3/5
    UMF - 2.5 / 5
     
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  22. OhioDuran

    OhioDuran Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cincinnati OH
    UMF
    I think at the beginning sounds clunky, but it all falls into place and works for me. Love Warren’s playing and the last few minutes of the song a lot. I even likes Simon’s performance throughout the song.

    The song also holds really fond memories. An alternative station when I was in college that played Indie/college music but was really popular in the city kept playing UMF very heavily that whole spring/summer. And a cover band that we would see a few times also had this in their live rotation in 2013.

    4/5
     
  23. RevolutionDoctor

    RevolutionDoctor Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gent, Belgium
    UMF has always been a favourite on The Wedding Album. It's such a fun track with good vibes.
    It might be square funk but I like it. Including the stir it up bits.

    4/5

    I seem in the minority here, I don't understand the criticism on Simon's rapping.
    Hothead, UMF and dare I say it 911 is a joke : I like them all.

    Can anyone explain me why his rapping is bad ?

    Sadly, Astronaut is not on Spotify either in Europe.
    That's four albums missing from DD discography on Spotify....
     
    Last edited: Aug 17, 2019
  24. mr_spenalzo

    mr_spenalzo Forum Resident

    I'm having a bit of trouble keeping up... complete lack of routine due to the summer holidays.

    Ordinary World ★★★★★
    I knew the song was special the first time I heard it. I was sitting in my room, listening to the radio with a cassette ready to tape anything good. It started and I had no idea what it was but was compelled to press record. Nice intro. Then Simon starts singing, and it was amazing. The next day I cycled to school with my buddy Arthur, a Michael Jackson fan, and he'd heard it too. Knowing I was a Duran Duran fan (or had been... we were 11 last time they released something and now we were approaching 14: an eternity had passed), he asked me if I'd heard their beautiful new song. "Such a great chorus".
    Fast forward a couple of weeks. My town finally got MTV. They times it wonderfully, to coincide with a school holiday. That week you could not get me away from the television. I first saw Suede. Depeche Mode's new song "I Feel You". A cool new Bowie track... and "Ordinary World": as if a perfect song wasn't enough, the band coupled it with the perfect video. Arguably the last time they looked effortlessly cool (they'll try looking cool a-plenty over the next 25 years, of course) and just really beautiful.
    The song. Words cannot do it justice, but what I like: the lyrics, the melody during the verses, the "papers in the roadside" section which is where the songs sounds like from another world... and here we need to address the one dissatisfying factor: the way how the intro acoustic solo on the single version is repeated electrically later on. It's been mentioned a few times, but somehow the single edit is structured better than the album version.

    * * *

    At the end of that holiday my mum took us to Rotterdam, and I'd saved up enough pocket money to buy the "Ordinary World" single. Knowing how much I loved this song and the band, she added the added the guilders needed to get the whole record. Guess what I was doing that weekend. I devoured every aspect of it. The cover, the back, the booklet, the lyrics. Arguably the last time their album art was effortlessly cool.

    Too Much Information ★★
    First time I heard it this song blew me away, but I've soured on it a bit. I do not like the way it sounds at the start, the keyboard bits, the acoustic guitar which sounds too loud. Nowadays I start with the second song when I'm in the mood for some Wedding Album.

    Love Voodoo ★★★
    I remember turning the album booklet to this one. Earlier in the thread "Love Voodoo" was compared with Screamadelica. I wouldn't be into that (or Happy Mondays, who I feel this song takes some of its cues from) until much later, but I can see the connection. The three stars are for the magnificent chorus: there's not much going for the verses.

    Drowning Man
    I remember my stomach turning to this one. Hated it then, hate it today.

    Shotgun
    I'll make a playlist of this with "Stop Dead" some time, as I got curious how they hang together. Warren's the star of this (thankfully) short one. Now, I rarely listen to The Wedding Album in full, but aren't some of these effects revisited on the last song?
     
  25. Chris Bernhardt

    Chris Bernhardt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago IL
    UMF- always liked it. The Wedding Album for me is holding up so far.
     
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