Duran Duran are probably the first band which springs to mind for most people as soon as the 80s New Romantic movement is mentioned. In fact, they were by no means pioneers of the New Romantic scene, which originated at the Blitz club in London. It was some months before the scene spread out of London, due to the mainstream success of bands such as Visage, and reached Birmingham, the hometown of Duran Duran.
Despite being almost frowned upon by some of the hardcore New Romantics (their inclusion of the actual phrase “New Romantic” in their first single was seen as a huge faux pas!), Duran Duran enjoyed phenomenal success in the early to mid 1980s and were groundbreaking artists in many ways, being responsibly for bringing the style and music of the New Romantics to the masses. They managed to combine being fashionable, serious artists and musicians, respected by the majority of their peers, with having a very large teen following, something which very few of today’s teen bands can even aspire to. Their total career has spanned many years, with them achieving moderate chart success even now. They are still going strong as a live act, and I was lucky enough to see them perform last year.
Duran Duran’s original line-up was Simon Le Bon (vocals), Nick Rhodes (keyboards), John Taylor (bass), Andy Taylor (guitar) and Roger Taylor (drums). This line-up was very successful until the mid 80s when Andy and Roger Taylor both
departed. The remaining three were joined by Warren Cuccurullo, and performed as a foursome until the early 90s, when John Taylor finally left the band (a split he once described as being more difficult that divorcing his wife!)
The album “Greatest” was reduced in 1998 and as the name suggests is a greatest hits compliation, containing the majority of Duran Duran’s most successful and well-known singles. I originally bought the CD simply as a fan of 80s music who liked one or two of the songs, but I soon grew to love them all and have since become a big fan of Duran Duran and have purchased a number of their other CDs. Unfortunately I was a little too young to enjoy them in their hey-day, which is a great pity as I think that despite (or perhaps thanks to!) all the big hair, frilly shirts and heavy make-up, they were ten times more exciting than any band that has come along for a long, long time!
The track-listing of the album is as follows:-
1. Is There Something I Should Know? 2. The Reflex 3. A View to a Kill 4. Ordinary World 5. Save a Prayer 6. Rio 7. Hungry Like the Wolf 8. Girls on Film 9. Planet Earth 10. Union of the Snake 11. New Moon on Monday 12. Wild Boys 13. Notorious 14. I Don’t Want Your Love 15. All She Wants Is 16. Electric Barbarella 17. Serious 18. Skin Trade 19. Come Undone
There are many highlights for me, which include:-
The Reflex – The lyrics to this song make no sense to me whatsoever! Despite that it is one of their best and most catchy songs, and contains the subliminal(!) lyric in the title of this opinion!
A View to a Kill – The theme to the James Bond film of the same name. The fact that Duran Duran were asked to perform a Bond theme demonstrates their popularity and stature at the time, and puts them up there with artists like Paul McCartney and Shirley Bassey. The song is a typical Bond theme, with lots of orchestration.
Ordinary World – My personal favourite on the album, and one of my all time favourite songs. It is a beautiful ballad with a haunting guitar melody, and although not released during the peak of their career success was a huge hit for Duran Duran, deservedly so. It is taken from The Wedding Album, one of their most critically acclaimed recordings.
Rio – An uplifting song which reminds me of summer, and is as well-known for its video as anything else. The image of the band singing the song whilst speeding along on a yacht is one of those images which epitomises the 1980s!
Girls on Film – Another of their most famous and easily recognisable songs, which was almost as well-known for its X rated video as anything else!
Planet Earth – This was the band’s first single, and defined their sound for years to come. It was also the song responsible for the offending “New Romantic” line!
Wild Boys – This song has a really “big” sound with a lot of bass and drums and is one of those songs which is great to turn up loud in the car!
Electric Barbarella – Not one of their well-known songs, and not a particularly big hit, I think it was included on the album because it had been a recent single for the band at the time of the album’s release. Nevertheless it is a quirky and catchy song, and not one that should be skipped over, even if you are buying the album more for their older songs.
Skin Trade – Quite a funky song; at this time the band were working with American producer Nile Rogers, and his style comes through in this song.
Come Undone – Another single taken from The Wedding Album, and another haunting love song, written by Simon Le Bon for his wife Yasmin.
Overall, the album is musically very good, and encompasses a variety of different styles whilst still maintaining their distinctive sound. Despite some cringe-inducingly awful lines (e.g. “You’re about as easy as a nuclear war”) they do manage to redeem themselves on some of their later singles with some fairly profound lyrics.
The album is packaged in a white sleeve with blue writing, and is simple but stylish, with the same theme being followed throughout the booklet. The information given in the booklet is sparse, simply giving the details of each song.
As you will see from my comments, Duran Duran were as well known for their lavish video productions as for their music. There is a video compilation available, which contains almost the same tracks as the album, with a few differences.
The album, Greatest, is an absolute must for anyone who was a fan of Duran Duran in the 1980s, or is a fan of 1980s music in general. It contains some real classic songs which define the decade, without sounding dated when listened to today. Even if the song titles don’t ring a bell you will be likely to recognise them when you hear them, and they are all catchy with no weak links or fillers on the album. I admire artists who wait until they have a decent body of work behind them before releasing a compilation, in order to give them a choice of songs to include, rather than simply every single they have ever released.
I would highly recommend this album, it is one of the most listened to CDs in my collection and is never far away from my CD player!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
God knows how I got into their music as I'm only 16, but I love this album - Ordinary World, New Moon On Monday and The Reflex are just a few of the highlights for me! :) tom
Ryan74 03.12.2003 23:48
I've got this, it's great!
charis18uk 22.07.2001 20:43
ah, the memories. There were all my mates lavishing there affections on George Michael & Wham. There I was loving John Taylor & swearing that one day I would marry him. Youth eh! Great Op.
Greatestis a Duran Duran fan's biggest wish come true (next to a live concert, of ... more
course)--all their ground-breaking videos together in one place. More than radio, MTV made mega-stars out of the photogenic group, and few took better advantage of the me...
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