Note to Marks & Spencer: Whispering over the top of slow motion footage of food doesn't make it tast...
Note to Marks & Spencer: Whispering over the top of slow motion footage of food doesn't make it tastier or any less fattening.
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This concludes my recent trilogy of "retro reviews": please see my summation of Alison Moyet and Culture Club's best albums as proof of my unhealthy obsession with the 1980's.
THE BAND Everyone's heard of Duran Duran. Formed in Birmingham in 1979 at the start of the New Romantic and New Wave scenes (a showy, glamorous poke in the face to punk) they went on to achieve massive worldwide popularity and amass top ten hits between 1981 and 1993. They won a lifetime achievement award at this years Brit Awards and this prompted me to get my old Duran albums down from the loft and give them another spin.
The band was made up of Simon Le Bon (vocals), John Taylor (bass), Nick Rhodes (synths), Andy Taylor (guitar) and Roger Taylor (drums). None of the Taylors are related. The band split in two to pursue solo projects in 1985 (namely Arcadia with Le Bon and Rhodes and the Power Station with, I think, all the Taylors) and returned as a trio (Le Bon, Rhodes, John Taylor) for this album, 1986's Notorious. They reformed without a recording contract at the end of 2003 and picked up the aforementioned gong at the Brits in February 2004.
THE ALBUM It's soooooo 1986, darling! Throughout, the sound of plinky synths and stuttered vocals penetrate your brain and a few of the tracks are real classics. It's probably important to note that, whilst the title track reached no.
7 in Oct 1986, the two follow-ups failed to breach the top twenty (and this in an era when singles sales where higher and competition less fierce). This was the beginning of the end for Duran Duran.
Below is the track listing and thereafter I have described each track and given them marks out of five.
1. Notorious 2. American Science 3. Skin Trade 4. Hold Me 5. Vertigo (Do The Demolition) 6. So Misled 7. Meet "El Presidente" 8. Winter Marches On 9. Proposition 10. A Matter Of Feeling
NOTORIOUS This was essentially their comeback single and it was make or break time for them. It starts with the familiar a capella "No-no-notorious notorious" later sampled by Notorious BIG and Puff Daddy in 1999. The songs then eases into a slinky, faux-funk groove and is really one of the best tracks they've recorded. Typical Duran lyrics are abound with nods to "flakey bandits" and "boys making noise" and a great female "gasp" sample to add a little bit of tension to the tack. God knows what they're on about, but hold on kids, because it's a downhill ride from hereon in. (5/5)
AMERICAN SCIENCE The problem with this track and the rest of the album is the tempo. Apart from a couple of upbeat tracks and a really slow one, the rest seem to find a balance somewhere in between and occupy that mid-tempo kind of groove that Oasis seemed to have settled for on their last two albums. This track, while not particularly bad, just doesn't affect me in the way their earlier stuff did. Remember the macho excitement of Wild Boys or the exoticism of Rio? Well, there's little of that here. (2/5)
SKIN TRADE Having said that, this is what a mid-tempo track should possess: a healthy mixture of soul, innovation and mystery and Skin Trade has it in bundles. I've never heard Simon sing like this on any track before or since. Imagine Prince circa "Kiss" and you'll have some idea of the sound of this bizarre falsetto track. Built around a two note synth riff, this epic song about prostitution was never going to be a huge hit and as such stalled at 22 in Feb 1987. (4/5)
HOLD ME A rare uptempo track. A great riff built around a simple chorus and really should have been released as a single. It would undoubtedly have made the top ten and would probably have saved their careers. Don't forget they didn't hit the top ten again until Ordinary World in 1993. (4/5)
VERTIGO (DO THE DEMOLITION) "Where's the real life in your illusion/On the dark side your powers and confusion/Do the dance do the demolition/And lose the chance to hear when you don't listen" goes the chorus to this tune. Another slightly midtempo track and, like American Science, not great. It's synth-based rhythm punctuates throughout and gets better through repeated listening. However, those not wishing to take this advice: you have my full support. (3/5)
SO MISLED This is more like it. An uptempo track and another opportunity missed in my opinion. This would have made a great single and with its catchy chorus of "I-I-I-I should not get so misled" stands out as a diamond in the rough of this album. The lyrics are generally typical Duran nonsense and concern a glamorous woman in conversation with her dark alter ego (think Gollum from LOTR with lipstick, an 80's perm and ATTITUDE!). (4/5)
MEET "EL PRESIDENTE" This was the third and final single from the album and despite another catchy chorus full of "ooohs" it peaked at 25 in the summer of 1987. References to pink disguises and empty chambers and other nonsensical lyrics are in abundance on this track but who needs another song that rhymes "love" with "above" anyway. (Hey that's given me an idea for the 10 things that most annoy me in the Ciao cafe!) (4/5)
WINTER MARCHES ON This is the very slow, almost glacial track on the album and the Bside to the single version of Notorious. Flipsides are generally dire, experimental tracks but this isn't bad at all. It's extremely moody in atmosphere but light of lyric and reminds me of another old bside (Sekret Oktober) or even Ordinary World without the hook-laden chorus. (3/5)
PROPOSITION More synths and that very 80's of things: a saxophone solo that you used to hear on "Moonlighting" to portray a sexy scene. Still the lyrics are bonkers: "a quiet word is my proposition/a promise made of a fierce day/a body bleeds for this coalition/without surrender if you stay". Yes yes very poetic but what does it all mean. It makes Marillion look like S Club. (3/5)
A MATTER OF FEELING I like my albums to end with either a surprise or sweeping beauty and it's the latter for this track. A chorus of: steal away in the morning, love's already history to you sets the tone for the rest of this great end to a disappointing album. No synths, just a plodding rhythm that compliments Le Bon's voice well.
SUMMARY OF THIS ALBUM This is not a great album by any stretch of the imagination. Even if you're bouyed by their recent Brit Award, check out Decade instead, or Greatest. Both feature all their hits.
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Jun 22nd, 2004
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