Duran Duran Appreciation Thread

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That's the kind of marketing ploy that forces me to have NO PROBLEM torrenting the 9 songs for free in Dec. and then buying the real album when it comes out in Feb.

Dumb move on their part because people are not going to pay TWICE for the same 9 songs, so they're going to get them for free somewhere, somehow . . . and, more likely than not, they'll download the 9 songs for free and then not want to pay to buy the album in Feb for 3 extra songs. :hmm: I can see this marketing strategy kind of backfiring in their faces.

The only excuse would be, maybe, if they were in a rush to get out the songs for Christmas. But then why not all 12 songs in December? Why 9 now and 3 more in a couple months?

One of my favorite bands of all-time, Bloc Party, did it a little better for their 3rd album, Intimacy. You paid $X.XX, and got all the songs in digital download format right then and there. Then, a few months later, when all the packaging and artwork/photography and marketing stuff was done, they SHIPPED YOU a physical copy of the cd, which included 3 bonus tracks. I jumped on that in a heartbeat because I essentially got to listen to the album immediately, but then when the artwork and stuff was ready, I also received a physical cd with some bonus tracks. (And I absolutely LOVE one of those bonus tracks!) I was very happy with that arrangement. Bloc Party said that they decided to do it that way because the album was finished & done, and they didn't want the fans to have to wait around 5 or so months for all the marketing crap to be finished. The band just wanted to get the album to the fans as soon as possible. That's a sentiment that went a long way with me.
 
i bought three copies of red carpet massacre :reject:

the physical copy will be available in "deluxe formats" though they've not clarified what this means. it would be neat if you could pay the $9.99 to get the tracks off itunes and then you either get a discount voucher to buy the physical cd or something like that. or if you pre-order the cd, you get the tracks off itunes for cheaper. some kind of package deal, really, so you can take advantage of the earlier version on itunes but not having to pay full price for the cd as well.

i'll do it because i'm a chump but i can totally understand some not wanting to buy 10 copies of the album. it's kinda like how u2 is in some ways, where they'll do something to prove they're in touch with modern times but still miss the mark.
 
btw, i can't remember if i've posted any track listings.

the aynin that will come out on itunes 12/21/10:
1. All You Need Is Now
2. Blame the Machines
3. Being Followed
4. Leave A Light On
5. Safe
6. Girl Panic
7. The Man Who Stole A Leopard
8. Runway Runaway
9. Before the Rain

bonus tracks on the physical copies (out in february, don't know the exact date though):
1. Mediterranea
2. Other People's Lives
3. King of Nowhere

not sure if those'll get tacked on to the end or what, though. i remember the itunes track listing's already been posted, but yeah.

unconfirmed track listing of from mediterranea with love ep:
1. Mediterranea
2. Other People's Lives
3. King of Nowhere
4. All You Need Is Now

so yeah, if the ep's rumoured track listing is correct then it looks like a teaser of the album.

oh, and there's rumours of a tour (well duh) with it set to open in the us in march/april, europe in june, and uk somewhere in between if memory serves me right.
 
kelis has been named as the mystery female singer on the man who stole a leopard (the song was held back on the mastering of the album done recently to wait for said female vocals).

it's been announced on their website in a lengthy (but well-written, imo) article:

http://www.duranduran.com/wordpress/?page_id=17450

DURAN DURAN
ALL YOU NEED IS NOW
Hype has many purposes in pop music, and a number of predictable characteristics. It seeks to draw attention to strengths, and distract us from weakness; to shape the narrative before we can write our own. And it is often, though not always, about exaggeration: that latest next big thing, that invariablyisn’t. Ever.

Once in a blue moon, though, the hype is no exaggeration. There are no weaknesses to cover up. The narrative doesn’t require smoke and mirrors. You are, instead, presented with something irrefutable, something so good, it soars above the hubbub of self-promoting chatter and simply arrives on the scene fully-formed, its impact instantaneous, its brilliance undeniable. We all own albums and singles that have had that effect on us: which we know, within seconds, are records that will soundtrack our lives and come to define the staging posts of our journey. ALL YOU NEED IS NOW is one of those records. Duran Duran, a band with more era-defining songs to their name than most, have, on their extraordinary new album, reconnected with the sounds, the textures, the melodies and the lyrical evocation that first propelled them to the top of the charts the world over. The result, produced by Mark Ronson, already sounds like a classic. Exaggeration? Big claims demand solid justification, certainly. And the 12 new tracks on this, Duran’s 13th studio album, provide it. That is not hype, it is fact.

You listen to new songs such as Girl Panic !, Blame the Machines, Leave aLight on, the Man who Stole a Leopard, Other People’s Lives, Being Followed and the title track, and find yourself thinking: where have these songs been hiding? They sound both instantly familiar, and powerfully new. And then you talk to the band and consider Mark Ronson’s remark, as they gathered for the first sessions. “I want,” he said, “to make the imaginary follow-up to Rio; the album that was never made.” That’s setting the bar high, for sure. But they cleared it – with room to spare.

It didn’t hurt, of course, that Mark Ronson has been, since childhood, an avid Duran Duran fan. Moreover, as the band themselves admit, they had reached a point creatively where they knew there was something missing, and that they wanted to set about trying to relocate it. So, when fan and band convened in the latter’s small recording space in south London last year, everyone involved was determined to engage in that search.

“One of the things I like about this record,” says Simon Le Bon, “is that it’s unselfconsciously pop, it’s catchy without trying to be. To me, this sounds like an alternative album – and that’s what we were successful for in the first place. Mark just said, ‘Relax, and you’ll find it’.” The producer recalls his delight that, within only a couple of hours of working together, it was clear that they were onto something. “Sometimes there can just be an energy in the studio, where everybody is thinking the same thing and wanting it to be the same way – andthat happened that first day.”

Nick Rhodes is in no doubt about the importance of Mark’s contribution. “He revitalised us,” he says. “He found an energy in us that hasn’t been there for a long time. Inspiration is one of the great mysteries of the world, of course, but if you have with you someone you trust, who has huge musical knowledge across so many genres, who is a fan of your band and knows all of the songs – that can only be helpful.”

Mark Ronson still pinches himself when he recalls sitting in the studio with the band, and hearing their classic sound reassert itself. “If you’re really connected with them you just know when Simon hits a certain note; you know harmonically when something is just instant Duran Duran, the keyboards, the sequencing, the melody, the rhythm, the way that John and Roger play together. So you sort of know at once what that next turn should be, what feels right. And it just kept falling into place.”

All four of the band describe the sessions as a journey of rediscovery and creative liberation, where they worked painstakingly on the songs and the sounds, eyeballing each other in that cramped space, and recording the tracks, at Mark’s insistence, in real time, from start to finish – no computers, no fakery. “It felt like going back to day one,” says Roger Taylor, “and maybe that was all part of Mark’s master plan: to really take us back to how we first wrote songs, in the Rum Runner in Birmingham, in a funny little room at the back of a night club.” John Taylor agrees. “Mark was really keen to get back in touch with the band’s original ethic,” he says. “He brought an authenticity to the band’s sound that, quite honestly, had been missing. This time round, we needed someone to say, ‘What was that amp that you used on Rio?’ And as corny as that sounds, I needed a producer to make me feel like that was significant.” Roger adds: “One of the first things Mark said was, ‘You need to go back and recapture your ground. You know, everybody else is there, why aren’t you? Everybody’s using the funky bass, the synths, the hi-hat, the sequencers. Go back and reclaim that’. And that became a sort of manifesto for this album.”

ALL YOU NEED IS NOW is a record, says its producer, “that sounds more energetic and youthful and vibrant than any other band I can imagine of their age making”.

But let’s not just take Mark’s word for it. Let’s allow the songs to do the talking. Listen to the way that the title track’s chorus emerges out of a hard-hitting verse and at once claims classic Duran status; to Simon’s career-best vocal on the verse to Leave a Light on, one of the most tender and beautiful songs the band have ever written; to the sepulchral strangeness and menace of the Man who Stole aLeopard, featuring Kelis, a track that harks back to the band’s avant-garde roots in songs such as The Chauffeur; to the pop punch and sleaze of Girl Panic !, a song so hard-wired into Duran’s imperishable sonic DNA, it’s hard to believe you haven’t heard it before; to the loose-limbed New York funk of Safe (in the heat of the moment), with its snarling, provocative rap from Scissor Sisters’ AnaMatronic; to the way that Simon’s voice glides above the unmistakable sound-bed of Nick’s keyboard architecture and the utterly distinctive rhythmic one-two that is John and Roger on Blame The Machines; to the it-could-only-be-Duran harmonies that punctuate the whole album. And then, go back and listen to them all again. No wonder, I’m sure you’ll agree, that Mark Ronson describes working with his idols as “a privilege”, and the results as “jaw-dropping”. It is no exaggeration, no hype, to call ALL YOU NEED IS NOW the missing piece of the Duran Duran jigsaw. A record that will shortly be soundtracking our lives. It’s that good, and that significant.
 
and i've just read a rumour (not a confirmed one, sadly) that coachella might be a possibility. not the hugest fan of music festivals, but i'd go to coachella if they were there. hell, i went to voodoo fest for them in 2006 and ended up hearing a song of theirs i'd never heard before and haven't heard since.
 
They opened with 'Friends of Mine' when I saw them in Vegas in 2003. It was one of the "back with the original lineup" concerts.
 
Here are the 3 Duran Duran albums I have heard in full...

1) Pop Trash
2) Red Carpet Massacre
3) The Wedding Album

Honestly, and I know this is heresy amongst the Duran Duran community, I would place RCM as my favorite, and then PT with TWA following closely behind. My favorite song of theirs, though, is probably "Ordinary World." With this information, what would you guys suggest I listen to next?
 
hmm, my suggestions for what to listen to next depend on what you thought of pop trash. :)

and i totally understand your liking rcm - i don't hate it at all, there's actually a handful of songs on there i really enjoy. i'd rank it towards the bottom of my list of their albums but that's not because it sucks, but more that i just love the other albums so much more.
 
I actually really like Pop Trash! None of the albums left a particularly bad taste in my mouth, just personal preference regarding the rankings.
 
Catman, you HAVE to listen to the classics! Rio and the eponymous debut Duran Duran.

It's kind of akin to saying you've only ever heard Pop, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb and No Line On The Horizon, but have never heard The Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby!. Sometimes you just have to hear the classics, even though they may be overhyped to death.

I'm also a big fan of Duran Duran's Notorious album.
 
I actually really like Pop Trash! None of the albums left a particularly bad taste in my mouth, just personal preference regarding the rankings.
oh, i was just curious to get an idea of what to recommend. :)

rcm is really like nothing else in their discography, the closest thing to it is notorious and even that's a bit of a stretch. if you like pop trash, you might like medazzaland as well.

and of course like fitz said, there's their classic two albums.
 
Okay, I just downloaded their "Greatest Hits" and I'd say my favorite songs so far are...

Ordinary World
Come Undone
Skin Trade
Rio
New Moon on Monday
Save a Prayer
Electric Barbarella
Serious

Catman, you HAVE to listen to the classics!

It's kind of akin to saying you've only ever heard Pop, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb and No Line On The Horizon, but have never heard The Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby!.
Heh, that's a good analogy. I suppose I will load up my grooveshark account and start loading up the tunes. Thanks for the recommendations, yo :wave:


EDIT: Just listened to the 2 new tracks that have leaked - not too big on the 1st single, but I kinda adore "Mediterranea" :up:
 
I don't know what the problem is, but iTunes USA still doesn't have the new song. DD posted on Facebook last night that they had alerted iTunes the song wasn't available everywhere across the globe like it was supposed to be and that iTunes was correcting the problem, but here we are a day later and still no 'All You Need Is Now' in the U.S.

Booooo!


EDIT: Nevermind the above. I literally *just* check and it's there now and for FREE.
 
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good to find some DD fans over here as well :D

the official website is now previewing the bonkers sounding "The Man who stole a leopard"- which sounds like a cross between Duran Duran and PSB's- with Kelis sharing the vocals- the 50 seconds I heard sounded brilliant

I gather that much of the i-tunes album has now leaked- various tracks are on you tube- Being Followed, Girl Panic, Leopard are definitely there

I'm trying to resist listening to too much of it before 21 Dec
 
yeah, i can't decide if i should listen to anything else or not. i mean, the album comes out in a week and a half. their last album was out in 2007, if i've waited that long i can wait a little more to hear everything.
 
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