Reviewing Duran Duran proves to be an interesting challenge. The
\nband mostly appealed to teenage girls during their heyday in the
\nearly ’80s, and were not noted for musicianship as much as their
\nphotogenic personalities. While the girls in my grade school class
\nwere pasting pictures of Simon LeBon in their Chandlers, all of the
\nboys like myself were wearing AC\/DC t-shirts under our uniform
\nshirts.<\/p>\n
Now that I’m older and have achieved Buddha nature, I am able to
\ngo back to the music I scoffed at and give it an abjective listen.
\nThe band’s second album
\nRio<\/i> turns out to be a halfway decent album, albeit quite
\ndated today.<\/p>\n
Three hits are encased on this slab o’ vinyl. The title track is
\nlight but refreshing, and does tend to show how well LeBon and the
\nrest of the group could harmonize. The only negative of the track
\nis the same harmonizing sounds a little uncertain at times. The
\nother major hit, “Hungry Like The Wolf,” is evidence of the toll 15
\nyears can take on an album. If what they’re using on this track
\n(and for a good portion of the album) aren’t drum machines, my name
\nisn’t… well, let’s not delve into that.
\n(Editor’s note: The joke here was this review was first listed
\nas being written by “Bob Pierce,” a pseudonym I used for the first
\ntwo years of the site.)<\/i> The guitars are used way too sparingly,
\nleaving the track sounding very hollow.<\/p>\n
The third hit, albeit a minor one, shows how good Duran Duran
\ncould be when they moved out of the world of dance music. “Save A
\nPrayer” is an ambitious effort at a ballad that broke the mold of a
\nsuccessful Duran Duran single. But the fact is it works – and
\nleaves me wondering what would have happened to the band had they
\ncontinued in this vein. Note that when the band experienced their
\nresurgence in popularity, it was with the ballad “Ordinary
\nWorld.”<\/p>\n
The remainder of
\nRio<\/i> is filler, but here is where the difference between a
\ndecent album and a bad album is made. If you listen to many of
\nthese tracks closely, you’ll find yourself somewhat intrigued by
\nthem – “My Own Way,” “New Religion” and “Lonely In Your Nightmare”
\nall are songs that require a little bit of effort on the part of
\nthe listener. Other tracks, like “The Chauffeur,” are
\nforgettable.<\/p>\n
So what sets the bulk of
\nRio<\/i> apart from other “filler” albums? Simple: the fact that
\nyou may be intrigued enough to take the time to listen to some of
\nthese tracks more intensely. When I first tried to listen to this
\nalbum for review, I had it playing in the background, and I found
\nthe album to be unbearable. But when I tried it again and slapped
\non a set of headphones, the album’s quality improved.<\/p>\n
I’m still up in the air as to whether
\nRio<\/i> is a good album or not – it’s okay for an occasional
\nlisten, but it’s not something I’d want on the turntable
\nconstantly. Whether you will like it or not will depend on both
\nyour view of ’80s music and how open-minded you are. If you can
\nkeep an open mind and are willing to really concentrate on this
\nalbum, you’ve won half the battle. After that, you’re on your
\nown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5747],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-35626","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-duran-duran","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35626"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}