The year was 1983. The setting: Catholic grade school. My
\nbuddies and I were just getting into heavy metal, and I found
\nmyself going to the little mom-and-pop record store each week to
\nget the latest chart lists. The girls, however, were all giddy over
\nfive British men who were storming the U.S., thanks in part to MTV
\n(as well as some suggestive videos).<\/p>\n
Of course, the guys were curious about this new phenomenon,
\ncalling themselves Duran Duran. We gave it a listen, looked at each
\nother, and asked, “So?”<\/p>\n
We’re nearing 20 years since their first self-titled album (the
\none without “Ordinary World”) was released (or, in the case of the
\nalbum Americans are used to, re-released in 1983), and while I’ve
\nwarmed up to the album more than I did when I was a lad of 10, a
\nlot of the music on this first disc just hasn’t held up well to the
\ntest of time. Then again, I wonder if the material was seen as
\nbeing strong when it first came out.<\/p>\n
The group – Simon LeBon, Nick Rhodes, and brothers John, Roger
\nand Andy Taylor – would be immortalized thanks to three hits on
\nthis album: “Girls On Film,” “Is There Something I Should Know?”
\nand, to a lesser extent, “Planet Earth”. The vocal harmonies
\ncombined well with the danceable beats, creating songs that had
\nboth style and substance. Of course, having five pretty faces to
\nmake the girls go wild didn’t hurt matters, either.<\/p>\n
Today, these songs are still rather entertaining, even if it’s
\njust for kitsch value. Call it a guilty pleasure, call it someone
\nstuck in the ’80s, call it whatever you like. I still think these
\nsongs are pretty solid.<\/p>\n
For the most part, the whole first half of
\nDuran Duran<\/i> is a pretty good effort. Two of the lesser-known
\ntracks, “Is There Anyone Out There” and “Careless Memories,”
\nactually contain some of the brightest moments on the disc. “Is
\nThere Anyone Out There” is less in a dance vein, and more of a rock
\nstyle that is both intriguing and addictive. The only reason I can
\nthink that this track wasn’t released as a single was because it
\ndidn’t quite fit the mold with the other previously released
\ntracks.<\/p>\n
It’s too bad that the entire second side of
\nDuran Duran<\/i> is a mess. Tracks like “(Waiting For The) Night
\nBoat,” “Sound Of Thunder” and “Friends Of Mine” are lifeless and
\nstale – quite a letdown from the bright spots the first half of the
\nalbum featured. The closing instrumental, “Tel Aviv,” doesn’t help
\nmatters any, sounding a bit bloated and self-serving – as if the
\nmembers of the band had to prove they knew how to play their
\ninstruments.<\/p>\n
There is enough material on
\nDuran Duran<\/i> to draw me back on occasion, and there is proof
\non this disc that LeBon and company were more than just pretty
\nfaces in the right place at the right time. But this is an album
\nthat has to be approached with caution, because the traps they set
\non the second side are lethal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5747],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-39134","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-duran-duran","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39134","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=39134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39134"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}