Move over Beatles, there\u2019s a new British boy band in town to fawn over. That was the general sentiment of record execs and teenyboppers alike when Duran Duran was unleashed on an unsuspecting public back in 1981. The pin-up potential of this quintet was undeniable, but did they have the talent to pull off a long-term career? The answer since those loud and proud early days has been a resounding YES. Despite numerous label and lineup changes, at one point whittling down to a trio, the band has soldiered on with over 12 studio albums to their credit. The thought of breaking up, even with gradually diminishing sales, has never even crossed their minds. One thing can be said for Duran Duran, they have had remarkable staying power.<\/p>\n
So what about that first album? Like most fans, I didn\u2019t pick up this self-titled release until much later, opting for their second album Rio <\/i>instead. That was the real breakthrough for Duran Duran, with radio-ready hits like \u201cHungry Like The Wolf\u201d and \u201cSave A Prayer,\u201d not to mention all those exotic music videos that were all the rage on the fledgling MTV network at the time. Conversely, the debut album opens with the one-two punch of \u201cPlanet Earth\u201d and the too-hot-for-MTV \u201cGirls On Film,\u201d though they have only recently been mentioned as Duran classics. <\/p>\n
As overshadowed by Rio <\/i>this album may have been, there are still some real treasures to be found. My personal favorites on Duran Duran<\/i> are \u201cCareless Memories,\u201d \u201cFriends Of Mine\u201d and the all too short \u201cSound Of Thunder,\u201d which is reminiscent of another Rio<\/i> standout, \u201cHold Back The Rain.\u201d Jabbing guitars and swirling synths abound on \u201cAnyone Out There,\u201d demonstrating what Andy Taylor, John Taylor (they and the third Taylor, drummer Roger, are not related) and Nick Rhodes can do. There\u2019s a sickly, unsteady tone on \u201cTo The Shore,\u201d which is undoubtedly deliberate, though it may leave you with a queasy feeling. Never a good thing to make your listeners nauseous, fellas. Is it any wonder they would replace the song with the far superior single \u201cIs There Something I Should Know\u201d on some subsequent pressings?<\/p>\n
Can we address the amazing and downright cryptic lyrics for a second? Though credited to the entire band, lead singer Simon Le Bon has always been the chief songwriter. He\u2019s the one who has to sing these crazy lines, after all: \u201cThe dry fight and the dusty shout, see you crawling on the floor and diamond stars shine glitter bright, gorging your sanhedralite.\u201d <\/i>I tried Googling \u201csanhedralite\u201d but came up with zip, so there you have it: Duran Duran has created their own language to stymie even the most ardent of intellectuals. And dare I say, they likely had a swell time and a good laugh doing it. Oh, those clever Brits. As if Monty Python sketches don\u2019t get lost in translation enough. Don\u2019t even try to decipher Duran Duran lyrics, it will drive you to drink or distraction or both. Still, when it comes to pure creativity, this group has no peer.<\/p>\n
The atmospheric synth thing does become a tad redundant after a while, making \u201cNight Boat\u201d and the closer \u201cTel Aviv\u201d not much more than filler afterthoughts. So while there are some solid moments on Duran\u2019s debut, it\u2019s not enough to compete with albums that would come later, including the one that is closest to my heart, the appropriately titled Big Thing<\/i> from 1988.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":27748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5747],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-43792","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-duran-duran","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43792","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\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43792\/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=43792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43792"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43792"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}