Those of us that grew up in the Eighties understand just how bizarre a time it was. While the underground was busy brewing many of the bands that would go on to inspire and influence a staggering amount of the music that would come out through the Nineties and early Millennium , things were very different in the mainstream climate. Some portions of the economic sector enjoyed an unprecedented boom and mainstream culture really reflected that; items looked statuesque and relentlessly modern (this is the time when the concept of the 'supermodel' really began to build steam, and cars like the Delorean typified the high-gloss/high-dollar/high-concept tilt to technology), fashion followed a similar arc and the style of living changed in a lot of ways. Mainstream music changed a lot too; suddenly, the guitar fell out of favor as the predominant instrument in pop songs and was replaced by the synthesizer. New musical movements including 'New Wave,' 'progressive rock' and 'new romantic' music began to develop an increasingly strong hold on Top 40 charts and airwaves, and the focus on fashion in music became a conversation point.
Simply said, not since the 1950s had the global population been so infatuated with the exterior trappings of progress and the outward expression of success and wealth. Because of that, some argued that the arts were declining as people became more more self-absorbed.
Whether that's true or not, when Duran Duran's self-titled debut came out in 1981 it represented a significant changing of the musical guard. While some musical patrons had always noted that the music coming out of the United Kingdom was very aesthetically focused (see David Bowie, T.Rex, The Sex Pistols – even The Beatles) but, at the dawn of the Eighties and with the later reviled “Me” Generation beginning to come of age and into power, Britain and bands like Duran Duran suddenly found themselves right in-step and in the perfect space to make it big. It was on that stage that Duran Duran's debut album – which featured every single trapping of opulence that the global population found itself looking at romantically – was released, and it ended up being the perfect place and a time so ideal that it couldn't have been written any better.
Thirty years later, and Duran Duran still represents that same air of opulence it did upon its' first release. The sound is clinically clean and each part of each song is perfectly separated and itemized. The polish has not faded from it; it is still the perfect document of its time, but the funny thing is that the sounds on it (some of them anyway) have now come back into fashion.
Even those that might not remember the band well will know just what they're hearing as “Girls On Film” introduces the record and sets many of the precedents for what's to follow it. With gleaming synths and singer Simon Le Bon's passive but glamorous hyper-sexualization of starlets (both those that are, and those that wants to be), Duran Duran introduces themselves right away as the perfect aesthetic machine; a taste-making band with all the toys their male fans wish they could afford and with faces that would make every girl sigh whimsically. In the Eighties, Duran Duran seemed to be peddling the perfect combination that no one could turn away from. Perfect too (for its time) was the make-up of the band; Duran Duran was unafraid to let keyboards and vocals be the focal point of each and every song through the record's run-time (and beyond – the second-most constant member of the band has been Le Bon who started in 1980, surpassed only by keyboardist Nick Rhodes, who began in the band in 1978 and has never abandoned his post in the three decades since) and, even in this early outing, the results are rock (forgive the pun) solid. Roger, John and Andy Taylor encircle the keyboards and vocals, adding touches of color and emotion to songs like “Anyone Out There,” “Tel Aviv” and (the surprisingly deranged or drugged) “To The Shore” in such a way that guitar, bass and drums never really take the forefront or a dominant role, but occasionally nudge the principle players in one way or another to raise the emotional imprint of the songs. It's a subtle, shoe-gazing alteration, but it was a very attractive stance to take through the musical currents of the late Seventies and early Eighties.
Along with the remastered songs from the original Duran Duran release, disc one of this set also includes all of the B-sides from the singles that were released for the album. It is in those B-sides that listeners actually get a better (but far less fashionable) idea of what Duran Duran was actually capable of in their early years, but wasn't really shown in the run-time of the album. On songs like “Last Bar,” “Khanada” and a really instrumentally white cover of Bowie's “Fame,” Roger Taylor is let off the leash and shows for the first time (there would be more occurrences of this later, but not really on the first album) just how daring he can be; rather than trying to put his own stamp on that cover in particular, he plays it to make Carlos Alomar proud but still surprises listeners by pulling it off. With a surer rock grasp, Duran Duran even sounds like a competent rock band as “Faster Than Light” runs out the run-time of disc one.
When their self-titled debut landed on store shelves in '81, the band came fully-formed and ready to play to the “Me” Generation. At the time, critics complained at that exact thing; they claimed that Duran Duran was nothing more than a pre-fabricated machination for “Me-s” and, to be fair, there was some credence to the complaint; but they may not have bitched so much had the sessions for Duran Duran continued at The Air Studios – where they began. Disc two of this reissue set unearths those original demos and illustrates just how much of a love affair with the Brit-rock classics (like Bowie and Pink Floyd – most notably) were harboring and hearing them now is something of a revelation. During the Air sessions, a far less synth-reliant and far more rockist image of Duran Duran is offered and, after so many years of having just one impression of Duran Duran, getting another is just cool.
In this case, takes of “Girls On Film,” and “Tel Aviv” from the Air Sessions as well as “Planet Earth” and “Anyone Out There” (from the Madison Square sessions) show a band that did have an affection for Bowie, the Floyd and Blondie but, here, it's more overt than on the release of Duran Duran. In this case, prior to Colin Thurston's production treatment, the songs resonate with a distinctly more rockist flare and fire as Roger Taylor's guitar sets fire to the songs and he's actually supported by his rhythm section rather than just accompanied by it. With Rhodes relegated to a more supporting role by those guitars too, singer Simon Le Bon will shock listeners when he steps up to assume the roll of conventional rock frontman instead of New Romantic dreamboat – actually belting some lines with authority. This is a very different image of Duran Duran and it is an infectious one, but anyone listening has to wonder if Duran Duran would have hit as hard as it did has it been originally released this way; critics would probably have been more receptive to the rock vibes, sure – but Duran Duran would have been just another face in the crowd had they not deliberately separated themselves from the pack with the cuts recorded at Chipping Norton Studios and released as Duran Duran.
With the original release, Duran Duran were a new face unto themselves and, as the DVD that accompanies this set shows, the advent of MTV was very, very helpful with breaking the band. Firstly, as all of the music videos included with Duran Duran prove, the band was presented as fresh-faced young lads, but also invariably accompanied by the hottest women money could find and thus making the sex appeal for videos like “Girls On Film” (check out the uncensored version included here) and “Night Boat” universal. Keeping in mind that this album was originally released at the dawn of the video age, people will laugh now but, at the time, this was high-dollar, high-concept fare and hot as hell. The footage captured at the band's multitude of television appearances (including Top Of The Pops, Old Grey Whistle Test and Multi-Coloured Swap Shop) further pushes the band as New Romantic heartthrobs and shows the band to be strong performers. The DVD ends up showing exactly what it would have needed to in 1981-1982 and now serves as a great keepsake for long-time fans as well as a genuine curiosity for those that cannot necessarily remember the time.
That is, indeed, the question and, whether you do remember that time or not, this reissue of Duran Duran is worth checking out. Why? For those longtime fans that still feel their hearts flutter and get a nostalgic smile when they think of Duran Duran before the ennui of an "Ordinary World" kicked in around 1993 when Duran Duran's second self-titled album was released, the reissue is worth a look because the remastering job done, while subtle, puts the sheen back on the plastic of the original release and hints at what the band may have been had time and taste not dictated differently.
Artist:
www.duranduran.com/
www.myspace.com/duranduran
Album:
The deluxe, 2CD/1DVD reissue of Duran Duran comes out on May 18, 2010 through EMI Records. Pre-order it here on Amazon .
