{"id":880,"date":"2007-12-25T08:37:22","date_gmt":"2007-12-24T23:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=880"},"modified":"2008-04-23T12:44:19","modified_gmt":"2008-04-23T03:44:19","slug":"holiday-cheer-best-of-duran-duran-ranking-all-their-albums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=880","title":{"rendered":"Holiday Cheer: Best of Duran Duran–ranking all their albums"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Blog, and Merry Christmas. I’m going to talk about something completely unrelated to Japan for a change. Duran Duran<\/a>. Yes, the 80’s rock band. And give you a line up of both songs and reasons why you shouldn’t dismiss them too quickly.<\/p>\n

(NB: If you don’t want to read my ponderings regarding the Durans as a phenomenon, page down to a listing of albums I would recommend if you want to give them a listen.)<\/i><\/p>\n

It’s long been an open secret that I am a Duran Duran fan. Why, you may ask (and you would be forgiven) would a person like me (or for that matter, a person like anyone) like a band like them?<\/p>\n

Well, of course there is no accounting for taste, especially musical, when so much is influenced by where you grow up–and what seems to be floating around the airwaves and the zeitgeist when you’re growing up. But Duran Duran caught me at just the right point in my musical-taste development to lodge themselves irretrievably into my playlists. Their RIO album took America by storm in 1982, and it got quite a lot of radio play in my Upstate New York hometown. Not to mention our hungering for any videos when we didn’t have cable (hence no MTV), meaning all we could do was wait for weekend morsels from “Friday Night Videos”. And the Durans (along with Billy Joel) made the most memorable vids. (To this day: Any time you have an 80’s tokushuu on MTV Japan, sooner or later you get a Duran in there. No wonder. You Tube Duran Duran<\/a> or Arcadia<\/a> and watch what you get.)<\/p>\n

RIO was one of the first albums I ever bought with my own money (the first one was, for the record, Supertramp’s BREAKFAST IN AMERICA, and that album holds up very well too even if Supertramp itself fizzled out in the American market with their next album, …FAMOUS LAST WORDS…, which is still one of the most depressing albums I’ve ever heard). Even if “The Reflex” was wildly overplayed, and NOTORIOUS both as an album and a single pretty blah, I could still work backwards and discover enough gems on PLANET EARTH, move forward to their interesting outing on ARCADIA, and catch them live (they’re really good live, believe it or not) both on ARENA and at our local concert shell (where yes, they came to play in one of their frequent sales troughs; and I still have the concert shirt). Then as I got older and saw how dark and cynical the world is, Duran offered me solace and good tunes with fine outings like BIG THING and WEDDING ALBUM. Then I was sold well enough to forgive further foibles and stumbles they would make, culminating in the payoff of their two good recent albums ASTRONAUT and RED CARPET MASSACRE.<\/p>\n

That’s what I mean by good happenstance. They just kept catching me at the right junctures in my life. But here are a few more objective reasons why you should give the Durans a second chance and at least a third listen:<\/p>\n

1) They’ve been around for closing in on thirty years now. There’s a good reason for that. They keep crafting tunes and staying together long enough to have not one, but two, renaissances (first with top ten hits in the early 1990s, and again nowadays with their current lineup and great tunes all over again).<\/b><\/p>\n

2) Their tunes are uniquely theirs. From Simon LeBon’s voice to Nick Rhodes’s colorful magenta and hot pink tones, you know you’re listening to a Duran Duran song when one comes on. Yet they have enough edge and guitar to keep people who like more rock than pop listening. Consider songs such as “Girls on Film”, “Rio”, and “Is There Something I Should Know?”–to cite three you probably have heard already. Like them or not, they’re quite unique. There are hundreds of imitators of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, U2, and all the supergroups (because they are so imitable). But who imitates Duran Duran? Who can?<\/p>\n

3) Their lyrics are surprisingly deep at times. Really suggest you give them a try.<\/p>\n

4) Duran Duran as a group makes me smile, even laugh. They don’t take themselves at all seriously. For example, watch the video for “View to a Kill”<\/a>–and witness Simon’s awful pun at the end (and his face just before he gets blown up). When all the weight of the world is on one’s shoulders, putting them on cheers things up (so do the B-52’s, but they get a little too corny at times, especially to those who have gone through their Dr Demento Phase). In other words, they’re fun. And we all could use a little more fun in our lives.<\/p>\n

5) Durannies are a great crowd to hang out with.<\/a> It’s like being in any closeted minority–we learn how to have fun our own way.<\/p>\n

===========================<\/p>\n

Want to give Duran Duran a try? Here are my rankings of their best albums with the best tracks in descending order–based upon my star rankings (five stars being the best) in my iTunes folder. I only include tracks with four or five stars. The more tracks with high rankings, the higher I rank the album, so if you want to start somewhere, try the top albums. (NB: I haven’t included their greatest hits (DECADE), compilations (NIGHT VERSIONS, STRANGE BEHAVIOUR), live bootlegs, or singles.)<\/p>\n

I also have sampled some of the songs on my Debito.org Podcasts<\/a>, so if you want a preview, listen to the very end of the podcast and you’ll get a taste.<\/p>\n

——————————————–
\nALBUM IN CAPS<\/b>, Track name in smalls:<\/p>\n

RED CARPET MASSACRE<\/b> (2007)
\nBox Full o’ Honey (5 stars)
\nThe Valley (5)
\nRed Carpet Massacre (5)
\nSkin Divers (4)
\nTempted (4)
\nTricked Out (4)
\nZoom in (4)<\/p>\n

BIG THING<\/b> (1988)
\nToo Late Marlene (5 stars)
\nLand (5)
\nDo You Believe in Shame? (5)
\nBig Thing (4)
\nThe Edge of America (4)
\nI Don’t Want Your Love (4–excerpted on my Dec 8, 2007 Podcast<\/a>)
\nAll She Wants Is (4)<\/p>\n

DURAN DURAN<\/b> (1980)
\nGirls on Film (5 stars)
\nTel Aviv (4)
\nPlanet Earth (4)
\nAnyone Out There (4)
\nCareless Memories (4)
\nIs There Something I Should Know? (4)
\nNight Boat (4)<\/p>\n

ASTRONAUT<\/b> (2004)
\nWhat Happens Tomorrow (5 stars–excerpted on my Nov 28, 2007 Podcast<\/a>)
\nReach Up For the Sunrise (5–excerpted on my Nov 12, 2007 Podcast<\/a>)
\nPoint of No Return (5–excerpted on my Nov 19 2007 Podcast)<\/a>
\nStill Breathing (5)
\nWant You More! (4)
\nFinest Hour (4)<\/p>\n

EPONYMOUS (“WEDDING ALBUM”)<\/b> (1993)
\nCome Undone (5 stars)
\nOrdinary World (5)
\nBreath After Breath (5)
\nNone of the Above (4)
\nSin of the City (4)<\/p>\n

RIO<\/b> (1982)
\nLast Chance on the Stairway (5 stars–excerpted in my Oct 20, 2007 Podcast)<\/a>
\nThe Chauffeur (5)
\nRio (5)
\nNew Religion (4)
\nHungry Like the Wolf (4)<\/p>\n

ARCADIA–SO RED THE ROSE<\/b> (1985)
\nLady Ice (5 stars)
\nEl Diablo (5)
\nThe Flame (4)
\nKeep Me in the Dark (4)
\nThe Promise (4)<\/p>\n

ARENA<\/b> (Live) (1984)
\nNew Religion (5 stars)
\nCareless Memories (4–excerpted on my Oct 13, 2007 Podcast<\/a>, beware middling sound quality as it was my first podcast.)
\nThe Chauffeur (4)
\nPlanet Earth (4)
\nIs There Something I Should Know? (4)
\nThe Wild Boys (4)<\/p>\n

MEDAZZALAND<\/b> (1997)
\nBe My Icon (5 stars)
\nMichael You’ve Got a Lot to Answer For (4)
\nSilva Halo (4)
\nUndergoing Treatment (4)<\/p>\n

THANK YOU<\/b> (1995)
\nWatching the Detectives (5 stars–excerpted in my Nov 5, 2007 Podcast<\/a>)
\nDrive By (4)
\nLay Lady Lay (4)
\nCrystal Ship (4)<\/p>\n

SEVEN AND THE RAGGED TIGER<\/b> (1983)
\nOf Crime and Passion (5 stars–excerpted in my Oct 29, 2007 Podcast<\/a>)
\nShadows on Your Side (4)
\nThe Reflex (single version–4)<\/p>\n

LIBERTY<\/b> (1990)
\nSerious (5 stars)
\nFirst Impression (4)
\nMy Antarctica (4)<\/p>\n

NOTORIOUS<\/b> (1986)
\nWinter Marches On (5 stars)
\nHold Me (4)<\/p>\n

POP TRASH<\/b> (2000)
\nPlaying With Uranium (4 stars–excerpted on my Dec 19, 2007 Podcast<\/a>)<\/p>\n

So you see, according to my tastes, however questionable, Duran Duran have gotten better over time. I’m glad I stuck with them. Here’s to many more years of good music, and hope to meet them someday.<\/p>\n

Merry Christmas 2007, everyone! Arudou Debito in Sapporo
\nENDS\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi Blog, and Merry Christmas. I’m going to talk about something completely unrelated to Japan for a change. Duran Duran. Yes, the 80’s rock band. And give you a line up of both songs and reasons why you shouldn’t dismiss them too quickly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tangents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}