Duran Duran - Decade

 

Duran Duran's greatest hits album was one of the last vinyl LP that I ever purchased, being released in 1989, and beaten probably only by the Eurythmics' Greatest Hit album that come out in 1991. I had liked a lot of their singles but never sufficiently enough to buy an album, so a greatest hits album was the opportunity to have most of their best songs on one LP.

After their explosion on the the UK New Romantics scene in 1981 I was slightly disappointed to learn that their name was taken from a character from the film Barbarella rather than as a tribute to legendary Panamanian boxer Roberto Duran.

Even more disappointing was the exclusion of their second single "Careless Memories" from this collection, which I though was one of their really outstanding songs. However, it only reached a highest place of 37 in the UK charts.

The singles from their second album went global, thanks to a combination of the slick videos filmed in exotic locations such as Sri Lanka and Antigua, and the need of the fledgling MTV channel for videos to show. 

The slower paced "Save A Prayer" also demonstrated another string to their bow. "Rio" pre-dated the West Ham, Manchester United and England defender by at least 15 years but was never picked up upon by supporters during his career. Also, I don't think "Planet Earth" was ever used in the David Attenborough nature series.........

I think it is fair to say that with this LP being in chronological order nearly all my favourite songs were on side one, with a couple that I hated on side two, in addition to the final three songs for which I had no recollection of how they went. 

The first single "Planet Earth" starts with rising synths, not out of place from a 1970's outer space TV series, before Kraftwerk style electronic style rhythms enter to maintain a good beat. It still sounds as good as ever, and there can't be many better debut singles.

"Girls On Film" is actually about exploitation of models in the fashion industry, but you would struggle to notice from the spiky guitar riff and the sing-a-long chorus.  It's still a great song.

"Hungry Like The Wolf" continues a strong series of initial hits with "da do do da do do" backing vocal, a toe-tapping verse and more choppy guitar

"Rio" has a great intro and I had totally forgotten the smooth saxophone break.

The slower paced ballad "Save A Prayer" has a memorable synth melody and a great vocal from Simon Le Bon, "Don't save a prayer for me now, save it for the morning after". For me, it's their greatest song, but it only got to number 9 in the UK !

The pleading opening "Please, Please Tell Me Now" chant on "Is There Something I Should Know"  makes me think of the Beatles song "Please, Please Me", even though they sound nothing like each other. The song plods along quiet pleasantly but I don't like the "Please, Please Tell Me Now" bits.

The final track on side one, "Union Of The Snake" has a funk guitar reminiscent in parts of Orange Juice's Rip It Up ( both released in 1983 ), a good chorus, and more forgotten sax. For me, this song indicated Duran starting to move away from electro-pop into disco/funk, but I still like it.

Things start to go downhill at the start of Side Two. I quite like the funky verses of "The Reflex" but I absolutely hate the chorus, where the singing of lines like "Whhhhyyyy don't you use it" is just horrible, and just about unlistenable.  Furthermore, the parts of the song where Le Bon sings "The Reflex is a lonely child" etc now sound as being virtually the same melody as "The union of the snake is on the climb"........

I always thought "Wild Boys" was dreadful and nothing has changed in the meantime. I will grudgingly admit I can now listen to the instrumental parts but again the vocal is strained beyond Le Bon's range, and it is simply just dreadful. What do I know though ? It reached number two, and "The Reflex" was a number one !

"A View To A Kill", the theme song for the James Bond film of the same name was a slight return to form. There's a suitably dramatic intro, a smooth verse and a catchy chorus, "Until we dance into the fire, that fatal kiss is all we need", before a pleasing outro and ending.

"Notorious" further strengthens Duran Duran no longer being an electro-pop band, but it is funky and catchy, especially the  "No, no, notorious !" backing vocals.

Although I drew a blank looking at "Skin Trade" on the track listing, I remembered it as soon as it started playing. Much slower than the usual Duran songs, it features one of Le Bon's better vocals, almost falsetto in parts. There is also some brass, and overall it is quite good, and deserved better than number 22 !

"I Don't Want Your Love" though is an ordinary, sub-disco/soul/jazz number, with little to recommend it. and "All She Wants" is unfortunately not the Ace of Base song........

Overall, I had mixed feeling upon hearing this LP again. A handful of songs have aged well, "Notorious" and "SkinTrade" were much better than I recalled, but for a greatest hits album there are a number of songs that sound dated, and some that still astound me that they were so popular !

 

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Planet Earth ( 1981 - No 12 )
2. Girls On Film ( 1981 - No 5 )
3. Hungry Like The Wolf ( 1982 - No 5 )
4. Rio ( 1982 - No 2 )
5. Save A Prayer ( 1982 - No 9 )
6. Is There Something I Should Know ( 1983 - No 1 )
7. Union Of The Snake ( 1983 - No 3 )

Side Two :

1. The Reflex ( 1984 - No 1 )
2. Wild Boys ( 1984 - No 2 )
3. A View To A Kill ( 1985 - No 2 )
4. Notorious ( 1986 - No 7 )
5. Skin Trade ( 1987 - No 22 )
6. I Don't Want Your Love ( 1988 - No 14 )
7.All She Wants Is ( 1988 - No 9 )

 

Released 1989
UK Chart Position : 5