Duran Duran released their 14th studio album
Friday. It’s entitled Paper Gods and
it’s receiving quite a bit of promotion thanks to their return to a big label,
in this case, Warner Bros. I’ve been a fan of the band since the early 80s when
their songs first reached American shores. While my tastes have matured to more
rock and roll than pop in the decades since, I still give Duran Duran’s every
disc a spin and have liked them more often than not. So many of the bands of my
youth have either broken up or become nostalgia acts. Duran Duran is one of the
few that remains a creative force. They’re always pushing boundaries and producing
new music that sounds modern while still maintaining aspects of the band’s own distinctive
style. Paper Gods is no exception.
You’ll instantly recognize it as Duran Duran and yet it sounds right at home
beside today’s pop music. I can’t say Paper
Gods is one of Duran Duran’s best albums, but it’s still better than 90%
of what you’ll hear on the radio. Singer Simon Le Bon’s voice sounds as good as
ever as does Nick Rhodes’ synthesizers. There’s just not enough of the band’s
rhythm section of John and Roger Taylor to suit me and the songwriting is a bit
suspect. Yes, I know everyone wants a good beat you can dance to and Paper Gods delivers that well enough. I
just can’t help but expect more from them lyrically. All in all, Paper Gods is a catchy album; it’s just
not a great one. Here’s how I’d rank Paper
Gods in the Duran Duran discography:
14. Thank You (1995) – The choice for Duran Duran’s weakest
album is an easy one. As a general (near universal) rule, cover albums are only
for the most raving of fans. This one is no exception.
13. Pop Trash (2000) – Aptly named, I suspect the boys from
Birmingham were going for tongue-in-cheek, but this disc is pretty much devoid
of anything memorable.
12. Liberty (1990) – Even the band members admit in hindsight
that this one just wasn’t very good. In general, the songwriting was
lackluster, although it did produce at least one solid track, “Serious”.
11. Red Carpet Massacre (2007) – The 2004 reunion turned out to
be short-lived. Guitarist Andy Taylor was gone again and this hip-hop inspired
album was an idea that I assume seemed cooler in theory than it was in
practice.
10. Paper Gods (2015) – Duran Duran’s newest album is slickly
produced and clearly meant to prove they can still hang with today’s younger
artists, but it’s unlikely that any of the lyrically flawed songs on this album
will become classics despite their often catchy hooks.
9. Medazzaland (1997) – This is the band’s most experimental
disc to date and while it produced two stand-out tracks, “Electric Barbarella”
and “Out of My Mind”, the rest of the album is a bit of a mess.
8. Big Thing (1988) – Similar to Massacre in that it attempted
to leverage current dance music trends into a new direction for the band, but
in this earlier case, they mixed in those songs with some more traditional
Duran-sounding tracks to much better effect.
7. Notorious (1986) – I still remember the first time I heard
the title track while shopping in the mall as a teenager. I didn’t even
recognize them until I heard Simon’s distinctive voice. Duran Duran had a new
reduced line-up, a funky new sound, and two great tracks in “Notorious” and
“Skin Trade”.
6. All You Need Is Now (2010) – This recent effort included the
hit title track and what is now one of my all-time favorite Duran Duran tunes,
“The Man Who Stole a Leopard”.
5. Astronaut (2004) – The product of a reunion of the original
five members, this album is a huge improvement over their prior disc in 2000
and spawned a pair of hits in the UK although neither sold nearly as well in
the US.
4. Duran Duran (1993) – A comeback of sorts after the
disappointing Liberty album, this second eponymously titled disc featured the now classic pop track
“Ordinary World” as well as a lesser hit, “Come Undone”.
3. Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983) – This release was made at
the height of the band’s popularity. It’s not as strong an effort as either of
the albums that came before it, but it features several hits as well as the underrated
“The Seventh Stranger”.
2. Duran Duran (1981) – Duran Duran’s debut album was darker
and more experimental than most of their subsequent collections and it was all
the better for it. While known for its hit singles such as “Is There Something
I Should Know” and “Girls on Film”, it's deeper tracks like “Careless Memories”
and “Friends of Mine” that really made this one special.
1. Rio (1982) – Far and away, Duran Duran’s best album. You
simply don’t make better pop music than the band did on this early disc. Featuring
songs like the title track, “Hungry Like the Wolf”, and “Save a Prayer”, to
this day, I love every track on Rio and listen to them often. For me, Rio will
always be the gold standard of 80s pop.
Before I leave the topic of Duran Duran, I’d be remiss if I
didn’t mention the number of outstanding songs the band has never officially released,
designated as bonus tracks, or relegated to B Sides. “Secret Oktober”, “Late
Bar”, “Salt in the Rainbow”, “Beautiful Colors”, “Cry Baby Cry”, and “Virus”
are just a few of the great tunes that fall under these categories. If the band
and Warner Bros. ever decide they truly want to wow Duran Duran’s older fans, here’s
hoping they release a B-Sides and Bonuses disc. I’d snap that one up in a minute.
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