Duran Duran “Rio” (Part 1). The 12″ single from one of the best albums of all-time released 40 years ago today, May 10th, 1982. I’ve written about Rio several times over the past few years, most recently two years ago on its anniversary. The enduring new wave LP went to #2 in the UK and to #6 in the US; it is considered by many publications as one of the best records of all-time, and definitely of the 80’s, its cover by Patrick Nagel is still one of the defining images of the era.

Rio had four official singles: “My Own Way” (#14 UK), “Hungry Like the Wolf” (#5 UK, #3 US), “Save a Prayer” (#2 UK, #16 US) and the title track “Rio” (#9 UK, #14 US). There are at least 13 different versions of the “Rio” single. This UK 12″ (EMI) has “Rio (Part 2)” on Side A, an extended mostly-instrumental, with just the chorus included for vocals. Side B has “Rio (Part 1)” which is basically a little shorter than the album version and a bit longer than the single version but doesn’t vary much beyond that. Also on the 12″ is the extra-funky “My Own Way” which also appears on Rio, though the 12″ has the “Carnival remix.” Quoting my own blog from a 2016 post: The mix, by David Kershenbaum, was the same as the version on the Carnival EP, it just faded out a few seconds earlier. In my heady early teen Duranie days, we would imagine that the band stayed in a hotel in New York, called out in the lyrics: “I’m on 45, between 6th & Broadway, 7UP, between 6th & Broadway” – they boys were obviously in a room on the 7th floor so we just had to get there somehow to hang out with them. I also always misheard the next line in the song: instead of “Hmm…busy, this is how I like it” I heard “Mmmm…fizzy! Just how I like it” – Simon is drinking soda! Or champagne!