Duran Duran “Nite Romantics” 1981. Today, June 8th, is Nick Rhodes’ birthday (b. Nicholas James Bates, 1962) so I’m spinning one of my favorite early Duran imports (from Japan on Toshiba EMI, with original Japanese OBI strip still intact and liner notes – entirely in Japanese – insert included). Nite Romantics is a 4-track mini album featuring remixes of two of Duran Duran’s biggest early singles: “Planet Earth (Night Version)” and “Girls on Film (Night Version).” The reason I love New Romantics (besides the glammy cover photo taken at the Rum Runner, where they were essentially the house band back in the early 80′s) is the inclusion of two of their best b-sides: “Khanada” (b-side on the 7″ of “Careless Memories”) and a fantastic cover of David Bowie’s “Fame” (b-side on the 12″ of “Careless Memories” along with “Khanada”). Nick is/was a huge Bowie fan and I remember reading  at the time of Bowie’s death that he stated Duran Duran would not have existed without Bowie.