Arcadia “So Red the Rose” released 35 years ago today, November 18th, 1985. One of my favorite (not actually) Duran Duran records! Arcadia was the side-project of Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor (John Taylor and Andy Taylor were off doing Power Station) and their one and only LP hit #23 in the US and #30 in the UK. I think I got my copy the day it was released, or pretty close to that. My Duranie friends and I spent hours working to decode the encrypted numeric messages on the cover and liner notes (this was very pre-internet; now you can just go to Wiki and it tells you that the numbers code out to “So Red the Rose” and “Rhodes, Le Bon and Taylor”).

Arcadia released six singles from the LP, though not all of them globally. “Election Day” was the first single (and features Grace Jones on sing/speak vocals); it went to #6 in the US and #7 in the UK. “Goodbye is Forever” went to #33 in the US, it wasn’t released as a single in the UK however “The Promise” was released in the UK (#37) in a stripped-down format from the longer album version, but it was not released in the US (Sting does a cameo on vocals in “The Promise”).  “The Flame” was another UK-only single release (too bad, I love this song!) where it hit #58. “El Diablo” (another fave) was only released as a single in Spain while “Keep Me in the Dark” was a single in the Philippines.