Duran Duran “Hammersmith ’82” 1982/2022. Limited edition Record Store Day release on gold vinyl. Spinning some vintage live Duran Duran today for Andy Taylor’s birthday (April 16th, 1961). I’m pretty sure I have this double-LP on CD and I for sure have it on video but I absolutely needed it on vinyl, too, as it is a super-high quality recording of Duran Duran as they were about to launch into the stratosphere of their career playing to a packed Hammersmith Odeon in London on November 16th, 1982. When we went to London in 2019 and saw Stray Cats at the Hammersmith all I could was imagine me standing in the hall, watching Duran Duran playing on that same stage almost 40 years previous. Hammersmith ’82 is packed with tracks from Rio and they sound as good if not better than on the studio album: probably one of the best performances of the title track, “Rio,” a hilariously enthusiastic Simon howling at the end of “Hungry Like the Wolf,” funky bass’d and shredding guitar on “New Religion” and a gorgeous “Save a Prayer,” that had the audience definitely singing along on the chorus. From their debut Duran Duran: an extra-gothic and thundering “Night Boat” upon which Nick Rhodes gets space-age wonky on the synths, a high-energy swirling “Planet Earth,” one of deep-cut favorites (lots of Andy shred on this one, too) “Friends of Mine,” a propulsive “Careless Memories,” and the crowd-pleaser closer “Girls on Film.” They also play one cover – Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel‘s 1975 song “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)” as part of the show’s encore; the ’82 Hammersmith version appeared a couple years later as the b-side to the 1984 single “The Reflex” from Seven and the Ragged Tiger.