Duran Duran “Seven and the Ragged Tiger” released 35 years ago today, November 21st, in 1983. Duran′s third album and my most-listened to in the early-to-mid-80′s. I know and love every single note and every lyric line (and even tried to dissect the meaning behind them). Seven and the Ragged Tiger entered the UK album chart at #1 and a bit later reached #8 in the US despite mixed critical reviews. For example, the bad: “Pathetic, useless, no good. It’s pretentious, pompous and possibly the first chapter in their decline” from Record Mirror and “A sorry collection of half-baked melodies, meaningless lyrics – their earlier work, while not poetry, at least sounded clever – and over-active studio foolishness” from Trouser Press. [ahem, fuck those reviewers] And the good: “opulently produced, their new romantic origins blooming into lush decadent pop” from The Telegraph and “Restores danger and menace [to Duran Duran]” from Melody Maker. Danger and menace definitely describes several of the tracks on Seven and the Ragged Tiger including their first single from the album, “Union of the Snake” which hit #3 in both the US and the UK, the non-single tracks “(I’m Looking For) Cracks in the Pavement,” “Of Crime and Passion” and “Shadows on Your Side,” as well as the third and final single “The Reflex” which went to #1 in the US and UK. New romantic, opulent and lushly decadent are apt descriptions for the other songs from Seven and the Ragged Tiger like the instrumental “Tiger Tiger,” sultry and aching “The Seventh Stranger” and the second released single “New Moon on Monday.” “New Moon on Monday” has always been one of my favorites (my Duranie name was La Luna Le Bon – we Duranies had our own special names, a worldwide network of penpals and other nutball schemes only pre-teen and teenage girls could come up with); it went to #9 in the UK and #10 in the US and its video won two Grammy awards though Nick and Andy both hated the video and making it: it was miserably cold and by the end of the shoot the entire band was drunk. On the upside we get to see Nick dance which is a rare occurrence.