new romantics Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Duran Duran “Duran Duran”

sfilzen — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 17:28:26 +0000

Duran Duran “Duran Duran” – today, June 15th, is a major #duranivesary – 40 years ago today D2 released their debut album. Duran Duran reached #3 on the UK charts, remaining in the top 100 for 117 weeks. Its initial release did not do so well in the US but was subsequently re-released (with a different cover and the addition of the single “Is There Something I Should Know”) on April 25th, 1983 after the phenomenal success of Rio. Duran Duran then made it to #10 on the US Billboard charts. This well-loved original US pressing has the “Night Version” rather than the single version of “Planet Earth” (#12 UK). “To the Shore,” which appears on the UK pressing, was not included in order to accommodate the increased length of the Night Version (6:20 vs. 4:03). Other singles from Duran Duran include “Careless Memories” (#37 UK) and the infamous “Girls on Film” which was their first big hit, reaching #5 on the UK charts. To say I love those songs and every other song on Duran Duran would be a huge understatement. I know every second of music, every lyric and most of the stories behind the songs (whether real or what me and my Duranie friends made up).

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Duran Duran “Is There Something I Should Know”

sfilzen — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 20:12:27 +0000

Duran Duran “Is There Something I Should Know” 1983. Today, February 16th, is (former) Duran guitarist Andy Taylor’s 60th birthday (b. Andrew Taylor, 1961). Duran Duran released “Is There Something I Should Know?” as a stand-alone single in the UK where it entered the chart at #1 (their first top of the chart single). In the US it went to #4 and the band included the track on the re-release of their debut LP Duran Duran for the US market. This 12″ single has the “Monster Mix” – it’s mainly an instrumental with plenty of extras: keyboards, sound effects, a nice little rockin’ guitar solo for Andy and a ton of funky bass for John. The B-side to the 12″ has another instrumental, “Faith in This Colour.” On the 7″ single in the UK there’s an alternative version: “Faith in This Colour (Alternate Slow Mix)” and in the US the B-side to the 7″of “Is There Something I Should Know” is “Careless Memories,” the band’s second single released in ‘81.

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Duran Duran “Planet Earth”

sfilzen — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 13:25:24 +0000

Duran Duran “Planet Earth” their first single released 40 years ago today, February 2nd, 1981. (😳and an (un)helpful reminder to my fellow Duranies to check their mailboxes for AARP cards, schedule routine screenings with their docs, etc). Duran Duran released “Planet Earth” a couple of months before their debut LP Duran Duran. The song went to #12 in the UK and to #8 in Australia (it was not released in the US – this is a UK import). The 12″ single has “Night Version” on Side A: it’s longer than the original with a lot more saxophone, funky John Taylor bass and Andy Taylor rockin’ guitar. “Night Version” would appear on Nite Romantics, a 1981 EP of extended tracks and B-sides, as well as the ‘82 EP Carnival. On Side B of the 12″ is the single version of “Planet Earth” and “Late Bar.”

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Duran Duran “Girls on Film”

sfilzen — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 21:57:07 +0000

Duran Duran “Girls on Film” 1981. 12″ single. Today, October 27th, is Simon Le Bon’s birthday (1958) so I’m spinning their glorious new wave synthpop hit (#5 UK, the notoriously scandalous video too famous to count on any chart; it was banned on the BBC and heavily edited for MTV) in honor of my first boyfriend’s day (he is, I believe, unaware of that fact – the boyfriend part). Side A has “Girls on Film (Night Version)” which is a bit longer, extra echoey effects, amazing. Side B has the single version of “Girls on Film” plus another dramatically new romantic track with a killer bass line from John Taylor, “Faster Than Light” on which Simon’s voice goes into an unbelievable range (but he nails it, of course).

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Duran Duran “Nite Romantics”

sfilzen — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 21:13:15 +0000

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.

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Duran Duran “Planet Earth”

sfilzen — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 19:34:55 +0000

Duran Duran “Planet Earth” 1981, 12″ single. 🌍Happy Earth Day!🌏 “Planet Earth” was Duran Duran’s first single, released a couple of months before their debut LP Duran Duran. It went to #12 in the UK and to #8 in Australia (it was not released in the US). This 12″ (a literal UK import – I picked it up in London) has the “Night Version” of “Planet Earth” on Side A: it’s longer than the original with a lot more saxophone, funky John Taylor bass and Andy Taylor rockin’ guitar. “Night Version” would appear on Nite Romantics, a 1981 EP of extended tracks and B-sides, as well as the ‘82 EP Carnival. On Side B of this 12″ is the single version of “Planet Earth” and “Late Bar” (from which the lyrics “There’s an all night party in room 7609″ have inspired a legion of Duranie theories and conspiracies as well as the name of the official Duran Duran Spotify playlist).

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Duran Duran “Seven and the Ragged Tiger”

sfilzen — Thu, 21 Nov 2019 14:11:05 +0000

Duran Duran “Seven and the Ragged Tiger” released on this date, November 21st, 1983. Limited edition, double vinyl release from 2010. Of course I still have my original album from ‘83 but I couldn’t resist picking up this reissue that has the original record along with a bonus disk with four remixed Duran Duran singles: “Is There Something I Should Know? (Monster Mix),” “Union of the Snake (Monkey Mix),” “New Moon on Monday (Dance Mix)” and “The Reflex (Dance Mix).”

Seven and the Ragged Tiger entered the UK album chart at #1 in 1983 and went to #8 in the US a bit later. Quoting myself (and others) from a year ago when I wrote about the album for its 35th anniversary: “’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.

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Duran Duran “Arena”

sfilzen — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 13:46:59 +0000

Duran Duran “Arena” released 35 years ago today, November 12th, 1984. My original gatefold copy from ‘84, complete with an 8-page glossy booklet featuring sultry photos of each band member (the one of Nick clutching what looks to be a pole is particularly amusing).

Arena (which went to #6 in the UK and #4 in the US) was “recorded around the world” when Duran Duran toured in ‘83 and ‘84 promoting Seven and the Ragged Tiger and includes songs from that album performed live like “The Seventh Stranger” and “Union of the Snake” but also many from Rio. Those are the always popular “Hungry Like the Wolf” which Simon introduces by asking the audience “Is anybody hungry??!!” as well as “New Religion” (which fabulously demonstrates the tension between Andy’s desire to play guitar in a hard rock-n-roll/metal band, Simon and Nick’s art-rock tendencies and John’s funky disco bass playing), “Save a Prayer” (I love it when Simon sings this live, adding in “ch-ch-ch” after the word “fire”), and “The Chauffeur.” They also perform the stand-alone “Is There Something I Should Know?” which appears on the US reissue of their debut record Duran Duran, plus “Planet Earth” and “Careless Memories” from that LP. The only non-live track on Arena is “The Wild Boys” (produced by Nile Rodgers) which they released as a single just prior to Arena; it went to #2 in both the US and the UK and became infamous for having the most expensive video ever made up to that point.

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Duran Duran “Thanksgiving Live – The Ultra Chrome, Latex and Steel Tour”

sfilzen — Sat, 27 Oct 2018 18:46:43 +0000

Duran Duran “Thanksgiving Live – The Ultra Chrome, Latex and Steel Tour” 1997/2018, Record Store Day 2018 limited edition release (2,000 copies), double marble vinyl. Today, October 27th, is my first boyfriend Simon Le Bon’s 60th birthday (though the boyfriend bit would be a surprise to him I suppose since technically we’ve never actually met). I’m pretty sure Thanksgiving Live is a bootleg; it’s on The Big Bang Concert Series label and is from a concert in Orlando, Florida for the Big Band Radio Broadcast on Thanksgiving in ‘97 and even though it is an official Record Store Day release, there are some online grumblings about its pressing and I can see why. The quality of the album’s production is definitely not up to Duran Duran’s normal stellar standards (Nick Rhodes is a total perfectionist and their records’ production value always reflects that). The late 90′s were also kind of a dark time for D2: John and Roger aren’t even on the album (John left Duran for awhile in ‘97, Roger had left in the 80′s but made a brief return to the band in ‘95 for the recording of Thank You), instead there’s some guy Wes Wehmiller on bass and another dude Steve Alexander on drums. Andy has had a notoriously complicated relationship with his old band so he’s not on Thanksgiving Live either, instead Warren Cuccurullo (formerly in Missing Persons), who at least was briefly an official member, is on guitar. The lack of John and Roger in particular (we’ve all gotten use to MIA Andy) makes the live LP particularly thin: no deep funky play-that-fuckin’-bass-John or Roger’s rich stomping beats.

The track listing is a mix of the great old stuff including “Hungry Like the Wolf,” “A View to a Kill,” “Save a Prayer” (which Simon dedicates to Michael Hutchence who had just committed suicide), “Friends of Mine,” “Careless Memories,” “Rio” and a super-deep cut “Secret Oktober” (always an old fave of mine) and what was then newer stuff from their 1997 album Medazzaland like “Electric Barbarella,” “Medazzaland,” “Big Bang Generation,” “Who Do You Think You Are?,” “Out of My Mind,” “Be My Icon,” and “Buried in the Sand.” I love Duran Duran but the usual sparkling joy of their music just isn’t present on this live album.

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Duran Duran “Duran Duran”

sfilzen — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 16:36:19 +0000

Duran Duran “Duran Duran” released on this date, June 15th, 1981. I’ve written about Duran Duran’s debut album before, but its new wave, new romantic awesomeness is always worth another listen. Duran Duran reached #3 on the UK charts, remaining in the top 100 for 117 weeks. Its initial release did not do so well in the US but was subsequently re-released (with a different cover and the addition of the single “Is There Something I Should Know”) on April 25th, 1983 after the phenomenal success of Rio. Duran Duran then made it to #10 on the US Billboard charts. This original US pressing has the “Night Version” rather than the single version of “Planet Earth.” “To the Shore,” which appears on the UK pressing, was not included in order to accommodate the increased length of the Night Version (6:20 vs. 4:03).

I’ve been reading I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution and, not surprisingly, Duran Duran has a heavy presence in the book, especially for their breakthrough – and controversial – video for “Girls on Film;” MTV played the heavily edited and censored version but my Duranie friends managed to get Betamax copies of the original so we got to see what the scandal was all about. “Girls on Film” was the third single released from Duran Duran and their breakthrough hit, reaching #5 on the UK charts.

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