planet earth Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Duran Duran “Private Confessions”

sfilzen — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 18:23:09 +0000

Duran Duran “Private Confessions” 2025/1984. Limited edition bootleg on Mind Control Records. It’s Earth Day today so I needed to spin the best song for the holiday: “Planet Earth,” which appears on this unlicensed FM broadcast recording of Duran Duran at Madison Square Garden on March 21st, 1984. I’m fairly certain I have other versions of this same concert on vinyl somewhere in my collection; this release definitely hits the highlights, including many of their hits from Duran Duran, Rio and Seven and the Ragged Tiger. The sound quality is decent though it’s a bit heavy on the high end: I could really have used more of John’s beefy bass and Roger’s thundering drums, and Simon’s voice sounds forced at times. In fairness to Simon, he was competing with thousands and thousands of batshit crazy screaming teenage girls. “New Moon on Monday” is particularly wonderful, with a cute intro by Simon in which he dedicates the tune to the fellas in the audience who came to the concert “with the express purpose” to meet girls (lol good luck – all those girls are hoping to go home with a Duran!). “Save a Prayer” is lovely, as always, but Nick’s keyboards are way too low in the mix until the very end when they get a bit wonky. And of course “Planet Earth” is mostly fabulous with Simon asking the audience to prove they’re into it by dancing and screaming (I’m guessing he was obliged) and his super-high energy singing; but the ubiquitous 80’s sax is too high in the mix for my tastes though and the saxophonist totally fucked up a note or two. “Careless Memories” is as urgent as ever (their performance of this one is particularly excellent). The encore “The Chauffeur” is absolutely haunting.

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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 “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 “Duran Duran”

sfilzen — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 17:06:22 +0000

Duran Duran “Duran Duran” 1981/1983. On this day, April 25th, in 1983, Duran Duran reissued their debut record in the USA, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Taiwan and South Africa, due mainly to the phenomenal success of their sophomore release, Rio.

There were three major differences between the 1981 and 1983 release: 1. “To The Shore” was gone, making way for a new track the band had recorded “Is There Something I Should Know?” (which debuted at #1 on the UK charts and reached #4 in the US), 2. The longer Night Version of “Planet Earth” was replaced regular single version of “Planet Earth,” and 3. the cover art was completely different, changing from a New Romantic photo of the band, complete with puffy pirate shirts and alternately dyed black or blonde hair, with an updated picture that has the boys wearing either vaguely safari leather jackets (Simon) or biker jackets (Andy) and freshly updated hair colors (blonde tips for John and fiery orange for Nick). (Roger, Simon and Andy seem to be au naturel.) (There was a common, no-need-to-update thread between the album cover photos, though: pillowy, pouty lips). The re-release of Duran Duran was a success – the album hit the Top 10 in the US.

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Duran Duran “Duran Duran”

sfilzen — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 14:44:56 +0000

Duran Duran “Duran Duran” 1981. Today’s pull for Earth Day, April 22nd. “Planet Earth,” Duran’s debut single, has always been one of my favorite D2 songs. It reached #21 in the UK and #8 in Australia. The album version of “Planet Earth” on this original US pressing is the “Night Version” rather than the single version. “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).

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”) in on April 25th, 1983 after the phenomenal success of Rio. Duran Duran then made it to #10 on the US Billboard charts.

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