Duran Duran quietly made it to the new Millennium. They could not have been bigger during their heyday, and many of us remember with a sort of zealous fervor the era to which Duran Duran belonged and the appropriate soundtrack they provided. They faded in the Nineties, though I never really noticed. I gobbled up Big Thing (their last album of the Eighties with its Big Generator inspired cover) Liberty (which was generally reviled, but which I found engaging in a few different places) and then their “comeback” album, the self-titled “Wedding Album,” which was a comeback only in the sense that they re-entered the public eye with the tune “Ordinary World,” though as I said, for me they never really left.
They faded a bit again as the Nineties wore on. Did anyone notice? Medazzaland, Pop Trash and Astronaut failed to light up anyone’s stereos, at least in the numbers they had enjoyed again in the early Nineties. Now today we get Red Carpet Massacre, and while it’s a little early for predictions, there’s stuff going on here that we haven’t seen in a while. I think it could take off. The whole crew is here minus Andy Taylor (who didn’t record any of this album for whatever reason) and they’ve enlisted the help of a few current dance/club producers, Timbaland among them, to help drag their sound into the present day.
Check out this tune. It’s ballad-y and melodic and, guess what? Co-written by Justin Timberlake. That guy is everywhere.
Duran Duran: album review at allmusic, itunes
