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SDEtv looks back at Duran Duran’s 2010 deluxe reissues

With the announcement on Thursday of some ‘new’ Duran Duran reissues, SDE thought it would be a good time to look back at the busy 2010 reissue campaign and check out the interesting, but inconsistent approach given to the band’s catalogue almost a decade-and-a-half ago. Leave a comment with your thoughts on these old deluxe editions.

Read about the 2024 reissues, here.

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58 thoughts on “SDEtv looks back at Duran Duran’s 2010 deluxe reissues”

  1. Damn you Paul, after watching this video earlier in the week Arcadia has been my go to on Tidal. Loving it! What a great deluxe set. I then discovered that I have it on vinyl having bought in 1986 when I was at Uni! It’s in pristine condition so I don’t think I played it much. I stopped buying DD 12s after Wild Boys and after Notorious LP and tour … that was the end.

  2. I recall reading once that the Night Versions actually aren’t remixes, because Duran Duran at the time didn’t know yet how that was done, and they simply played and recorded the Night Versions as such. I love this,

  3. In fairness the content of all of these was excellent, original album, singles, B-sides, 12” and remixes, I think they included almost all of the core remixes.

    It wasn’t super deluxe but I wondering whether the archives have anything of quality to offer.

    The only but key issue was the horrendous mastering other than Rio.

  4. Watching this video made me realise that I never picked up the box for the debut album (no doubt because of all the hoo-ha over the sound quality) and now I have a completism itch :-(

  5. I have them all, along with the singles boxes and Strange Behaviour. Love the music, although I agree the mastering is hit-and-miss.

    Can anyone confirm if any of the download-only remixes for Notorious, Big Thing, and So Red the Rose are otherwise unavailable on CD, or if they were collected elsewhere? Like many physical-media collectors, I detest download-only releases.

    1. “Remix EP” (“Notorious” era) :

      1. Skin Trade (S.O.S. Dub) : not officially available on CD,
      2. “Meet El Presidente” (Meet El Beat) : on “The Singles 1986-1995”,
      3. American Science (Meltdown Dub) : not officially available on CD,
      4. Vertigo (B-Boy Mix): not officially available on CD,
      5. Notorious (Latin Rascals Mix) : on “The Singles 1986-1995”.

      Try “Master Mixes” (https://www.discogs.com/master/1108233-Duran-Duran-Master-Mixes) as a good source for the missing tracks.

      “The Dub Mix EP” (“Big Thing” era) :

      1. I Don’t Want Your Love (Dub Mix) : on “Strange Behaviour”,
      2. All She Wants Is (Eurohouse Mix a/k/a Euro Dub Mix) : on “Big Thing” (2010 box set), and on “The Singles 1986-1995,
      3. All She Wants Is (Eurohouse Dub I a/k/a House Dub) : on 1988 “ASWI” German CD-single,
      4. All She Wants Is (US Master Dub a/k/a Latino Dub) : on 1988 “ASWI” German CD-single, and on So80s 9,

      There is also “All She Wants Is (Eurohouse Dub II)” but this one has never been released on CD as far as I know (save for one lousy bootleg).

      Regarding “So Red the Rose”, I can’t see what remixes you’re refering to… But as for the versions I know of, which are not on the 2010 re-issue :

      1. Election Day (Cryptic Cut – No Voice) : “Heaven’s Eyes” (bootleg),
      2. The Flame (Extended US Remix) : “Heaven’s Eyes” (bootleg),
      3. Say the Word (7″ Instrumental) : “The Singles Box Set” bootleg,

      And finally, two “Rough Mixes” (“Keep Me in the Dark” and “The Flame”) are available on “Cryptic Voice” (another bootleg).

  8. I have both 2003 and 2010 versions ripped to my hard drive.
    I do prefer the 2010 remaster of Notorious, the original CD sounds a bit thin when I compare the two.
    The 2010 remaster of Seven And The Ragged Tiger is the one that sounds the worse of my equipment (Sony Receiver) too much low and high frequencies for my liking.

  9. Thanks for reviewing these. I also have them all, including the Power Station reissue. I upload all my music on my computer so I can play it on Sonos (I have maxed out my Sonos capacity btw, anyone has a solution for this? It’s a real problem). In Sonos I replaced all the Duran 2010 albums and remixes by earlier versions. The only 2010 material I have left on Sonos is what is unique to these 2010 versions. Duran issued two cd single boxes in 2003 and 2004 with all singles, remixes and b sides. Unlike i.e. the Bananarama singles box, they missed some remixes but the sound quality is pretty decent. The Strange Relationship 2cd also has many remixes and that sound quality isn’t bad either. For the rest, the material unique to these 2010 versions, like the Notoriousaurus Rex remix, you will have to suck up.

  10. Totally confused, that 2 disc version isn’t the one I have. It doesn’t have the 2 disc stamp on the cover? Also saw some listing at the end of the second disc Si does a merry Christmas thing? Again not on my version what the hell?

  11. Interesting to see all these. I only bought the Rio one. At the time when I bought it (2015, thank you amazon) I wasn’t aware of the others. I would’ve liked the first one as I like a nice CD/DVD combo although I think I have most of the promo vids on the 2xDVD pack. I would certainly have been interested in picking up a nice SDE of some of the early albums, but I should thank the record company for not making me spend more money :)

  12. I have all of these (got the Notorious and Big Thing sets on clearance when Borders went out of business years ago). Duran Duran is a very visual band so the bonus DVD’s were essential. I do believe there may be a market to reissue these properly in an updated SDE format. I’ve seen them live (Big Thing, Astronaut, and Future Past tours), and like all Duran Duran fans I anticipate their new releases greatly, and would also welcome a lovingly curated deluxe revisit of all their work (especially The Wedding Album and Liberty).

  13. Time to put your years-long beef with Duran Duran to bed. They’re never going to release the special editions or remasters you want them to. I’m sure it doesn’t even ever cross their minds. Also, the 1993 original mix of the Wedding Album is the only one you’re ever gonna get.

  14. Surprised by all the positive comments, I seem to recall when they were released that there were numerous complaints about the sound quality and so I never bothered to pick them up. So now I’m wondering why these are getting reissued rather than proper Super Deluxe editions, not to mention blu rays with new Dolby atmos remix. Another missed opportunity.

    1. That is exactly what I did. Same with the initial New Order remasters which were also botched.

      One can download the music on the CDs for these deluxe editions from Qobuz which I may end up doing as am not paying $100+ to a third party seller for these masters and can’t be sure they will be properly remastered in the future. I checked the samples of the DD debut Deluxe album on Qobuz, and wowzah it was painful.

      I would gladly buy SDEs of the first 3, 4 , 5 or even 6 albums plus the Arcadia album if they were remastered sympathetically and Blu-rays with hi-res stereo, 5.1, and Atmos mixes would be very welcome. You’d think that DD would be big enough to be able to sell such sets. They did better than Ultravox (who are getting multiple CD+DVD and vinyl sets) and I would venture to say would sell more than the Wham! if just Blu-ray’s were made available.

  15. Flash alert! I was in HMV Oxford St. today and there is actually a copy of the 2CD “Rio” in the racks for about £15. My theory is there 2CD Booklet package proved too expensive to manufacture with bound book for “Rio” which they released first as it’s their ‘flagship’ album. So they switched to the Box versions, which I actually prefer as a package visually.

    1. You can order it brand new from Amazon, I got it Friday. Listening to it now to be honest and can’t see/hear any issue the bass sounds superb granted I am day drinking.

  16. I have all of these as well, but I bought them at a discount with slight cut out markings or drill holes in them. Some I don’t find bad some I find to be mastered better on other editions. It’s nice to have stuff bundled together, but to have the campaign be consistent and complete would have been better. Still wondering why they didn’t finish the job.

  17. I only have the 2001 remastered single CD version of Rio (another remastering was done for the 2009 version). It’s sounds good to my ears. I’m still waiting for a decent deluxe edition. I had the compilation “Greatest”, which sounded not good and replaced it with the 2CD “The Biggest And The Best” which sounds so much better (but only has the 80’s material).

  18. Maybe it’s just me but I always disliked then the label releases these deluxe albums in different formats. Some are cardboard sleeves, others in media books.
    I liked the Bowie album trilogy [Aladdin, Ziggy, Diamond] or the 8 releases from Marillion.

    1. Yes, Jethro Tull, The Who and King Crimson are others that can go side by side on a shelf, as for R.E.M I think the label wanted to try out as many different packages as they could find.

    2. Well, it’s consistent with their history : “The Presidential Suite” was a gatefold cardboard sleeve, “I Don’t Want Your Love” was a slimline jewel case, “All She Wants Is” was a 3-inch digipak, and “Do You Believe in Shame?” was delivered as another 3-inch CD slipped into an outer plastic case… Go figure.

      (Strange enough when you consider how they cared about harmonizing sleeve designs by albums.)

      1. I remember getting the US 12-inch import of Do You Believe in Shame? before it had been released in the UK, probably at Tower Records. Those were the days.

  19. Had to chuckle when you presented the actual discs from the eponymous album.
    Might be the only DVD ever that has 33 ⅓ RPM printed on it in bold characters…

  20. Thanks! I have all the blur albums in that box format, except Leisure, since I’ve never really liked that record, although for completist’s sake I probably should have got that as well.
    The weird thing about the blur deluxe editions is that they were nicer than what you got in the big ’21’ box set that was released at the time, so I felt like I had to double dip!

  21. I do recall buying the Live at Hammersmith ’82 DVD with a CD version in the same package a few months before the Rio double CD was released. The live CD quality was much superior to the one released in the double CD. Strange one that.

    Interesting that BBC R2 reccently repeated their 1981 concert – which was extremely good. Was this concert ever given an official release?

    1. They released the BBC In Concert recording of their 17th of December 1981 show at the Hammersmith Odeon as a download back in 2010. I bought it from iTunes at the time. Like you say, it’s a great gig.

      They also released a BBC In Concert recording of another show at the Hammersmith Odeon (4th of November 1982) in 2009. This isn’t the same concert as the one on the DVD/CD release (which was the 16th of November).

      The 1981 concert still seems to be available on iTunes but I couldn’t see the 1982 one when I just took a quick a look.

      There were also live download albums released for the tours to support Notorious and Big Thing (different to the ones on the DVDs bundled in the box sets).

      1. Thanks for the information
        – there’s so much out there.

        Unfortunately I don’t do downloads – iTunes Spotify etc. are alien to me.

  22. There is so much opportunity here. Take the best bits from the Led Zeppelin, New Order and Metallica reissues… Proper remasters in large box set format, with hi-stereo, 5.1 and atmos mixes, max, all remixes and b-sides from the era (they’re really close right now), and a bunch of demos and live shows as a bonus. Leave out the ephemera and pack it with content. Then re-issue the 12” singles standalone. I’d gladly fork over $250 per album for something like that, including the Arcadia and Power Station albums.

  23. Nice overview. I bought these at the time along with the similar Radiohead reissues and a few others. I really loved that box format. They are mostly very comprehensively compiled which is always a big plus. Just a shame some of the mastering let them down.

    Although the Rio package didn’t include a DVD, one was issued separately the same month as the 2CD set. It included the Hammersmith ’82 show, all the Rio videos and some TOTP clips, plus a CD of the live show. It was also very nicely packaged.

    Issued in 2010 were a couple of digital EPs that rounded up all the remixes that there wasn’t space for in the Notorious and Big Thing special editions. I was thrilled EMI made the effort to do that. Somebody was really paying attention. These are stll available. The digital edition of the Arcadia deluxe set also included an instrumental mix that there wasn’t space for in the 2CD+DVD package.

  24. I’m a bit confused as all mine are three panel two disc sets from 2009+ except Notorious.

    These were about £15 as I didn’t want to pay £31 for the version with the videos.

  25. Loved watching this, but flabbergasted at the higgledy piggledy release formats. What were they thinking?? And of course the mastering debacle is a well-known issue. And on top of all that, they decide to regress, with bare-bones new re-issues. I guess they get credit for managing to do everything wrong that they possibly can, that probably took some hard work!! They need to start hiring SDE members….

    1. “They need to start hiring SDE members….”

      Well that has been an issue for as long as I have been here. Something compiled by, let’s be kind, an experienced 25 year old teaboy who has been with the company for two years and isn’t really a fan of the artist or genre (hyperbole possibly) vs “The Artist” (ffs) vs someone who has been a fan of the artist / era / genre for 30 to 40 years has every single record, knows where the band played on 10th June 1990 and has a better copy of the soundboard recording than the group seem to have.

      There will be exceptions, artists who go to great lengths and companies that do likewise (Salvo for instance). Sometimes a great release doesn’t have to be a £125 megabox but it can be a £12.99 3 CD set with a decent booklet. It just hits the spot.

      But, sadly, much of the time, it is just the wrong thing at the wrong time, done badly. I wonder how the three Tears for Fears SDEs would have turned out if a fan hadn’t been involved. Some artists are just too stubborn and disengaged with reality and would want 100% control and we have seen how that turns out. Unfortunately death of the artist is the best thing that can happen for a fan of the music (harsh, but generally true).

  26. These were good. Didn’t know about Seven & The Ragged Tiger at the time, so missed that one. It’s shame they didn’t do the other 4 EMI albums, or ever release the MTV unplugged show. Lots of good stuff left behind. The 2 singles boxes were also done very well. Seems like the powers that be have forgotten how to do a reissue.

  27. The Rio one is fantastic in terms of mastering, content and presentation, it could only be bettered by the inclusion of

    Blu Ray with 24/96 stereo and TrueHD Atmos
    Hammersmith concert

    1. Mark you are not wrong squire. No audiophile but on this average PC setup it is top drawer. My neighbours are likely going to argue on that mind.

  28. Great video Paul. Record companies drive me mad. What we really need is coloured vinyl box sets of each album, just look at what Toyah and Muse are doing.
    An opportunity missed. Big Thing is their best album by the way.

    1. What we need is blu-rays with Atmos mixes on.

      No what we need is £300 vinyl box sets in 17 different colours so I can spend £5100 collecting them all. ( don’t own a turntable btw)

      No, what we need is DVD with a 5.1 mix because I haven’t gotten around to buying a Blu-ray player yet.

      No, what we need is 24/96 mixes on whatever because I have the hearing of a cat.

      No, what we need is nothing because my original 1981 cassette sounds fine and I recorded all the videos off TOTP onto VHS.

      Sod it, I’ll just listen to the radio and hope they play Hungry Like The Wolf one day.

  29. Despite the mastering issues and inconsistent packaging, these look lovely and I would love to have them. It’s a pity I wasn’t aware of these reissues at the time. I don’t know if they were publicised – or even released – here in Australia.

    But the ‘new’ versions I’m not going to bother with – basic cardsleeve packaging (ugh!), no bonus audio/video, poor remastering (which I haven’t heard, so I’ll have to take everyone else’s word about that)…

    In all honesty, I don’t know what to expect with DD sound quality. I was only born in 1978, so I missed all the original vinyl releases. I have these albums on CD, but I can’t recall when they were pressed. I have nothing to compare them to.

    When I listen to ‘Paper Gods’, I feel like there’s a slight sibilance in some of the audio. It’s not strong, but noticeable enough to irritate me. Maybe it’s just my CD player.

    2. Paper Gods is horribly mastered. It hurts me so. I have to turn down the bass 2 notches to make it bearable. I don’t know why they mastered it so hot.

  33. Shame about the mastering … I don’t play them that much, they sound the worst of anything I’ve got over headphones. They look nice on the shelf, but not all the same. The more I think about these the less I like them!

  34. Great video. I have them all except Notorious and Big Thing. I can’t understand why I didn’t buy them from Play.com (remember them) at the time . I also have the brilliant 2005 reissue of The Power Station album.

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