Duran Duran: Deep Cuts
In a new feature, SDE curates a playlist from a popular artist. This inaugural collection of tracks digs beneath the surface of Duran Duran‘s output, ignoring virtually everything on their current concert set lists (and best ofs like 1989’s Decade or 1998’s Greatest) and instead digs deep into their catalogue for a hit-free selection, spotlighting high quality album tracks, B-sides and a few should-have-been-singles!
For some discipline, the self-imposed rule is that the playlist should, in theory, be burnable onto a CD, so the maximum running time is limited to 80 minutes. I’ve also put some effort into the running order, so while by all means go ahead and shuffle, you might get more enjoyment out of playing it as it is (at least for the first time!).
This has of course been done on Spotify. Don’t take that as any indication that SDE is no longer about ‘Holding The Music In Your Hands’, it’s just that this is by far the most practical way to share this amongst SDE readers. As if to highlight the limitations of streaming music, three Duran Duran albums were unavailable: Medazzaland, Pop Trash and Astronaut. If they had been, then perhaps space would have been found for ‘Midnight Sun’, ‘Starting To Remember’ and ‘Finest Hour’.
If you’re a Spotify user and like this, then I’d encourage you to ‘follow’ the playlist. You can start listening below, and scroll down further for details on the track selections.
Anyone Out There
The third song on Duran Duran’s self-titled debut album from 1981. ‘Anyone Out There’ very much defines the band’s early sound with minimalistic synths, Andy Taylor’s distinctive guitar figures, and some quite funky bass from John.
Serious
The second single from 1990’s Liberty was nothing short of a disaster for Duran Duran. It was their first 45 not to reach the top 40 in the UK, peaking at number 48. I don’t remember this being promoted very much at all and it felt at the time that EMI had all but given up on the band. There was no third single from the album, no tour and it was probably only the promise of a new song called ‘Ordinary World’ that stopped them from being dropped.
Hold Me
This album track from the Nile Rodgers-produced Notorious (1986) is a rocky fast-paced number. The break section at 2.52. is fantastic.
Late Bar
B-side to the first single ‘Planet Earth’. All Duran’s early B-sides were great. Cue crunchy guitars and a rather effortless pop song that evokes late night clubbing and the whole ‘new romantic’ movement.
Liberty
The title track from Liberty, is a great mid-paced dance number and one of the better tracks on the record. If EMI had stuck with the album this probably would have been the third single. The pre-chorus break is quite Big Thing-ish. Great guitar work from Warren Cuccurullo at the 3.05 point.
Love Voodoo
So much to enjoy from Duran Duran’s ‘comeback’ album, The Wedding Album, including this slinky, dubby album track. Great descending chord progression in the verses and wonderful melody from Simon, with a very strong chorus. It just sounds so good.
Only In Dreams
I hesitated over this inclusion from 2015’s Paper Gods. Did it really deserve a seat at the table? Well, I thought this was the best track on the album at the time and stand by that opinion. Although it’s in dire need of editing (six minutes, really?) it sounds the most like ‘Duran Duran’ of anything on the record and could easily have been on Notorious, in a different life. There is some dross on Paper Gods but this song seems rooted to some kind of reality.
So Misled
Talking of Notorious, ‘So Misled’ has always been a wonderful highlight for me. Brilliant rhythm track, great arrangement; those horns. Classic post-hysteria Duran.
None of the Above
One of my favourite Duran Duran songs, period. This is from The Wedding Album and just incessantly delivers great melody and wonderful bits of arrangement. The band aren’t trying to sound ‘contemporary’, just like themselves. The production is spot on. The 12-inch ‘Drizabone Mix’ (it was a single in Japan) is disappointing.
I Believe / All I Need To Know (Medley)
Duran Duran’s best B-side is this medley from the ‘All She Wants’ Is single, which was the second 45 from 1988’s Big Thing. How could they write something as good as this and then two years later struggle so badly with Liberty?
A Matter of Feeling
Lovely ballad from Notorious. Very mature and some great lyrics from Simon.
My Antarctica
THE best song from Liberty by a country mile. The executives at EMI must have had cotton wool in their ears not to have recognised that this could have been a classic in the vein of ‘Save A Prayer’. They were probably scared to release a ‘slow’ song as a lead single, but to choose The Violence of Summer over this was madness. An instrumental variation of ‘My Antarctica’, called ‘Throb’, was actually the B-side to that single, just to rub salt in the wound. The band haven’t even recognised the quality – they never play it. Brilliant lyric from Simon.
Khanada
Back to 1982 for the B-side to ‘Careless Memories’, the single that momentarily worried the band by peaking at a lowly number 37 in the UK (‘Girls on Film’ came to the rescue). The other track on the 12-inch was Duran’s cover of David Bowie‘s Fame.
To The Shore
Atmospheric number from the debut that was left off the original US version of the album, to make room for the Night Version of ‘Planet Earth’. When Capitol reissued the album after the success of Rio, it was still left off because they added ‘Is There Something I Should Know?’ which was a non-album single in the UK.
The Chauffeur
This song never gets boring, but just in case, this is the impressive acoustic version that was the B-side to the ‘Rio’ single in the UK.
U.M.F.
This Tongue-in-cheek number from The Wedding Album (“making love to the ultimate mind”) shouldn’t work, but it’s just so much fun, really melodic and has a very creative arrangement (those parping horns are great).
The Krush Brothers LSD Edit
‘The Edge of America’ and ‘Lake Shore Driving’ close 1988’s Big Thing in a beautifully evocative and widescreen manner. For the Do You Believe In Shame? single this truncated version was created as a bonus track on some of the formats.
We Need You
The B-side to the ‘Skin Trade’ single (from Notorious) is winningly earnest with some ‘jazzy’ interludes where Nick Rhodes shows off his piano ‘skills’.
Do you agree with this selection? What would you add or remove? Leave a comment. Also which artist should SDE tackle next?
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On an unrelated note, why does ‘Astronaut’ rarely get any love from fans?
I think it’s a stellar collection of songs (though in my opinion it was poorly-sequenced – I re-edited it and got LOTS of mileage out of it).
I love Astronaut and think it’s much better than the slightly overrated All You Need Is Now.
I like both. But I prefer the latter to ‘Astronaut’ if only because of the sequencing. Re-edited, though, ‘Astronaut’ is one of my favs of theirs. Top 4, perhaps. Seriously.
If you’re interested, here’s how I re-edited it:
‘Astronaut’ Redux
1. Finest Hour: Fade out at the end.
2. Want You More!: Insert at the 3m50s mark of the set.
3. One of Those Days: Insert at the 7m26s mark.
4. Chains: Insert at the 11:06s mark.
5. Taste the Summer: Trim the opening 21 seconds, up to and including the beat. Start at the first “Doo doo doo”. Insert at the 15m51s mark.
6. Bedroom Toys: Insert at the 19:24m mark.
7. Nice: Insert at the 23m15s mark.
8. What Happens Tomorrow: Fade in slightly so that its intro blends into the end of “Nice”. The song should properly begin at the 26m41s mark.
9. Point of No Return: Insert at the 30m42s mark.
10. Astronaut: Insert at the 35m34s mark.
11. (Reach Up for the) Sunrise: Insert at the 39m02s mark.
12. Still Breathing: Insert at the 42m27s mark.
Voilà: ‘”Astronaut” Redux’! The total runtime of the set should be 48m28s.
I have a Hi-Res streaming subscription with Tidal (which I play through an amp and speakers) but still love CDs and have over 3,500 CDs and recently bought the latest Mika, Yes 50 Live and the Darkness albums. These are available on Tidal, but I have all studio and live albums by the three artists I have mentioned.
My favourite Duran Duran track is Lonely in Your Nightmare. I bought its parent album back in the summer of 1981 and have bought many DD albums since, but it is Lonely that still excites me the most.
I first started making compilations on cassette and then minidisc and then on a CD/hard drive and now use Tidal. It is so easy to add and change the running order. A recent SDE article on OMD’s (going to see them in Sheffield tonight) Souvenir 5CD/2DVD contained a response by Dazzler on 22 August in which they listed 40 memorable tracks without one single and 20 B-sides. I compiled these lists (though there are a few B-sides not available) on Tidal and they are excellent. I will do likewise with the DD favourites though a few of their albums are not available.
As for other artists they are so many, but I did go to see A-Ha last night and they have recorded some wonderful deep cuts as have the Pet Shop Boys.
Excellent playlist. Thank you very much. I hope you’ll give us the pleasure of future ones.
Notorious is my favourite DD album, so I’m glad a few choices have been included/mentioned.
American Science
Winter Marches On
Vertigo
and Hold Me (which could have been a single).
Agree on Too Late Marlene for Big Thing, Serious from Liberty (another all-time favourite DD single), and UMF from the Wedding Album!
EG.
Other great subjects for deep cuts would be
A-ha
Paul McCartney/Wings
The Rolling Stones
10cc
New Order
The Monkees
Inspiral Carpets
U2
Great stuff, Paul, Thanks.
Have to say, secret oktober has always been my favourite. First Duran tune I remember paying attention too and played way more than its a side companion union of the snake
Great choices and we hold a similar view on DD’s catalogue – please check out the blog https://www.songsommelier.com/duran-duran
By the way I realised bothy our lists missed American Science, which is terrific and a serious step up for the band in terms of pushing the boundaries of their new sound with Nile Rogers, very much a mix of the funk-pop-rock with some nice guitar by Andy (still) and a thrilling key change around 2.5 minutes in…
Great idea, Paul. I’m rather tired of the hits, as great as they are. The DD album that I listen to the most is Medazzaland. It’s unfortunate that so few people in the UK are familiar with it since it wasn’t released there and had a very limited release in Europe. It didn’t get much airplay here in Canada but at least it was available. For your next playlist, maybe you would like to tackle some incredible songwriters like Difford & Tilbrook or the Finn brothers. I created a playlist on Google Play Music that alternates between songs written by D&T or the Finns (together or individually). The only limitation that I imposed on myself was that at least one of them had to have a writing credit so nothing where they only sang (e.g. Phil Manzanera’s K-Scope album). If anyone is interested, it’a a public playlist, although I expect that you wouldn’t be able to listen to any of the many songs that I had to upload from my own collection. I didn’t list the 233 songs here because I didn’t want to take up that much space on your webpage. I could’ve made the list somewhat shorter but, with songwriters this good, why would I?
Always been a fan, almost hardcore, but not nutty…I do want the whole catalogue eventually, and I started buying the deluxe editions, but when the catalogue switched over to Warner, I stopped and waited for what Warner/Rhino would do or re-do over…and all that resulted was one of “Rio”…and just basic CD reissues of the rest up thru, what, “Thank You”?? So now, I am rebuying the rest, used…and need to catch back up…I’m not familiar with most of your picks yet Paul, but I will listen…some that I love that you did not pick (and were not hits or singles) are “Secret Oktober”, “Runway Runaway” & “Sunset Garage”…I do wonder if you will do other lists like for a-ha or Bowie?? AND, thanks Kowgumpie/Ray for the tidbit that Duran are recording the followup to “Paper Gods”, produced by Mark Ronson & out in 2021…sounds like their Warner contract is intact…nice one…as for “Paper Gods”, I think it’s a fantastic album, one of their best (I have heard at least, find no fault in it, despite the split of bonus tracks)…and saw the band live 3 times supporting it too…
Thanks Paul. Great idea and a superb first playlist. Although Rio is one of my all-time favourite albums, I’m not a DD superfan, so I hadn’t heard many of your picks. I am now suitably educated, and really enjoyed your choices. It’s all about opinions of course, but I must disagree on at least one point – I love the None of the Above Drizabone Mix. I recommend the DD remix compilation Strange Behaviour, which remains available if you look hard enough.
As for future lists, I’d like to see a Level 42 playlist – plenty of opportunities for obscure remixes I’d have thought. Plus Hall & Oates, OMD and maybe the Pet Shop Boys would be worth a shout too?
have to say…i have so thoroughly enjoyed all this DD madness, that i have come back 4 times now to see who added what…i am now also inspired to dig out the cd’s i have heard, but never really listened to in order to maybe discover and enjoy some of the songs listed here…thanks all for the leap back into my teen memories
I Believe / All I Need to Know is missing from the Spotify playlist, but the “Full Version” on the Big Thing remaster is available – any reason not to use it instead? (It’s the 6 minute version)
What do you mean, it’s missing? It’s track 8! In terms of the ‘full version’ I know it’s rarer but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the original, and it takes the overall playlist over the 80 min mark which is breaking ‘the rules’.
In the US, it’s missing. The play list goes straight from None of the Above to So Misled.
That is said, I never realized there were two versions of this song! The only version I know is from the US single. I always assumed that was the version on Big Thing deluxe. Makes me wonder why they left the single version off of the deluxe edition.
I see, thanks for clarifying.
Track 10 – yes, it show in the preview widget on this page – but it is greyed out and doesn’t actually play. So either the song isn’t actually licensed and available on Spotify currently, or I’m hitting some sort of region lockout for the track (I’m in USA, fyi).
It does not show in the playlist in my Spotify desktop client at all – it’s just missing entirely.
I’m happy to email screenshots if you want. The version I mentioned above on Big Thing works for me.
Must be some licensing issue as you suggest. Unfortunately, not much I can do about it.
Buying Duran Duran records in the ‘80’s was what got me hooked into record and subsequently CD collecting. The Night Versions on the early 12”s are fantastic – and not just remixes but proper re-recorded extended versions. The beautiful sleeve designs by Assorted Images / Malcolm Garrett and the videos really contributed to a creating a coherent image for the band.
My playlist would definitely include:
The Seventh Stranger
New Religion
The Chauffeur
To The Shore
Friends Of Mine
Late Bar
Secret Oktober
Winter Marches On
Loving these lists! I would definitely add Falling Angel – a Wedding Album bonus track. Great to see so much love for my favourite DD album – Liberty. This needs a 2 disc reissue – now!!
Thanks for this, a great idea! However, the ultimate track for me would have been the inclusion of ‘Secret Oktober’ it’s my ultimate favourite DD song, and also probably up there in my all time top 3 songs ever – and I have a HUGE taste in many genres and artists! :)
A great idea and initiative Paul, thank you as always for giving us fun and information.
It took me some time to prepare this and my comment will most probably go unread, but… Here goes.
P. S.: For similar exercises in the future, I was thinking: who else can offer a catalogue as DD? Spandau is a good suggestion, but for instance they never had B sides… Much respect to the band for this, too.
So in the end my approach has been to leave out the silly Paper Gods, the Dylanesque Pop Trash and the – ahem – experimental, shall we say, Medazzaland. The latter may have offered Buried in the Sand, but in the end it is not a song I would say represents the character of Duran Duran. Pressure Off does and is brilliant, but I had already two official single in the list and it would have been not in the spirit.
The list is therefore:
Faster Than Light
(B-side to Girls on Film single, 1981)
Those were the days, with strong B-sides to great singles. It was such an emotion to flip the record over and listen to the “surprise” waiting for you that was nowhere to be found previously (other than maybe early live shows which lucky fellows had attended). The New Wave vocal deviations and changes in rhythm… Perfectly in line with the Duran Duran album style. Lovely.
Friends of Mine
(Duran Duran, 1981)
Starts with a “1997 – Escape from New York” sci-fi introduction, skips into a super cool tight dark beat with prominent bass/guitar and then opens into an almost optimistic “blue eyed soul” bridge/chorus to drop into a menacing interlude. What a debut album.
Secret Oktober
(B-side to Union of the Snake single, 1983)
A gem hidden on the back of the eagerly awaited first single of the new album after Rio. Apparently written by Simon and Nick in a hurry late at night in the studio to have a B side for UOTS. Incredible. Magnetically beautiful and perfectly placed in the “mysterious jungles, beaches, secret sects, tropical lounges” atmosphere and sound that Duran had created on Rio and developed more darkly on SATRT (later taken to extremes with Arcadia).
American Science
(Notorious, 1986)
The annoying horns of the Notorious album are wisely dosed and functional here, to help out in an incredibly atmospheric song which should be all means have been a mega single (the idiot who chose Meet El Presidente should have been immediately sent to prison in a rebellious South American country to, indeed, meet el presidente). Tiptoeing verse, sweet keys, slyly bouncing bass and guitar with a delicate and caressing funk, and a wisely sweet and sinuous chorus. With this song I always find myself stopping to think that these guys are geniuses and how on Earth did they come up with such melodies and song structures. And yes Paul, Hold Me and A Matter of Feeling are the two other missed singles, which stand out in a too American, Prince-y, funky, brassy, problematic album.
Lay Lady Lay
(Thank You, 1995)
They may have been slagged off for their covers album, but I really like Thank You and Perfect Day.
And I instantly fell in love with this version which is lovely I believe. I wouldn’ t get near the original in a million years, but they managed to make me like a Dylan song. So sweet, so sparse, so well played and produced.
Being Followed
(All You Need is Now, 2010)
All You Need is Now is what a fan like me really needed, indeed.
It is incredible how they really managed to produce a Rio follow-up after so many years, thanks to Ronson’ s lead. The whole LP is magnificent, with self-references and examples of “the new…”. This is a very Ragged Tiger sounding, wonderful piece, a bit Shadows on your Side or Of Crime and Passion with fast paced rhythm.
Drive By
(Thank You, 1997)
A work of pure genius, a self-referencing song which gives you a hint at the start which very slowly unravels to the climax that you are too surprised to admit you were hoping to have guessed… A homage to themselves and to the fans. A redevelopment of a true gem in their catalogue. And Simon at his best narrative self, in tone and lyrics. Unbelievably atmospheric, sends shivers down the spine.
Last Chance on the Stairway
(Rio, 1982)
Oh how much I adore this song, I love the scene it creates. So many references and memories of when I was a teenager/young man at parties… Perfect. And the Rio sound is so deeply set in me and I love it so much that it is always like “coming home” musically. Beautiful lyrics, super vocal harmonies. It is almost a bridge between the first album sound and Rio (check the interlude), indeed it was presented at live shows in between the two. Fantastic.
Of Crime and Passion
(Seven and the Ragged Tiger, 1983)
Great galloping track with guitar rocking and howling plus aggressive bass. The bridge with distorted guitar/keyboard effects always exalts me and has me shivering (“How quiet they gather when the storm is about to blow…”). I like the fierce punky verse. Great lyrics, with the growing, slight lyric variations at every bridge. The chorus is a climax and the interlude confirms battling mode.
Is There Something I Should Know?
(Non Album Single, 1983)
OK it’ s a hit but how can you not include this insanely creative song on the list? So inventive, so well produced and played, I was shocked by its unpredictability when it came out. Sublime harmonies, blasting rhythm section thanks to Ian Little and Alex Sadkin, slapping all over from John, the lyrics and simply everything else. Just tell me who would be able to create something like that today?
Red Carpet Massacre
(Red Carpet Massacre, 2007)
I chose the more punky song from the despisable RCM album, I like to think they have bettered their lacklustre effort of Careless Memories after many years. The whole album does have good ideas, only very badly produced by the absurd team they went to look for (guys, there is only ONE Nile Rodgers… Remember). I hated them for this. As in Paper Gods, John and Roger are almost nowhere to be heard, and that says it all. This one suffers less from the problem, since it’ s really thriving forward regardless.
Girl Panic!
(All You Need Is Now, 2005)
Sorry, second exception with an official single. See Being Followed above. “The new… Girls on Film”. What a groove. Another present for the fans on All You Need Is Now. Not much to say, just listen to the ironic lyric and enjoy the ride towards a party with top models in Chelsea.
Lonely in your Nightmare
(Rio, 1982)
Well all fans love this one. It is yet another absolute masterpiece. The story is magnificent with its metaphors, and gives you (Assorted) Images of tropical seas and beaches and red sunsets and beautiful women dressed in light silk and linen dresses. The combination of the electric guitar leading the melody with a siren-like call and studding the song and the acoustic guitar driving the basic rhythm + articulate and complex bass playing + harmonies + Nick in the background with his bird-like tweets and bleeps sum up a work of art. So good it also has its own video. Why on Earth was it not released? Imagine the cover. The Night Version. Couldn’ t they do it now, for RSD??? Let’ s set up a petition.
The Valley
(Red Carpet Massacre, 2007)
Ok here at least we can distinctly hear John’ s bass leading the way. Great New Wave approach, in a strange continuous way a la All She Wants Is. The dark sounds are there, for an untraditionally structured, “flowing” song.
Chains
(Astronaut, 2004)
Twenty years after Arcadia, in their varied Astronaut album Duran manage to pull out a song a la Nightboat (even in the lyric theme) which could have easily fit on So Red the Rose. I love it when they draw from their deep soul and personality and past rather than trying to be “current”, because things always emerge that have a logical thread and connection with what DD really are and are capable of creating/tend towards.
The Man Who Stole a Leopard
(All You Need Is Now, 2005)
See Being Followed above. “The new… The Chauffeur”. Pure and utter genius. After thirty years. Spectacular. Unbelievable. Creative. A song almost divided in acts. The title. The whole concept of the song. The electro start. The strings. The song building up gradually, the Planet Earth keys, drums and bass then exploding in a New Wave cavalcade. The Newscast ending the song. Brings tears to my eyes. A masterpiece. Thank you DD.
Shelter
(The Wedding Album, 1993)
Well Paul your exercise made me listen on the Net to albums I do not possess to have a complete overview, and I discovered this one. Quite spectacular. A bit “American” but THAT’ s the kind of dance groove with inventive sound effects I like to hear from Duran when they are not “doing New Wave”. Great bridge + counterbridge opening in a instantly singable chorus, with some A View to a Kill style keyboard harmonies. Very inspired and fun lyrics.
Being Followed
(All You Need is Now, 2010)
All You Need is Now is what a fan like me really needed, indeed.
It is incredible how they really managed to produce a Rio follow-up after so many years, thanks to Ronson’ s lead. The whole LP is magnificent, with self-references and examples of “the new…”. This is a very Ragged Tiger sounding, wonderful piece, a bit Shadows on your Side or Of Crime and Passion with fast paced rhythm.
Tiger Tiger
(Seven and the Ragged Tiger, 1983)
When I was 15 I remember being so disappointed in seeing a “proper” song with lyrics was missing wince it represented a missed chance to hear another song from my heroes. But Duran and Kajagoogoo taught me to stop and listen carefully also to instrumentals, be they on albums or B-sides, and I discovered magnificent songs and sounds, and appreciated even more their ability in playing their instruments, something that no one can question as was done at the time by the dinosaurs coming from the 70s. This one again takes you in the particular world of symbolism and mystery they had created at the time also with the graphics to their records.
Thanks Cris. I read it and really enjoyed your insights.
Oh thank you so much JP for taking the time and for your appreciation.
All the best!
there is really no need to be passive aggressive about how long it took you to write your post and that no one would read it…i read it because it is insightful, well written, and so much fun…i got lost in my teen memories and had a blast…be proud of your post because it rocks
Thank you Joel, what a compliment!! I am flattered but most of all so happy to have taken you back in time as I happened to be when re-listening to the songs and writing the post!
The other great thing about SDE is that it brings together people from everywhere in the world and sharing memories and emotions with music is one of the best things!
A million thanks again.
I really like your list Cris, HIGHLY agree regarding “The Man Who Stole A Leopard”…haven’t delved into DD in a while, so catching back up currently, starting with Paul’s list & excited about the upcoming album for 2020…another I would add is the Night Version of “Hold Back The Rain”, a total masterpiece, even if it puts the key riff of “Hungry Like The Wolf” in the breakdown in the middle (sampling themselves??), it just works and that chorus is magic…it’s amazing how they got slogged in the 80s, calling them a prettyboy boyband, but they have proven themselves as an utterly original, credible, innovative, influential band, along with a-ha, as one of the best to emerge in the postpunk 70s/80s…
Thank you Larry, and I totally agree with you on Hold Back the Rain!
I did not included only because I would have ended up using all the slots only for Rio songs..!! Whereas I think the point was to try to give the broadest spectrum to somebody not acquainted to their career…
Hold Back the Rain is definitely a fantastic song, memorable also in its Night Version… It is yet another that exalts you and has you singing along joyfully as if you were sitting in full wind right on the extreme bow of a luxury sailing boat in the West Indies seas together with your mates wearing pastel coloured Antony Price suits…
One of the best Duran songs ever !! 1988 BIG THING album
Track 4 Too Late Marlene
Yup, I was thinking the exact same thing.
Also would have liked to see:
Secret Oktober
Winter Marches On
But overall a stellar list.
…….The show came as Duran are working on their first album since Paper Gods. It’s being produced by Mark Ronson – who also worked on Paper Gods and 2010’s All You Need Is Now – with new Duran producer Erol Alkan. Guests include Lykke Li and Blur guitarist Graham Coxon.
From DuranDuran.com. Glad to read Mark Ronson is involved again and that we are getting a new DD album next year.
Gave me an appetite for Duran, and found the double ‘Notorious’ vinyl from 2015 (2010 remaster) at juno.co.uk for GBP15! Remastered at Abbey Road. Is it a decent sounding piece of wax? Anyone got it? What about ‘Big Thing’?
I loved DD since I started having memories, having been born in late 1979… but I most love their era from Arcadia through Big Thing… with Liberty as the strange demise, with some gems, from that exploration of mature and artful pop. That is their golden age for me, and I see a lot from that era here. Wonderful stuff. Really nothing after a few songs on the Wedding album compare to that material for me, even though I love songs on the later albums… and find AYNIN especially strong.
This is such a great idea. I was just recently thinking what would be a good way to get to know some lesser known but still great songs by big artists I’m a casual fan of. Keep it up! It’s also great to read the comments.
A great concept which can be done on numerous acts popular on SDE. In many ways Duran Duran are the perfect act for the first Deep Cuts playlist. Not only because they were/are very popular as arguably THE quintessential 80s pop act; but their catalogue is fascinating due to their Bowie-like attitude to change their sound from album to album; whilst making some arguably bewildering choices in terms of album track (i.e. Bedroom Toys over Salt In The Rainbow & Beautiful Colours on Astronaut) & singles selections. With their only constant being their ability to not build on momentum, yet comeback with great output when they are about to be written off.
Pre-streaming/Spotify I had a spell of doing CDR’s to play in my car along the lines of David Bowie very own curated iSelect (2008) compilation.
If I was to do one today along those lines with my DD collection it would be (in chronological order) so covering all their albums (bar Thank You) plus a handful of “B-sides” & single remixes”:
01 Anyone Out There
02 Serious
03 Someone Else Not Me
04 Out Of My Mind (Perfecto Radio Edit)
05 Secret Oktober
06 Palomino
07 Box Full O’ Honey
08 Hold Me
09 Shadows On Your Side
10 Falling Angel
11 The Chauffeur
12 The Man Who Stole a Leopard
13 My Antarctica
14 Winter Marches On
15 Midnight Sun
16 Face For Today
17 Finest Hour
18 I Believe / All I Need To Know
Great choices from you too, Richard, and always nice when people look at the ignored, berated, downgraded DD albums for songs like ‘Box Full O’ Honey’, ‘Someone Else Not Me’, ‘My Antarctica’. Representing the 3 albums DD ‘fans’ seemed to hate most (as if they did hateful albums-they leave that to many others) when I actually rate them all highly and “RCM” ended being one of my faves, unlike the rather bland fan-pleaser “Astronaut” before it.
Would make a good CD/vinyl album collection
As a HUGE DD fan, I want to say that for the life of me I don’t understand the fascination w All She Wants, Meet El Presidente and White Lines. How those songs could have been singles is incomprehensible.
All She Wants Is is very possibly their greatest track. Certainly their most adventurous single.
30 years later it’s still way out there.
Just my opinion.
I was / still am obsessed by all the mixes (Eurohouse, US Master Mix, Latino Dub). Really creative and interesting.
The “Big mix” I think the 12″ of “I don’t want your love” is called is also brilliant. One of the first CD singles I ever bought!
That’s a good CD single with the graphic overprinted on the plastic case.
Pretty much a tad over 30 years ago, early 1989, I used to play “all she wants is” on repeat whilst on my very tinny exercise bike. Little did I know that the poor girl in the room below (still friends thankfully) was being driven mad by 30 solid minutes of that one track played for about 2 hours a day to the accompanying whee whee whee of the spinning bike wheel.
Still love the song, hate exercise.
Paul – and then the other 2 CD singles from the album were 3″ CD singles bizarrely that I can’t even play anymore. Aye, great artwork on IDWYL. Single mix flows much better than the album mix for me. Glad there’s so much love for “Big Thing” here! Readers / posters here be proud of yourselves!!
ASWI is as out there as it was in 1988, of course more than a nod to Warm Leatherette by The Normal, but sure Mute never noticed.. Presidente is a great little song and not a very good single remix, but if the mighty Skin Trade – which was the most played record on radio one the week it was at 22 – couldnt make it then nowt could. White Lines, good in 1995, toilet song at gigs in 2019. They need to drop it, its dull.
Remember Mark Ronson executively produced Paper Gods, so frankly I hope he pays a bit more attention this time and gets more hands on a la AYNIN.
And those ASWI mixes are still amazing, only slightly beaten by those shep did for Debbie Gibson’s Electric Youth at the same time, shame he didnt do any more in that vibe before going dull and shuffly with Madge and Janet.
I really like it too. Although it sounds stupid when a song begins with repeating the line: All she wants is. It’s a really futuristic track, although I’m not sure that is suitable for a single. I always thought of it as ”The Secret Life Of Arabia” of Duran Duran. Great track, keep it hidden, buried in an album.
Havent time to create my own playlist so I’ll just say that I’m really pleased to see the following on the list:
– Anyone out there (favourite track from their 1st album)
– Late Bar (great B side)
– Serious (favourite track from Liberty)
– UMF (great track from a great album)
If they had qualified I would have included
– the title track from Medazzaland
– Lava Lamp fromPop Trash
Nice one Paul.
P.S. Always interesting to see which artists and articles generate the most comments.
I think you should consider publishing a league table at the end of the year ranking the top yen articles based on number of comments.
Paul
Another great feature and the comments and opinions from fellow SDE fans makes for fascinating and thought provoking reading. It proves the old adage that groups cannot please all fans all of the time. There are so many other great groups who will benefit from such a Deep Cuts view. Alas the FGTH deep cuts may just be yet more slightly tweaked Relax and Two Tribes versions !
Just for the record I am a big Duran fan and even enjoy the more recent stuff abd their live show just gets better. My cuts would be :- (apols cannot ignore the 3 albums just because they are not on streaming – after all it is not their fault!)
The Valley
Anyone out there
Being Followed
You kill me with Silence
Serious
Shadows on Your Side
What Are the Chances
Runway Runaway
Hold Back the Rain
Sekret Oktober
Too late Marlene
Breath after breath
Lonely in your nightmare
So misled
Finest Hour
Khanada
Great Work Paul. Really appreciate it – and also thanks to all the other post-ers who livened up a dull day. It is you, fellow posters, that make this such a compelling visit.
Cheers
jp
You have lovely choices, jp, so many I’d pick, but I’d have to have an even bigger list!
Using your parameters of a playlist limited to the length of a CD (about 72 min or less), no songs from non-Spotify albums (eliminates Medazzaland, Pop Trash, and Astronaut), and deep album cuts (no singles…although you said nothing from Rio since it was so popular but then included The Chauffeur…which I will include along with a couple others), here is my list of what I’d consider the songs with some of the biggest hit potential that seemed like lost opportunities, along with a couple sentimental favorites. This was a hard exercise as the list could have been so much longer! I really wanted to think of good energy and flow for these ears. I know you don’t care for AYNIN but make of this what you will. Gonna do this with a couple other faves and hopefully someone will bury me with burned CD copies of these one day like I did for my friend a few years back, loading up a couple CDs with a ton of songs we had discussed that he had loved in his very short (38 year) life.
Here goes:
Friends of Mine
Being Followed
Face for Today
Shadows on Your Side
What Are the Chances
Runway Runaway
Hold Back the Rain
The Valley
Blame the Machines
Palomino
Lonely in Your Nightmare
None of the Above
Winter Marches On
Proposition
The Chauffeur
Bonus faves (including a few from those excluded albums):
Secret Oktober
Michael, You’ve Got a Lot to Answer For
Pop Trash Movie
Last Chance on the Stairway
First Impression
Want You More
The Sun Doesn’t Shine Forever
The Man Who Stole a Leopard
I obviously liked All You Need is Now and Paper Gods more than you Paul… Haha…
Thanks Jason! Yes, definitely more slanted towards more recently material, but always good to see other people’s selections.
Love the playlist, lots of my favourite in it… I’d just swap “liberty” with “secret oktober” and maybe add something from “so red the rose” because, in my opinion, Arcadia released the best Duran Duran album
Paul c’mon why not make it more authentic (and harder) with an A and B side. 24 minutes each. If a 7” edit of American Science (Chemical Reaction Mix) existed that would be track 1 on the A side.
So funny, always knowing DD, they only get me with Girls on film and Wild boys in the eighties, then I lost them, of coz, for me they were only a poster wall band for the girls ….until Paper gods. This is something like the perfect pop record of the last years in my eyes. So perfect, that I bought the expensive (grrr), but really beautiful Vinyl Factory edition. I love nearly every song of this record. And after that I was open for older DD also…a lot of great songs to experience, also from this list. I don‘t have all the records of them until now, but they were definitely underrated by myself. And here I read, that I start my „love“ with something like a „bad“ record. I still love it.
Good for you. If you love the album and invested in the Vinyl Factory edition then all power to you, don’t let anyone (including me) put you off. But if you haven’t ‘discovered’ some of the others then you’re in for a treat.
Simply outstanding feature Paul. It will generate a lot of responses. I find your opinion exciting to read and love reading the readers responses to this.
I think the list is great. I would make a few small changes:
1. I love Late Bar but love Faster Than Light even more. That may be the greatest B side of all time. Could have easily been a huge hit.
2. Replace Liberty with “First Impression”. Liberty is a terrible album but the few good songs on it are VERY good: Serious, My Antartica, First Impression.
3. Replace So Misled with “American Science”. It has a much better melody IMHO
4. Replace the Chauffeur with “Last Chance On Tjr Stairway”. Chauffeur isn’t a deep cut in my book, not even the acoustic version.
5. Replace Krush Brothers LSD Edit w Welcome To America/Lake Shore Driving
On disc 2 of this double CD album I would add:
-Lonely In Your Nightmare
-Seventh Stranger
-Shadows On Your Side
-Winter Marches On
-Sin Of The City
-Playing w Uranium
-Nice
-Taste The Summer
-Finest Hour
-Box Full O Honey
-She’s Too Much
-Skin Diver
-Too Bad You’re So Beautiful
-Runway Runaway
-Being Followed
-Meditarranea
-Face For Today
3 tracks I think no-one has talked about yet:
She’s Too Much from Red Carpet Massacre
Taste The Summer from Astronaut, very catchy Pop tune
and a very deep cut:
Tel Aviv (The Air Studios Version), bonus track from the Deluxe Edition of the debut album. This is a very different song than the one that ended up on the debut, with lyrics. Almost prog-rock with Andy’s longest guitar solo.
Totally agree with your comment, Paul, that I Believe / All I Need To Know is the band’s best b-side. I think it’s actually one of their very best songs, an incredible melody and beautifully arranged… I’ve always felt it was more-or-less thrown away as a b-side. Had they chosen to build an entire album around it, and its vibe, I think it would have been an interesting ‘adult’ direction to go in… Not that they’re music for kids, but you know what I mean? And there’s scope to say that it probably influenced the ‘seriousness’ of Ordinary World and Come Undone.
Great feature on my favourite site! Joan as Policewoman, Mark Lanegan or Placebo next please!
I have four tracks from the albums you couldn’t use, Medazzaland, Pop Trash and Astronaut. “Be My Icon” from Medazzaland is an all-time classic – as are “Mars Meets Venus” from Pop Trash and “Astronaut” and “(Reach up for the) Sunrise.” And you ignore tracks from another fave of mine, “Red Carpet Massacre.” How about “Falling Down” and “Skin Divers” from that one.
I did give Falling Down another listen. I like it, but it wasn’t quite as good as I’d remembered. I bought the CD single, and of course like Serious it was a massive flop.
What’s with all this flop biz? ANYONE and EVERYONE has massive flops. There’s no single market any more for decent acts beyond the youth-filled rubbish of today (a long today that began in 1995 at least!) The Records Book Of Singles defined a hit as something that made the Top 75! A so-called ‘hit’ is no measure of a song’s quality. If you’re ‘in’ to be loved at that point in your career, then you get loads of false adulation for things not even that good as they should be and heavily inflated sales and tonnes of radio play. You also get a good no. of songs OFF an album. Duran have never raped albums for singles sadly (the best acts don’t) it’s always the crappest ones (Madonna, hello) that shove and re-shove 99%.9 of an album down everyone’s throat. In a normal world, loads of songs would be chosen as singles by decent acts like Duran (and not left as album tracks or B-sides) and would all be hits and loads of so-called hits by all the undeservedly revered would flop or just not get made! I love Duran, but people way too rose-tint the past and act like only their first 3 years mattered. Yet their worst original album (NOT “Liberty” OR “Pop Trash”, world,. which incidentally I both 5 star) is their “Seven And The Ragged Tiger” thing, an album of virtual disappointment compared to everything past-and more to the point-all in the future. I keep all the tracks, but they are weak when compared with all their ignored and bashed stuff. And totally in a time warp-unlike the stadium-sounding “Liberty” album and the psychedelic, multi-angled punk-roots amazement of “Pop Trash”. Other people lost it in the 90s, not Duran, though the covers album I play least, but still keep. To me, I can only stand “Medazzaland” as an EP-only 5 songs seem that playable on it. In a normal world, ‘Falling Down’ would be No.1 (and there’s loads of potential greatness on that album, including the one that should have been on it outside of Japan-‘Cry Baby Cry’. And ‘Serious’ would be No.4; the late 80s and 90s treated the best shamefully. ‘Do You Believe In Shame’ and ‘Matter Of Feeling’ are top ballads even better than ‘Save A Prayer’-and look what happened-one is left nowhere NEAR where it should have charted and the other kept on an album! Hits, smits, means nothing. But I will say the rather dull, inane ‘Union Of The Snake’ and cheesy ‘Sunrise’ are two of their most undeserved hits ever, when hundreds of others should have had the positions! So like life!
Astronaut got to number 3 in the UK. Three years later RCM peaked at 44. All You Need is Now got to number 11 and Paper Gods number 5. No amount of words can change the facts. RCM was a big fat flop. Six years later when ‘the market’ was much worse than in 2009, for a band like Duran Duran, Paper Gods peaked 39 places higher.
A fantastic feature Paul and some very interesting replies. I much prefer Friends of Mine to Anyone Out There. Superb intro, better song, excellent lyrics and enormous energy. Serious deserved to be a big hit and that was Simon’s choice for first single. If I recall correctly (Liberty epk interview) a decision was made not to tour the album, before it was released. My Antartica is simply beautiful and has a timeless quality.
Best song on Big Thing has to be Do you believe in shame. Musically I prefer All she wants is. Would love to hear the latter live. Tiger Tiger is a stunning, atmospheric instrumental. Why oh why they don’t play their magnificent version of Perfect Day and drop White Lines for live shows just beggars belief. To conclude, What are the chances is my fave from Paper Gods.
Paul, it’s interesting that you decided to give Duran Duran this treatment. I follow a blog by PostPunkMonk who is based in the US. Only last week he undertook a similar exercise, calling it The Duran Duran Album…For people Who HATE Duran Duran. He also focussed mainly on album tracks and B-sides. Interestingly there isn’t much crossover between both selections.
Check out http://www.postpunkmonk.com It’s about four articles or so down the page.
I think my one is a bit more rounded and balanced (although I would say that). Big Thing is one of my very favourite Duran Duran albums so I was a bit hard on it. An early version of the playlist had the Euro House mix of All She Wants Is but I thought it was too long and ruined the mood at bit (although I do love that remix).
I enjoyed both takes on a Duran Duran compilation. I agree that Big Thing is a good album but often overlooked.
Keep up the good work. This site is a one of my must-visits every day.
I love your choices. “None of the Above” is one of my all-time favorites.
Wot no Red Carpet Masacre? Coincidently I was listening to it at the weekend. It’s sound is so alien a mate of mine didn’t even recognise it as Duran. However, listen again to such fun cuts as Falling Down. Sadly the album tails off towards the end, but still worth a spin.
Dear Paul, I hope you will do a similar exercise for Grace Jones next…. I look forward to reading your choices.
My vote goes to The Style Council.
Many wonderful album tracks & b-sides to choose from and everything readily available on the Complete Adventures Of TSC box set.
This is really a wonderful idea……easily the most interesting feature for me since I started following SDE.
I agree pretty much with everything from Paul`s early years choices, and since I am not that familiar with the later albums tracks / b-sides, couldnt really go deep into that.
As I`m a sucker for nice instrumentals, my one addition would be the “Faith In This Colour”, the b-side of their finest ever single “Is There Something I Should Know”.
Incidentally, this track in available in three versions – “normal 12″ mix”, “alternate slow 7″ mix” and the version that included samples from the Star Wars movie. Pretty hard to find nowadays.
Too Late Marlene
Michael You Have A Lot To Answer For
Do You Believe In Shame
Maybe at some point a playlist of Ladytron
Thanks for all the hard work, to make a really enjoyable and informative website ☮️✌️
Great idea. Playlist followed.
Will have a listen to this and read your notes at the same time Paul.
Thanks Mark.
Here’s my list,
Late Bar
Sound Of Thunder
Faster Than Light
Lonely In Your Nightmare
Last Chance On The Stairway
The Chauffeur
Secret Oktober
The Seventh Stranger
Missing(Arcadia)
Vertigo
Edge Of America
Lake Shore Driving.
I stopped listening after Big Thing and the best album for me would be Arcadia closely followed by the first album.
I always thought “Too Late Marlene” was a cracking track and would have made a decent single.
Not trying to twist the knife but… Winter Marches On is definitely a big omission :)
Only saw the band live once in 1987 when touring on the back of the album Notorious.
Have to say I haven’t given much thought about DD after Big Thing, It really seemed at the time sethat they were on their last leg. I never returned to them after that.
Will be interesting to listen to this playlist tonight after work.
I was going to put it on, but there was already so much from Notorious. It’s definitely a great track, but I also didn’t want to overload the playlist with slow songs.
“My Antarctia” is a superb song, possibly my all-time DD fave. I’d also include “Mediterranea”, lovely vibe to that one. Duran do slower tempo songs really well, and I’d include some of the Arcadia material in that as well. I think the expectation of the company and band is that they should release uptempo singles, thankfully they recognised the quality of “Come Undone” and “Ordinary World” which I recall was a slow-burner gradually getting airplay and showings of the video on MTV.
I hate how Simon’s voice sounds on Mediterranea. Mark Ronson did a great job on the production on All You Need Is Now EXCEPT on Simon’s voice. Half the songs it sounds like it’s not in a comfortable key for him and he ends up singing in either his ‘nasal’ or ‘shouty’ voice. There’s a couple of exceptions, such as Leave A Light On or The Man Who Stole A Leopard. I mean, ‘Other People’s Lives’ – does anyone genuinely think that is a good song?! I’ve said this loads of times but if you remove the cool ‘classic’ DD production from All You Need Is Now you are left with a load of VERY average songs. To me, it’s one of their worse records – every album in the 1980s is better, as is The Wedding Album, Astonaut and Medazzaland.
I love how taste differs. I think AYNIN is easily in the top 3 of best Duran albums. I love it and so do my kids so we played it endlessly in the car. It’s back to the original Duran sound that ppl love so much. I thought Paper Gods did not age well. After AYNIN my expectations were high but after 2 yrs I have to conclude it only contains maybe 3 or 4 decent songs. Pressure Off could have been a great song but that “Oh oh oh oh oh oh” in the chorus is atrocious. They were trying too hard. If you leave that out the chorus would have been brilliant.
One thing I think we can all agree on is that DD are their own worst enemy
Wedding Album (1993) – saves their career. Great singles, great album
Thank You (1995) – not very good covers album, all goodwill evaporates
Medazzaland (1997) – ‘art pop’ album with no hit singles to speak of. John leaves band halfway through. EMI refuse to release it and dump DD.
Pop Trash (2000) – Has it’s moments but their appeal is now ‘more selective’ than ever
Astronaut (2004) – Dump Warren. Original 5 back together! Woo-hoo! Great album.. now as long as they can stay together…
Red Carpet Massacre (2007) – Andy leaves. They ditch the ‘Reportage’ album and all goodwill evaporates (again)
All You Need Is Now (2010) – Work with Mark Ronson who helps them ‘reclaim’ their old sound.Cock up the release strategy by making this digital only, initially. Fail to issue any physical singles.
Paper Gods (2015) – Consign the good work with Mark Ronson to the dustbin and try to be all groovy and modern. All goodwill evaporates (again).
I’ve said this before but with EVERY album Duran Duran feel they have to ‘redefine’ their sound, and have some existentialist crisis. Just write some decent songs, record them and release them!! Stop overthinking it. They haven’t made two good albums in a row since Notorious and Big Thing in the late 1980s!!
I have to respectfully disagree about DD not releasing two good albums back-to-back since ‘Notorious’ and ‘Big Thing’. Firstly, ‘Big Thing’ was such a departure at the time, that it alienated the fans who weren’t already alienated by ‘Notorious’.
Even back then they just had to redefine themselves endlessly.
But I’d argue that they’ve been extremely consistent since ‘Astronaut’, with a mild bump in the road with ‘Red Carpet Massacre’. Frankly, I MUCH prefer their latest fare than most of the rubbish from the ’90s. I’m more of a fan now.
They’ll never return to their heydays, but, like Pet Shop Boys (and unlike New Order, Depeche Mode or The Cure), they are much more reliable than they’ve been in the past. I’m actually always looking forward to any new release by them.
I can’t say that about most bands who have been around 40 years.
Big Thing had two different top ten singles either side of the Atlantic in I Don’t Want Your Love (US) and All She Wants Is (UK) – even Notorious didn’t do that. So whilst album sales were falling, their profile and status as a ‘singles’ band was undiminished at that point.
I know you are probably referring to the creative aspect, but hits have always been important to DD so going from a UK top 5 single with Astronaut (Sunrise) and then peaking at number 52 with Falling Down on RCM is more than a ‘mild bump in the road’ – it was a disaster. But aside from that, the sound and style of that record really did alienate fans.They needed to build on what they had done with Astronaut – with or without Andy – and not go off on some weird tangent.
Completely agree. Thank You must be in the top 10 of “self destruction” albums. Every artist has had a bad album at some point but Thank You wasn’t only a bad album (last DD concert I attended they played “White Lines“ in some kind of stubborn effort to deny that song was a disaster) but the worst moment in their career to make a cover album. Everyone was so excited they were back with that brilliant Wedding Album.
At least that was self inflicted. I’m not sure that was the case w Red Carpet Massacre. They scrapped Reportage but don’t know why they then worked w Timbaland. Did the record company force them to?
Totally agree on Paper Gods. After AYNIN everyone was in love w Duran again. They sold out Madison Square Garden in NYC. I happened to listen to Paper God again just last week and made a mental note how bad that album is compared to AYNIN. All the goodwill wasted again. The departure of Mark Ronson as producer was indeed another self-destruct move. Not sure what they are working on today but I hope they return to the Duran sound of the first 4 albums and AYNIN. But will never happen. We had to wait 25 yrs for that Duran sound to resurface w Mark Ronson. Then they get rid of Ronson. Unbelievable.
It’s really only the Rio and Notorious albums that I like a lot by Duran Duran. Dipping into the snippets in the widget above it really stood out how thin and dated the Notorious tracks sounded, which was a surprise. Sounds to me like the album could do with a remix!
Nice playlist. I think a few tunes from the last few albums might help
Pressure Off
The Man Who Stole a Leopard
Nite Runner
Tricked out?
I must admit l’ve not read every single comment here, but l’d been scrolling through wondering if anyone would ever mention Tricked Out. It’s such a great little instrumental and one you can surprise people with. I used to play it early after doors opened when l used to DJ at a club. Someone asked me if it was a new track by Metronomy. They couldn’t believe it when l said it was Duran Duran!
Interesting but not what I would select, mostly. No accounting for taste…
Anyway this is how I would do it:
Tel Aviv
Friends Of Mine
Lonely In Your Nightmare
The Chauffeur
Tiger Tiger
Secret Oktober
American Science
Breath After Breath
None Of The Above
Medazzaland
Playing With Uranium
Astronaut
Know It All
Finest Hour
Skin Divers
Box Full O’Honey
The Valley
The Man Who Stole A Leopard
Leave A Light On
Paper Gods
Before The Rain
Every Duran list should include…
Palomino and Lake Shore Driving.
In fact, Duran have so many great non-single tracks, that numerous playlists can be created with different themes.
Here’s the playlist for Apple Music
https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/duran-deep-cuts/pl.u-6mvyF9aM4W
I think it ace Paul
Thanks Steve!
@Steve: Nice one, Steve, but I think the version of The Chaffeur you have included is not the acoustic B-side to the Rio single, but the albun version (remastered).
Cheers fixed
Thanks Paul! Fantastic idea…. really like this playlist and the whole concept of listening to the “should have been hits” – I also fall into the trap of either listening to Greatest hits or a single album…. Next up should be Phil Collins!!!
Or Level 42…. or Simple Minds…..