Duran Duran Archive

I, for one, was really impressed with Duran Duran’s latest record, Red Carpet Masacre and even slotted it in my 2007 best-of list. Now having successfully spanned three decades – with three of their best albums coming from each of those decades – it is starting to look as though Duran Duran might be the Rolling Stones of our generation. Listening to this show, which is an hour and a half survey of their deep catalog, I am also beginning to think that this new record is their best album to date with four or five tracks solidly among Duran Duran’s very best songs.

Whatever the case, Duran Duran are not artistically bankrupt yet (as long as they stay away from doing covers – yeesh!) and could very well have a number of notable records left in them, especially since the Taylor brothers are all (for the most part) back in the fold.

Here is the title track off of Red Carpet Massacre recorded live in Atlantic City by deputized operative, Mark.

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Download: Duran Duran – Red Carpet Masacre (Live)

Duran Duran is in NYC for a 10 day set of shows in a small theater on Broadway as a precursor to the release of their forthcoming album, Red Carpet Massacre. The first set was the new album in its entirety, which, sounds quite good. I thought it odd that the band in general wasn’t selling it very hard with a pretty stoic delivery from Simon and the Gang. He did get a bit animated, though, when a projection screen bonked him on the head as it was being lowered down between tracks.

The second set started with the 4 members behind a line of keyboards on podiums ala Kraftwerk where they played several good but unfamiliar (to me) tracks except when they went into The Normals “Warm Leatherette”. That was a nice surprise, which, probably was not as appreciated by the first 12 rows of overly enthusiastic hand waving women as it was by me. That “Warm Leatherette” cover and the rest of the Kraftwerk-esque set was the highlight for me and also played better into their subdued stage show. In case you are wondering, they mercifully played no tracks off of the DD cover album, Thank You. (What exactly were they on when they thought to cover Public Enemy’s “911 is a Joke”!?!). The second part of the second set then went into Rio, Notorious, Come Undone, etc. For some reason, the clear crowd favorites were “Notorious” and Reach (Into the Sun), which I had never heard. Sadly, no “Wild Boys” or “New Moon on Monday” but there was some of my other DD favs “Girls on Film” and “View to a Kill” in the set.

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Download: Duran Duran – View To A Kill (Live)

Duran Duran isn’t really an “indie” band, but I love them so. As I’m writing this, I’m looking at my Duran Duran mobile, my Duran Duran “Into The Arena” board game (which sounds cool, but is actually a pretty shitty game), and my Duran Duran “Seven And The Ragged Tiger” puzzle. I never saw them live when I was younger, but I did get to see one of their first “reformed with the original members” bands and they were amazing. This song was recorded live in 1993 but what makes it a little better than your average live recording is that it was an acoustic show.

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Download: Duran Duran – Planet Earth (Live)