atari 2600 |
08.04.2006 05:30 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by porkmarras
Yes,i haven't listened to it in quite a while but it's a good pop album for sure.They even managed to make sound Sting's voice acceptable on one of the songs.
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That was Sting's time to do a little back-up vocal thing like on Dire's Straits' Money for Nothing" where he memorably lilts behind in the chorus singing the MTV tagline "I want my MTV" like a mantra. I like Sting but one can cynically imagine that the pairing was accomplished most likely by some record exec weasel or agent that was going for a little marketplace synergy. In other words, for the very same reasons why duets are released these days by the likes of Nelly with Tim McGraw.
Contributors include David Gilmour (to that same track), Carlos Alomar, David Van Tieghem (Laurie Anderson's early percussionist), & the solid beats of both Steve Jordan & Roger Taylor. Then there are the contibutions of, of all people, Grace Jones, & also Herbie Hancock to the proceedings. Other appearing musicians include Gabriel Bindi, Pierre DeFay, Jean-Claude Dubois, Mark Egan, Rafael DeJesus, Andy MacKay, & Masami Tsuchiya. An Everest of cocaine must have been consumed while making this recording. Le Bon & Rhodes never sounded more accomplished & yet much (not all, but most) of the material is very different from anything Duran Duran ever did before or since.
I just listened to that song, "The Promise." It clocks in at seven & a half minutes, features some decent jazz/rock fusion & ends with a wack funk, no doubt influenced by the presence of Herbie, that concludes with a bizarre synth/tribal mash-up. The very next track, "El Diablo", starts off with a violin, features finely polished, but tasteful spanish guitar licks from Carlos Alomar, & even a fucking flute!
Then again, in life there will always be those that feel seemingly diametrically opposed to one's analysis & perceptions & who radically differ in their assessment. And that leads me to print what I found over at rateyourmusic on this because I thought it was pretty funny:
IronPriest666
Duran Duran started to suck after they divided up into the two side-projects. The Power Station featuring John and Andy Taylor actually had some good material and also introduced Robert Palmer to the world (I know he was around for a while but I was like 12 back then and he wasn't that big in America till then). Arcadia which contained the other three members of Duran Duran wasn't as good, in fact they were pretty terrible. This is when LeBon and Rhodes (Roger Taylor was pretty much out of it by now) stopped writing the hooks and melodies that made Duran Duran's music some of the most memorable and well-crafted pop tunes in the 80s...everything the band produced after this point has been nothing but crap.
---I agree there---
So Red The Rose should've been named So Brown The Turd if I'm being honest, it's nothing but a bunch of boring songs with horns, annoying percussion effects, and Simon LeBon sounding wussier than ever. One song "The Promise" is worth checking out as it's the only track on the album that's good and memorable, being it does have Sting singing along who had just left The Police as well as Pink Floyd's David Gilmour on guitar...unfortunately Grace Jones, the black version of Yoko Ono is a musical guest also. Unrelated to this record but Duran Duran's last effort as a 5 piece until the recent reunion was doing the song from A View To A Kill, one of the worst James Bond 007 films which ended up being Roger Moore's swansong, the movie also starred Grace Jones too.
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IronPriest666 (lunkead name) obviously has some hate issues.
Jul 07, 2005
CD [Rating2309066] A strange album, nothing like Duran Duran except for Simon LeBon's vocals. Sounds like a cross between rock, flamenco and jazz and not very good. One song "The Promise" features Pink Floyd's David Gilmour on guitar and Sting on backing vocals, the album's only highlight.
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I disagree. The bulk of "The Promise" is weaker than most of the album. The intro & outro are nice though.
Mar 01, 2005
Vinyl [Rating1658927] As a preteen I thought that this was the most intriguing record ever made but looking back now it seems to be an overproduced, unfocused pretentious mess. Still, nostalgia tugs the rating up to a "3" (out of a possible four). It actually doesn't sound as horrible as "The Reflex" does nowadays!
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Since my own primary reason for discussing the record is most likely nostalgia, I more or less agree with that last comment, but it is a just a tad too harsh.
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