The Official Duran Duran _Astronaut_ [Anticipation?] Thread

I forgot to complete this thought. Because of the above, I figured the time would be right for me to start a thread where everything concerning the new album, from news updates to little previews to opinions on the tracks to reviews, would be covered. You know, in an intelligent manner, with people who don't still harbor fantasies involving favorite band members. :)

"Want You More" is one of their best songs in a long while.

it'd be the only way i'd want to hear it, mindyou it can't be much worse than depeche's last/next album/s.

it'd be the only way i'd want to hear it, mindyou it can't be much worse than depeche's last/next album/s.

Sorry, hon. According to the info I've just pulled up, the two producers behind this album are Rich Harrison (who's apparently done previous production work with Usher and Alicia Keys) and Don Gilmore (who's apparently done previous production work with Linkin Park and, uh, Avril Lavigne -- I won't hold that against the guy, however). Originally, the (sole) producer was going to be Nile Rodgers, but for some reason he completely departed the project.

Danger Whore (Kate, love the new ID!), you might've been thinking of Greatest as an album, because that compilation was released the year after Medazzaland was released. But in terms of studio albums of original material, there was only the one album released, i.e. 2000's Pop Trash.

(The semi-titular song, "Pop Trash Movie", BTW, was originally a song that Nick and Warren wrote together for the 1999 [?] Blondie "comeback" album, before various events conspired to prevent that from happening. That's how long the band took to release Pop Trash, so the three year wait for Astronaut is by no means an anomaly.)

You mean the non-preview of the tracks that don't currently exist on my computer, right? ;) If I did indeed have those tracks, I would wish to listen to "Want You More", um, some more, then. Right now, however, I think I'd be craving a few additional listens of "Nice" and "Still Breathing" first. If I indeed had those songs.

Vinne and Kate, you delight me in my heart when you talk about your newfound appreciation for Medazzaland. Thank you.

Anyway, quite happy! (I also liked a few songs off that Australian tribute album. Wish I'd actually bought it. Not the Ben Lee/Kylie one, it was fucking wretched)

Ha. Andy does seem to have sunglasses permanently welded to his head, sure, but apparently his eyes are extremely sensitive to bright light and that's the reason why he looks so Bono-ish. As for Roger -- we haven't seen him age. The last time we saw him in a public setting was 1985, when he was involved with the Arcadia project, and even then he wasn't around for the whole of the year. That's a long time out of the public eye. I do, however, still see a resemblance between this Roger and the Roger of 1984.

Looks like they smeared ink and cranberry sauce all over it.

Hmmmmmmmm. I don't know about that. I actually kinda like the cover artwork. Then again, I'm sorta mentally comparing that cover to the Medazzaland, Greatest, and Pop Trash covers and, while still not exactly the Astronaut cover's greatest fan, am thankful it's not at the level of "I don't know about that" that the previously mentioned three album covers were at. I mean, I know the artwork for the tourbook for the 25th anniversary tour was sorta similar to it and it looked SO DAMN BEAUTIFUL to me, so I'm actually kinda hopeful about the artwork for the whole of the CD booklet for Astronaut.

I am SO flying out to wherever you are in Oceania and hugging you now. Hug hug hug hug. Hug.

I liked a few songs off Medazzaland but I adored the single so expected more.

Right. Can't blame you for feeling that way, though. (BTW, was your adoration extended to the "Sinner and Saint" b-side? Because if so, I would SO owe you one.)

Anyway, MUST listen to that Australian tribute album again, thanks to you. I don't have too many happy memories of the Ben Lee/Kylie duet, that's true.

That's what I thought, too. I think they were aiming for cheap & sleazy, hence the emphasis on the gaudiest aspects of Vegas night life. The concert t-shirts were no treat, either, a fact I'm reminded of each time I look at them.

.....although not as weak as the music contained therein.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree here. Though admittedly I think some of the tracks could've benefitted from a slightly sped-up tempo, and it's only # 3 or 4 in my list of favorite Duran albums. (# 1 is Medazzaland, # 2 is Rio, and sometimes # 3 is Big Thing.)

Um, which song are you talking about? If you're talking about "What Happens Tomorrow", which I think you might be, it's been vastly improved. Um, or, rather, I feel that if I'd actually HEARD the polished final version of the song, I'd be confident in saying it was vastly improved. And if I'd listened to the rest of the songs, I'd be able to tell you that that song isn't totally representative of the album as a whole but that rather if you were one of those people who loved Seven & the Ragged Tiger you would ADORE this album.

The last I heard of Warren (Cuccurullo), he had formed a new band called -- get this -- Bang Gang Unlimited, featuring two members of Duran's former touring band, i.e. Wes Wehmiller (bassist) and Joe Travers (drummer), and including Warren's brother Jerry as another percussionist. Warren moved back to the States after living in London throughout the time he spent with Duran Duran, settling in and playing gigs throughout the L.A. area. Warren also issued a press release through his fan club liaison stating that, as a result of battling a life-threatening illness, he's become a born-again Christian, so maybe he's quit the sleazy behavior he was well known for. (Before I go any further, I must state that I've never had a negative experience in terms of meeting Warren.)

I never heard the B-side. Don't think I ever saw the single in the shops. I think I saw the video ONCE!

Ohohohoh. I thought you'd purchased the single! Duh. The video was rarely aired, that's true, and I suppose that outside of the States the single would've been even rarer to spot. Hopefully a few copies of it are still floating about, though, because it's a good one.

Most unfortunate.

Oh, and Warren C.'s making porn now. NO JOKE! Search it out on the 'net... he's certainly no Momus, but... hey. It's a fun piece of rock n' roll babylon.

It's funny what middle age and a guitar will do to a guy.

Or, is he masturbating for Jesus?

Also, thank you for being here!! Please stick around; I NEED more fellow Duran fans on this forum!!

You know, if I actually had the tracks available on my computer and continued to listen to them, I'd come to realize that the two strongest tracks on this album, by far, would be "Chains" and "Still Breathing", i.e. two of the slowest tracks on the album. "Sunrise", "Astronaut", "Taste The Summer", and "One Of Those Days" would all be incredibly strong as well, and the weakest points would be "Want You More" and "Bedroom Toys", both of whom would sound overly simple and basic to me, but still pretty decent.

Songs to look forward to: "What Happens Tomorrow", "Astronaut", "Nice", "Taste the Summer", "Chains", "Point of No Return", "Still Breathing". Songs to avoid: unknown as of yet, since I've restricted myself from listening to the advance promo for over a week. Songs to be disappointed about in terms of their non-appearance on the CD, after being excited about the demos of same: "Pretty Ones", "TV vs. Radio". I hope hope hope hope hope whomever does a review of this CD for AMG does this album justice, since its quality even managed to convince me that this wasn't just a "sellout" album.

I think it's because the band has matured, both in age and in musical sound, and that's the reason why their music sounds so restrained compared to the material they were releasing earlier in their career. Still, though, I do kinda miss the days when Duran were a threesome recording very bitter and cynical (sometimes in a very self-aware way) tracks. I think if Astronaut had been released after a lengthy band sabbatical and the last thing to have been put out with the Duran Duran name on it was 7&TRT I would've declared Astronaut to be just about the best Duran album ever recorded. However, since the band proved that they shined most when they were least confident about the state of their world (e.g. "Undergoing Treatment"'s bitter vitriol about how the band gets treated by the non-believers, "Mars Meets Venus"'s indictment of the dating scene as shallow and plastic folly), I'll just have to say that Astronaut is a very, very pretty and high quality album, but not their best effort. (I think if they'd have recorded a couple of very sarcastic tunes a la "Pretty Ones", it would've improved the overall feel of the album greatly and I would love it more. However, I'm still a believer in this album, and I will act as its apologist for as long as it takes for me to convince others that it isn't a piece of sellout crap. Really.)

If I don't find any better reviews of this album, even if they don't think of the album very highly in the end, I think I'm going to cry in frustration.

The Guardian claimed that any interest in Duran Duran was down to 80s nostalgia! I'm gonna write in and claim that the only reason they gave "Smile" a good review was because of 60s nostalgia.

Dom, you write that in and I will be forever indebted to you. (The Guardian review piece was actually one of the ones that had me close to tears because THEY JUST DID NOT GET IT. They seem stuck in this whole denial thing about giving the band a fair shake because they still feel like it's the '80s and that giving the band a good review would be tantamount to selling out to the lowest common denominator just because of who the band's largest supporters used to be.)

Anyway, couldn't get to a store in time for me to acquire Astronaut on the actual date of release, so I will be getting it, um, later today. Mark my words. I will be getting it. (The limited edition version, that is. The one with the DVD. Oh yes, indeed.)

Today I was able to sneak some time away from work to go to a Circuit City 10 miles away (because the one a mile away from the house ran out) to pick up the "special limited edition" version of Astronaut, featuring the 45-minute (somehow reduced from an hour) DVD of performance footage and interviews. I've read a lot of the sleeve info and am super-ecstatic that (a.) they're continuing to use Mark Tinley for engineering work (yay Mark!), (b.) they thanked Patty Palazzo in the liner notes (yay Patty!), and (c.) there's a photo of Nick holding a guitar! Having seen Nick actually play the guitar parts of "Sweet Jane" in concert, I know he can play it, so yay Nick!

Also, I'm dying to find out if the projected rumors of 50,000 sales the first week of the album's release will end up becoming reality. If that ends up being the case, then the album will debut somewhere on Billboard's Top 20 charts, which is a feat the band hasn't done since 1993's The Wedding Album. IIRC.

While I was eating dinner tonight I got a chance to watch the DVD included in the "special limited edition" version of this album and... my. God. One of the greatest things I've seen the band release or associate themselves with in YEARS. (I think what rivals it is the awesome cover article Goldmine did of the band back in 1997.) It's like a perfect mixture of (concert film) As The Lights Go Down and (1987 Notorious-era docu) Three To Get Ready. SO "YOU MUST WATCH"-ABLE! ROGER SPEAKS! JOHN DRUMS! SIMON LETS HIS OLD BOYS HANG OUT! (That part was blurred out.) NICK CRACKS WISE! ANDY... ANDY DOESN'T THREATEN THE BAND WITH A LAWSUIT!

I was a big Duran fan as a junior high youngster, but even some time after that I still felt they had a lot of talent. The last time I remember taking any notice of them was about 1991 I think, though, so it's been quite awhile for me. I'll give the new stuff a try, though. What the hell.

Thank you for saying what you said, hon. And you really should give every album the band's released, from The Wedding Album to Astronaut, a try. Um, except for Thank You -- even though their cover of "Watching The Detectives" is SO good, you might want to save the whole of that album for the die-hards. ;)

So anyway. Please feel free to gush away when New Order release their new album, and I'm grateful for your kind words.

The underrated Arcadia album remains the last great album to come from Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes I am afraid.

Bombast, big chords, yelping LeBons, yes, Tasteful, bad idea.

Quite honestly, I think the album is worth more than that, but also in the spirit of full honesty, I'm a Duran FANATIC who would probably say that even if you might not think so. BUT £3 is an amazingly low sum of money to spend on any whole album, and this is actually a pretty good album overall. "What Happens Tomorrow" is pretty sweet. "Astronaut", "Bedroom Toys", "Nice", and "Taste The Summer" are great fun to listen to. "Chains" and "Still Breathing" still give me chills. But this is a bit too overpolished and "perfect" for me to listen to for more than a few times a go. I guess that since I'm a bit biased toward the Warren Cuccurullo era, I'm going to prefer the slightly grittier, less "perfect" Medazzaland and Pop Trash albums (recently I latched onto "Starting To Remember", off Pop Trash, as my new personal anthem). But that doesn't detract from how pretty Astronaut is.

What I'd KILL for, though, is an official release of the Eric Prydz remix of "Nice". Prydz did a remix of "(Reach Up For The) Sunrise" that was pretty good, but his remix of "Nice", from what I've heard of it, is KILLER. I wonder if Sony is planning on releasing it as part of some EP or if hopefully they're planning on a "Nice" single release with the Prydz remix as a b-side. In any case, whenever the full version DOES land ono CD, I am definitely getting me some of that.

Bombast, big chords, yelping LeBons, yes, Tasteful, bad idea.

Dear Lord. These are the words of someone who would perfer that the band had remained at the same level of musical maturity they were ca. Rio. Listen, news flash -- that was over twenty years ago. These people are more accomplished, more mature, wiser, more knowledgable about stuff. Rio was a good album but that doesn't mean it should be repeated time and time again. In fact, the band did best when it was overtly trying to steer clear AWAY from that album (i.e. with Medazzaland, where they defaced the Rio cover in their back cover artwork). And Geir, wherever you are, these words apply to you too.

Anyway. Returning to you, Mark E: This IS actually a very "Fab Five" album. Which means that if you enjoyed Seven & The Ragged Tiger, you'll probably be over the moon with this album. I'm just less than evangelical about the album because I'm NOT really like that. Hell, if I knew that I could actually have gone somewhere with the suggestions, I'd have submitted Big Thing and "Do You Believe In Shame?" for the '80s poll. In fact, those would have actually been truly authentic suggestions for me. But I knew that those two offerings would have fallen like a big old lead zeppelin, so I decided not to risk it. But anyway. I hope I've been of SOME use to you. And apologies for the rant. These thoughts have just been stewing away in my head for awhile.

...and who a year later has become THE hot r&b producer du jour! I didn't know he'd done stuff with Duran Duran, what the hell is it like? Along the lines of 'Crazy In Love'/'1 Thing' etc, or...not?

I fucking hate duran duran and will never buy this album. But that line has piqued my curiosity. Could someone tell me what's in the booklet regarding roxy?

*: Simon Le Bon has frequently broken out an acoustic guitar and strummed while singing "Save A Prayer" live in concerts dating back to 1984. Nick Rhodes has said that the first instrument he learned how to play was a guitar, and I was there at the Vegas concert where he played the guitar part to "Sweet Jane". Andy Taylor obv was the lead guitarist for the group from 1979 - 1985 and from 2001 - present. And John Taylor was the band's first lead guitarist, only switching to bass after listening to Chic in late 1978 and witnessing the departure of original Duran bassist Simon Colley.

As a matter of fact, there WILL be a single release of "Nice" -- at least on iTunes, and there'll be two different Eric Prydz remixes of the song available. I don't know which one Duran fans were treated to a preview of, via some radio program called The Pete Tong Show, but I can see how this track would've been eagerly anticipated. It is far better than the album version of same.