Artist: Duran Duran
Title: Paper Gods
Genre: New Wave
Release Date: 11th September 2015
Label: Warner Bros
Album Review
If there's one band that managed to maintain the innovation on every album through his carrier, it’s fair to say Duran Duran is probably the one. For the best and the worst. Placing a new Duran Duran album on the player always brings the same questions since 1982: “What are they up to these days? What are they capable of? What's their new sound?”
On top of that, it's always a bit scary as, wherever they were 5, 3 or 4 of the original members, Duran Duran took the bad habit of always wasting the success gained from the album and commit commercial suicide straight after. While they were on the top of the world with the 1983-1985 crazy success of ‘Rio’, ‘Seventh and The Ragged Tiger’ (‘The Reflex’ and ‘Union Of The Snake’) and the off albums singles ‘Something I Should Know’, ‘Wild Boys’ and ‘A View To A Kill’, culminating at the Live Aid's Wembley Stadium performance... they decided to take a break and focus on side projects Power Station and the cult Arcadia, resulting in decent sales but a beginning in down spiral. While they managed, as the trio John / Simon / Nick to have a noble success with ‘Notorious’ in 86/87, mostly helped by the major World Tour, ‘Big Thing’ - despite the obvious artistic qualities of it - take it even further down in sales, culminating in the fiasco of ‘Liberty’ in 1990.
Back on the top of the charts with the 1993's ‘Wedding Album’ and the huge hit singles ‘Ordinary World’ and ‘Come Undone’, they ruined it all again with the unbalanced cover album ‘Thank You’ (1995) and the experimental and dark albums ‘Medazzaland’ (1998, a masterpiece) and ‘Pop Trash’ (2000). And what happened 10 years later after the original line up reformation and the success of the album ‘Astronaut’? Andy Taylor slams the door again and they release ‘Red Carpet Massacre’, probably their worse selling album since ‘Liberty’ with a production by... huuuugh, Timberlake and other RnB names. Useless to say that with such a background, starting the listening of those ‘Paper Gods’ after the huge success of ‘All You Need Is Now’ is scary. Working with Mark Ronson again and bringing back Nile Rodgers was a very smart move as they ensure a follow up with their original sound found again and modernized.
The album opens up on the amazing seven-minutes title track, ‘Paper Gods’. Starting with an a-capella part, carrying on with a pure Duran Duran's mid tempo groovy atmosphere but with electro progressive elements. The voice of Simon Le Bon sounds better than ever and Mr Hudson production suits on perfectly. The tracks ends with multi layered vocal parts and synths. As I'm getting hypnotized by this great opener, I can't help myself thinking Big Thing's and Medazzaland's. Not that much in the sound, but in the way the album openers set up the all atmosphere.
2nd track can be surprising at first listening and a lot of fans started criticizing it before realizing how fantastic it was! The intro of Kiesza's high vocal can be aggressive for a new waver, ok... but New Wave as a strong tradition of dance floor / soul / disco cross over, and blaming Duran Duran for this 'kind of EDM touch” is a bit dishonest as the band always looked up to new tendencies and dance hymns such as ‘Notorious’, ‘I Don't Want Your Love’ or ‘Nite Runner’. But if you listen with care, you'll find out all Duran Duran's typical elements are there: funky guitar, synth hooks, powerful bass line and strong vocal chorus. My bet is that ‘Last Night In The City’ is a serious contender for single number 2.
‘You Kill Me With Science’ is an infectious track. Mid-tempo, driven by an almost RnB synth hook, but soon bass, drums, synths and vocals reminds you’re in the DD’s world, a weird patchwork of various styles merging into a unique one. Once again, Le Bon’s vocal performance is outstanding. The 4th track is the first single of the album, the pure Duran Duran’s funky ‘Pressure Off’, taking us back to the ‘Notorious’ days with a touch of uplifting chorus a la ‘(Reach Up For The) Sunrise’. A track that is charting almost everywhere in the world and that benefits from a great promotion. First live versions broadcasted on the net predict some great moments on the coming tour and this song will certainly join the band’s classics.
I could go in details through each track… but the all album is just a pure master piece. ‘What Are The Chances’ is the traditional Duran Duran ballad like ‘Save A Prayer’ or ‘Ordinary Worlds’, with the first appearance of ex Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ John Frusciante for a splendid guitar solo part. The freshness and pop sensitivity of ‘Sunset Garage’ is stunning, ‘Change The Skyline’ is promised to hit the club charts, ‘Butterfly Girls’ is as uplifting as ‘Pressure Off’ with once again John Frusciante on guitar, ‘Only In Dreams’ is in the same kind of mood as the previous album stunning pieces ‘The Man Who Stole A Leopard’ and ‘Leave A Light On’, but with Nile Rodgers funky touch on top of it.
The album ends up on an already fan favourite: ‘The Universe Alone’, a splendid six-minutes mid-tempo ballad full of orchestral arrangement and the 3rd guitar appearance of Frusciante. The last two minutes demonstrate, if still necessary, the talent of DURAN DURAN to create some totally weird mix of styles: a rough and edgy guitar duets with layers of horns and strings as Le Bon’s voices echoes in the distance and slowly and industrial drum loop comes crashing and disappear to let an ethereal choirs ends it all up. Funny to notice the album opens and ends with a-capella parts. As the US Rolling Stones magazine headlined: “If ‘Paper Gods’ was a debut from some upstart band, the buzz would be insane” and I think it sums it all perfectly.
This album is not an easily one to enters in, understand and appreciate. Of course, some tracks are more obvious than others, but please don’t listen to poorly cultivated comments stating that Duran is going EDM or any hype crap. There’s no sound of EDM apart from a couple of synth hook here and there that were already used in multiple styles of electronic music since the 90’s. No. This IS a pure DURAN DURAN album. Modern, stylish, very well produced, excellent song writing, and always this sense of experimentation that pushes the band to break barriers and limits album after album for 32 years now.
As bonus tracks, the European version offers three tracks: the refreshing and up-tempo ‘Planet Roaring’ not that far from early songs such as ‘Planet Earth’ or ‘Careless Memories’, ‘Valentine Stones’ a “more than decent” B-Side and ‘Northern Lights’, an outstanding track that would have deserve a full album track status especially with such a performance by Frusciante and such a catchy and infectious chorus. The US version offers ‘Cinderella Ride’ (same remark as ‘Northern Lights’) and the weirdo ‘On Evil Beach’ kind of electro / reggae / dub that is more than OK for a bonus track.
Tracklist
01. Paper Gods
02. Last Night In The City
03. You Kill Me With Science
04. Pressure Off
05. Face For Today
06. Danceophobia
07. What Are The Chances
08. Sunset Garage
09. Change The Skyline
10. Butterfly Girl
11. Only In Dreams
12. The Universe Alone
European Bonus Tracks:
13. Planet Roaring
14. Valentine Stones
15. Northern Lights
US Bonus Tracks:
13. Cinderella Ride
14. On Evil Beach
Line-up
Simon Le Bon – Vocals
Nick Rhodes – Keyboards
John Taylor – Bass
Roger Taylor – Drums
Dom Brown – Guitars
Special Guests : Nile Rodgers, Mark Ronson, Mr Hudson, John Frusciante, Kiesza, Janelle Monae
Website
http://www.duranduran.com / https://www.facebook.com/duranduran
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 10
Sound: 10
Total: 10 / 10
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