Duran's All You Need Is Now is not all I need
Ok, what am I NOT HEARING on Duran's new album that so many other people do?? "A return to their roots, this album is like Rio's cooler little sister!"
.....what?
I like the title track, but even it doesn't thrill me. It sounds like two different songs put together, the music vs. the melody of the lyrics. Actually a lot of the songs make me think that. The music is tons better than the singing melody, and there ARE touches of Rio, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, and even a little bit of their first Duran Duran album to be found here and there, but what MADE Duran's sound was that each guy got a catchy hook IN EVERY SONG. There was ALWAYS a point where Roger would beat his drums in a cool way that said, "Peekatcha - Here I am!" Or John would do his half-note "barEER" bass thing. Or Andy would pop in with some cool riff that never overshadowed the rest of the song, never overstayed its welcome and would peacefully retreat to the background when needed. And Nick... Nick was the base on which it was all built, but even then, he was subtle, like an accent piece.
Nowadays, it's all Nick all the time, and it's a muddy, disjointed mess. For this album, there are two songs where I went, "THERE'S Roger!" Two for John as well. The dude filling in for Andy did a good job, so I was delirious with happiness they didn't go back to a Warren Cuccarullo or however you spell it. Cucaracha is what I called him anyway.
ANYWAY! If you are going to invoke one of their ultimately awesome albums like RIO? You damn well better either deliver or come close to it, and this thing was just... it made me sad. I wanted to love it - with DD I always want to love it, but sometimes they make it hard. This time it's impossible for me. I was singing along after the first time I heard Astronaut's album. Lots of Red Carpet Massacre was awesome too. And now this. There are two songs that remind me of Chauffeur, which I LOVE, but they fall short, and the second one, Simon falls FLAT on some notes while Nick seems to be playing his own song that has out of tune crossnotes - :cry:
I'll give it another two listens. I always listen five times just to be sure I don't like something from them, so we'll see. I hope I change my mind on how I feel.
.....what?
I like the title track, but even it doesn't thrill me. It sounds like two different songs put together, the music vs. the melody of the lyrics. Actually a lot of the songs make me think that. The music is tons better than the singing melody, and there ARE touches of Rio, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, and even a little bit of their first Duran Duran album to be found here and there, but what MADE Duran's sound was that each guy got a catchy hook IN EVERY SONG. There was ALWAYS a point where Roger would beat his drums in a cool way that said, "Peekatcha - Here I am!" Or John would do his half-note "barEER" bass thing. Or Andy would pop in with some cool riff that never overshadowed the rest of the song, never overstayed its welcome and would peacefully retreat to the background when needed. And Nick... Nick was the base on which it was all built, but even then, he was subtle, like an accent piece.
Nowadays, it's all Nick all the time, and it's a muddy, disjointed mess. For this album, there are two songs where I went, "THERE'S Roger!" Two for John as well. The dude filling in for Andy did a good job, so I was delirious with happiness they didn't go back to a Warren Cuccarullo or however you spell it. Cucaracha is what I called him anyway.
ANYWAY! If you are going to invoke one of their ultimately awesome albums like RIO? You damn well better either deliver or come close to it, and this thing was just... it made me sad. I wanted to love it - with DD I always want to love it, but sometimes they make it hard. This time it's impossible for me. I was singing along after the first time I heard Astronaut's album. Lots of Red Carpet Massacre was awesome too. And now this. There are two songs that remind me of Chauffeur, which I LOVE, but they fall short, and the second one, Simon falls FLAT on some notes while Nick seems to be playing his own song that has out of tune crossnotes - :cry:
I'll give it another two listens. I always listen five times just to be sure I don't like something from them, so we'll see. I hope I change my mind on how I feel.