Search - Duran Duran :: Red Carpet Massacre (Deluxe Edition)

I wish I could say...

B. Starbuck | Denver, CO United States | 11/19/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"...that I love this album, because I love Duran Duran and have since I was twelve. I was so thrilled with their true comeback album "Astronaut" that I was expecting them to move forward with more innovative and inspired music. But this album falls just a bit short of the DD greatness that we've heard in the past.



The opening track "The Valley" is pretty decent and does have some shades of classic Duran Duran. I was reminded of "Notorious" with this song. The second, title track has a great "spacey" opening then drifts into a raw drum beat - it's very 80s so I like it. The third track, "Nite-Runner" is the first track on the album that sounds blatantly Timbaland inspired and he provides some of the chorus vocals. I don't dislike Timbaland - he's done some great work - but there's something about his and Timberlake's presence in some of the songs that I feel rips away from the soul of Duran Duran.



I know some reviewers have voiced their dislike for "Falling Down," but it's my favorite track on the album. The melody is beautiful and the lyrics are quite appropriate for this age of rising/crashing starlets and pop singers and our consumption of them. For me, it's right up there with "Come Undone" and "Ordinary World" from the Wedding Album. Bits of the melody remind me of "Save a Prayer," as well.



Track five, "Box Full O' Honey," is another lovely melody with great lyrics and acoustic guitar. John Taylor's melodic bass really comes through on this track as well. "Skin Divers" is a ready made dance floor hit/Timbaland beat machine with a catchy rap hook; it gets you moving, but Simon's voice sounds a little flat and lifeless on this track. "Tempted" is my least favorite track; it's sounds like they simply recycled Timberlake's "Sexy Back" and just changed a few chords. "Tricked Out" - All Hail Nick Rhodes! - is a fun instrumental track with shades of Berlin/Siouxsie/Bauhaus, etc. Very 80s, so of course I love it.



"Zoom In" isn't a bad song, but it isn't great, either. It's got a nice beat, but feels a bit shallow. "She's Too Much" has a nice opening and a melancholy melody, which I always gravitate to, but it would be nice if John Taylor's bass was more present on this track. I think it would have added a much needed layer and you can actually hear the empty space left vacant by his lack of presence, which is a shame because he is one of the great bass players of our time. "Dirty Great Monster" has a great bluesy beat and Simon's voice really shines on this track - think "The Reflex" and "Union of the Snake." The final track is a bit lackluster. Again, it sounds like a stolen track from one of Timberlake's albums - his first solo, I think - same beat.



Overall, if you're a true Duran Duran fan, this is not an album to pass up. If your a casual Duran Duran listener, you'd do better with the Wedding Album or Astronaut or even their EARLY stuff. But I love these guys, so they really can't do anything wrong in my eyes; however, they need to dump the Timberlakes and Timbalands of this world and follow their own vision as they have in the past. You can definitely tell there are too many fingers in the pie on this album."

A red massacre, indeed.

Van Morgan | 11/26/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I've been a fan since 1982. I'm 40 now, and I wanted this CD to be.. groundbreaking, if nothing else. No, in honesty, I wanted it to be a return to form from 5 guys who knew how to CRAFT a song. It seems that Andy (the 5th guy) saw that this was going to be a sellout to their label and a compromise; a denial of their innate abilities to write outstanding material; to write trendy soulless drivel and call it evolution, so he left. At the time I was floored, and I just *knew* we'd get a sub-par record.

Yes, I wanted an amalgamation of Rio,etc,etc, right through the Wedding Album, because I knew that's what these musicians are capable of, and I had faith in them to have confidence in their abilities. Looks like the record company did not have that faith.

I WISH above anything else that I could be holding the CD of the scrapped project in my hands instead of this.

I've loved these guys for 25 years, and will buy whatever they put out. But let's be HONEST, and listen with an honest ear and heart. The only good songs on here are:

*Last Man Standing - unbelievably, the last song! Finally, a melody, a hook!.. perhaps even underproduced, sounds like it was rushed to completion. By far the best song on this.. thing.

*Dirty Monster - a song, at least. Saxophone!~for gosh sakes, and not those disgusting tinny "tip-tip-tip" drums that Timbaland pushed the buttons for the rest of the project.. good to see they let Roger get behind a kit for a tune or two.

*Falling Down - not the worst tune I've suffered through this year. That's all the compliment I'll be giving. I suppose it *is* the only single they could consider! In the history of great DD songs, I give this a two out of ten.

*Box full of Honey - decent if DD was releasing a folk cd.

---If any other band had put this out, I would not have bought it. Any other band would get one of five Amazon stars.

Gone are atmospheric DD soundscapes. Gone is Andy's edgy guitar. Gone are Roger's driving drums. Gone are Simon's cryptic, poetic lyrics. John's energetic bassline returns for 30 seconds in the first song, and then he disappears. Call this evolution, call this catching up with 'the times', but I call this far from what they are capable of. Sometimes you don't want to sound like the modern peers because those peers aren't in your league, so you'd be better off writing what you know, which surpasses and exceeds trends..

Please, Duran Duran, find yourselves again, and please fans, be honest when they don't live up to what we know they can deliver."

All Style, Little Substance

J. Brady | PAWLEYS ISLAND, SC United States | 02/16/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Never ashamed to admit to being a huge fan of this band, I've gotten most everything they've released since they began. I've followed their many ups and downs, and their comebacks galore. Astronaut truly excited me, leading me to believe they had indeed grown another set of legs to run on. But this collaboration with Timbaland and his crew leaves me a little cold. It's as underwhelming as Tim's work with Bjork was on her last album. As many songs as he's turned out with other artists that were not only extremely sonically experimental, but also just hook FILLED, this Red Carpet Massacre seems lacking. Excepting the first cut on the CD, "the Valley", the gorgeous, should-have-been-a-huge-smash-hit "Falling Down" and the atypical -sounding, mostly acoustic "Box Full of Honey", nothing here begs for my attention or for repeated listens. RCM isn't HORRIBLE, don't get me wrong. It sounds great ( it certainly should ) but many of the songs sound rushed and incomplete, like a chorus could have been catchier, or the lyrics sharper. I for one would be interested to hear the ( practically complete ) album they scrapped when guitarist Andy Taylor bailed on them. I'm thinking between the two of them they could have come up with a winner. I'm not giving up hope on DD - I never could, I simply like them too much. But RCM won't be on my list of favourites."