Look now, look all around: Duran Duran's five studio albums from the '80s were stunningly out of print physically, but that changes this summer.
Warner Music, who acquired Duran Duran's Capitol/EMI catalogue as part of Parlophone Records in 2013 after it was divested in EMI's sale to Universal Music Group, will release new CD and vinyl pressings of Duran Duran (1981), Rio (1982), Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983), Notorious (1986) and Big Thing (1989). They will utilize the same remasters issued as deluxe editions by EMI in 2009 and 2010 - a point of controversy, as the sound quality of several of these were criticized for volume (and, in the case of the self-titled album, a seeming blemish on the camera-shutter intro to "Girls on Film"). The bonus discs and DVDs from those deluxe sets will not be included either. (This does restore the band's preferred vision of Big Thing, which swaps a remixed version of "Drug (It's Just a State of Mind)" for Daniel Abraham's original version.) The CDs will be packaged in miniature replicas of the LP jackets.
Taken together, these albums represent some of the biggest moments in Duran Duran's more than four decades as a band: hits like "Planet Earth," "Girls on Film," "Hungry Like the Wolf," "Rio," "New Moon on Monday," "The Reflex," "Notorious" and "I Don't Want Your Love." The Birmingham band (singer Simon Le Bon, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, guitarist Andy Taylor, bassist John Taylor and drummer Roger Taylor) conquered the world through catchy dance-rock rhythms and groundbreaking music videos; Simon Nick and John kept the band going through the back half of the '80s, eventually recruiting Missing Persons guitarist Warren Cuccurullo and enjoying massive hits in 1993 with "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone." The original "Fab Five" reunited from 2001 to 2006 before Andy Taylor departed again - but he and Cuccurullo both guested on 2023's Danse Macabre, the band's latest album of Halloween-themed covers, re-recordings of deep cuts and new material. (The band owns nearly all of its records from 1997's Medazzaland to the present, and reissued many of them on vinyl last year. Fans keep holding out hope for deluxe editions of 1990's Liberty or 1993's The Wedding Album, the only two Warner-controlled records not to be reissued in the last decade or so.)
All the new discs are available July 19 and can be pre-ordered below. (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.)
Duran Duran (originally released as EMI EMC 3372 (U.K.), 1981 - reissued Warner, 2024)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
- Girls on Film
- Planet Earth
- Anyone Out There
- To the Shore
- Careless Memories
- Night Boat
- Sound of Thunder
- Friends of Mine
- Tel Aviv
Rio (originally released as EMI EMC 3411 (U.K.), 1982 - reissued Warner, 2024)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
- Rio
- My Own Way
- Lonely in Your Nightmare
- Hungry Like the Wolf
- Hold Back the Rain
- New Religion
- Last Chance on the Stairway
- Save a Prayer
- The Chauffeur
Seven and the Ragged Tiger (originally released as EMI EMC 1654541 (U.K.), 1983 - reissued Warner, 2024)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
- The Reflex
- New Moon on Monday
- (I'm Looking for) Cracks in the Pavement
- I Take the Dice
- Of Crime and Passion
- Union of the Snake
- Shadows on Your Side
- Tiger Tiger
- The Seventh Stranger
Notorious (originally released as EMI DDN 331 (U.K.), 1986 - reissued Warner, 2024)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
- Notorious
- American Science
- Skin Trade
- A Matter of Feeling
- Hold Me
- Vertigo (Do the Demolition)
- So Misled
- "Meet El Presidente"
- Winter Marches On
- Proposition
Big Thing (originally released as EMI DDB 33 (U.K.), 1988 - reissued Warner, 2024)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
- Big Thing
- I Don't Want Your Love
- All She Wants Is
- Too Late Marlene
- Drug (It's Just a State of Mind) *
- Do You Believe in Shame?
- Palomino
- Interlude One
- Land
- Flute Interlude
- The Edge of America
- Lake Shore Driving
* original mix by Daniel Abraham - released on "Do You Believe in Shame?" limited 7" - EMI DDC 12, 1989
Release Round-Up: Week of October 27
The Weekend Stream: September 2, 2023
The Second Disc's Record Store Day 2023 Shopping Guide
Sit Down, I Think I Love You: Rhino's RSD Lineup Includes Grateful Dead, Dio, Stevie Nicks, Todd Rundgren, Madonna, and More "Nuggets"
Simply 3 letters: WHY ?
DD are managing their back catalogue in such a bad, bad way !
I pre ordered Rio, but noticed the Amazon listing read "2009 Remaster".
Hmmmm...
These are just reissues of the 2010 remasters. Rio actually hit the year before in 2009, the other five came in 2010.
This is underwhelming after the prior deluxe versions. Flawed as they were they were still miles about this. I feel like the record companies needs to ADD reasons to buy it again instead of subtract. At least that's the usual order of things. Seems like a dumb approach.
They already did deluxe versions of some of these. Usually record companies ADD reasons to buy it again instead of subtracting reasons. That's the usual way in any case. These are really underwhelming.