Duran Duran
Paper gods

After four years since "All you need is now," the former wild boys return to the stage, or at least they try.

This preamble already promises nothing good, and indeed, despite an advertising campaign worthy of their past, we are faced with a product with few highlights and many shadows.

The highlights, unfortunately, are limited to the purely formal side of "Paper gods," where the self-irony of the title and the cover images, which blatantly recall their glory days of the '80s, are perhaps the most fitting aspects.

The usual detractors will rightly say, "Well, what's strange? They've always been a band of image and little substance."

Yet....and here begin the painful aspects, where the previous album sounded fresh in its retro sound, Paper gods fails everywhere, because what is missing is precisely the music, in the sense of songs and a well-defined direction.

A plethora of guests and various producers is not enough to make the album appealing.

Where Mark Ronson tries for the umpteenth time to make their sound current, often with embarrassing results, we also find Nile Rodgers who in turn gives a touch to Notorious (of which he was the producer), in addition to the presence of Mr. Hudson and Josh Blair.

The result of too many hands is a mishmash that would like to be heterogeneous on paper but turns out to be heterogeneous and at times annoying, among references to the '80s, nods to Daft Punk, and songs that are painfully dance-oriented.

Danceophobia is the worst example, where we have the honor of listening to Lindsay Lohan in a performance, advisable only for solving constipation problems.

And what about the presence of John Frusciante in three songs? I challenge anyone to recognize his touch in the tracks in question without knowing which they are. Although he has never been a virtuoso guitarist, the absence of Andy Taylor on the six strings is felt, nonetheless important in defining the sound of the Birmingham band in the '80s.

So, what is musically salvageable in Paper gods? Very little, unfortunately. The few tracks that are memorable can be counted on the fingers of a maimed hand. Standouts include "The universe alone" (perhaps the most ordinary in style, but genuinely Duran Duran-like), "Butterfly girl" (here Nile Rodgers' hand is heavily felt, despite Frusciante being on the six strings), and the title track (where even amidst various modernisms, the rhythmic base is clearly recognizable).

Ultimately, "Paper gods" is a disappointing step back after the very enjoyable "All you need is now." So disappointing that it makes an album like "Red carpet massacre" seem like a semi-masterpiece.

A "two" rating is only due to the album's graphics and its self-irony in the title and images, as mentioned at the beginning, but it finds no reflection in the music.

The Wild boys have now aged, but by pretending to be still young and current, they only risk appearing as senile old men.

P.S. Note the presence of Janelle Monáe, Jonas Bjerre, and Kiesza...but ultimately...who cares?