Duran Duran
Rio

THE REVIEW

"I was with my wife Linda in the same studio where "Rio" was being recorded. One evening I went to visit them and they played this new song "Save a Prayer" for me. I immediately told them that with that track they had a hit on their hands that would guarantee them a career." (Paul McCartney)

The year 1982 would indelibly mark the lives of the five from Birmingham. On February 24, the music industry named the band Best New Comer, performing for the occasion "Girls on Film" and "My Own Way", presenting themselves with a more vigorous look that was about to replace the new romantic image they had up until then. At the same time, the Record Mirror declared "Duran Duran" the third most important record of the year! A period in which the great musical revolution was in full swing: the closure of Blitz in London, the new romantic homeland, opened the doors even wider to the Club for Heroes managed by the ingenious Steve Strange (Visage), fostering both the musical and non-musical trends of the time.

The title-track (formerly "See-Me Repeat-Me", present on the first demo with Andy Wickett on vocals and Bob Lamb on the consolle) opens with a rhythmic vigor that immediately reveals how perfectly it fuses with the synths, creating a seductively flavored track in which the brilliant chorus completes an already perfect sonic picture. "My Own Way" (composed in May 1981 and recorded at the Townhouse Studios the following October) is a sharp and essential funky track able to reconcile the early atmospheres with even more modern musical coloring. The simplicity of "Lonely in Your Nightmare" expresses DD's courageous attempt to move away from the guarantee of easily memorable atmospheres, revealing itself as a pleasant escape from reality. While the expression of the group's immense creative grace is proclaimed with "New Religion" and "The Chauffeur". With the former, a solemn atmosphere spreads, capable of taking over through a sublime interplay between guitar and synth, blissfully sealing the genius vocal overdubs, and with the latter, where the narrative-melancholic aspect emerges, the sampling on which the entire track is built generously leaves space for the synthetic bass capable of accompanying the dream-like flute that crowns its tormented melody.

Elegance and energy are undoubtedly the identifying traits of "Hungry Like the Wolf", which used as a single-lead of the lp, manages to show how a great guitar riff (Andy Taylor would later say he was inspired by the best Bolan ...) and a superlative mixing with the other instruments, can prove to be fundamental for the success of the track as much as the engaging chorus that decrees a perfect ensemble. It is "Save a Prayer" that expresses without any hesitation Fab Five's ability to skillfully manipulate melody, conceiving a track this time with a sentimental-melancholic appeal capable of being appreciated (and hummed, why not ...) by an audience that over time will elevate it to the unexpected title of a timeless classic. The jaunty spirit of "Last Chance on the Stairway" shows a permeable connection with the debut album's atmospheres, while it's the frenzy of "Hold Back the Rain" (though never much loved by Rhodes) that reminds of the need to shake on a dance floor pursuing the flattering lebonian counter-melody.

Colin Thurston's production gives the lp the right touch of magic needed to acquire a finesse and maturity, allowing Nick Rhodes to grasp what he needed to become a creative in the "sound booth", infusing the entire album with that added value capable of making it a product of rare beauty.

For the artwork, the remarkable American illustrator Patrick Nagel (who died prematurely at just 38 years old in 1984!) was commissioned, initially conceiving two art déco-style images impeccably summarizing the album's characteristics in: joy, lightness, and carefree bliss.Less than a year after the release of the self-titled debut, Duran Duran released a stylishly lavish record, where elegance and compositional class meet (also) touching melodies and captivating rhythms, revealing itself as a bright musical synthesis suitable for satisfying (and not simply pleasing!) the most demanding tastes.

A genuine proof of when popular music elevates to become a seductive form of art.