Four years ago all five original members of Duran Duran reunited and made a comeback album called Astronaut, their first studio album together since 1983’s Seven and the Ragged Tiger. Guitarist Andy Taylor has since bailed on them, but that’s not going to stop Duran Duran from rocking us with Red Carpet Massacre—their latest effort, set for release on November 13.
Duran Duran fans have been anticipating this one for some time, especially since it features four tracks produced by Timbaland (with one of the four co-produced by Justin Timberlake) and the rest by his protégé, Nate “Danja” Hills—an interesting choice for the new wave pioneers considering both producers are famed in the hip-hop genre. Many feared that the pairing would be an aural disaster, but the results are quite surprising.
The album kicks off strong with “The Valley”—a bass-and-synth driven number that’s very reminiscent of early Duran Duran, followed by the electro-punk rock title track “Red Carpet Massacre.” Other highlights include the brilliant “Box Full o’ Honey,” a melancholic ballad that’s one of the album’s best tracks. “Tempted” is a gyrating disco ‘80s number destined to be a club hit and hopefully the next single. A surprising standout is “Tricked Out,” a wild, synth-driven instrumental obviously led by keyboardist Nick Rhodes. It’s the most retro-sounding track off the album where you almost picture the band tying up their hip-hop producers and keeping them captive so they can let loose old-school Duran style. “She’s Too Much” is simply gorgeous, and “Dirty Great Monster” is a bluesy rock number featuring a killer saxophone solo. “Falling Down” and the pulse-pounding “Zoom In” are two tracks where Timbaland seems to get Duran Duran, with the latter of the two sounding like he wasn’t even involved at all.
The album, however, is not perfect. Duran Duran have always evolved their sound and stayed fresh so it makes sense that they would tap Timbaland to climb onboard, but to some, this is a venture into murky waters. Rather than take a backseat and provide artists with guidance as most producers should, Timbaland was bound to put his front-and-center touch somewhere. “Nite-Runner” is one of the very few just-OK tracks where Timbaland focuses on the beat, drowning all if any evidence of guitar and synth. As a pop song, it’s not bad, but for a Duran Duran track it comes off as generic and trite—the guys are capable of better. “Skin Divers” is another example of a song that could have been great. Musically, it’s fantastic and channels in that eerie early Duran sound, but this time Timbaland goes as far as lending his own voice to the chorus as well as a quasi-rap solo in the middle of the track. It sort of breaks the mood and makes you forget you’re listening to a Duran Duran song. Timbaland may have nailed two tracks (“Falling Down” and “Zoom In” are great), but “Nite Runner” and “Skin Divers” might be seen as an experimental misfire to some fans. Either way, you got to hand it to the guys for trying something new. Aside from these two minor missteps, the album is overall strong, very uniform and not as disjointed as their last effort. After 25 years and still counting, The Wild Boys are in fine form and Red Carpet Massacre makes a worthy addition to their résumé.
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