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Duran Duran
All You Need Is Now
Tapemodern
For 30 years now,
Duran Duran has
been one of the few
unabashed purveyors
of synth pop to also
make guitar and bass
guitar crucial elements
of its sound. Andy Taylor’s chorused, funky/
neo-punk chord stabs added indispensible bite
and adventure to every one of the band’s ’80s
hits, from 1981’s “Planet Earth” to “Girls on
Film,” “The Reflex,” “Wild Boys,” and “A View
to a Kill.” Likewise, John Taylor’s slinky, galloping
bass lines were probably the funkiest on
radio that whole decade. Andy left the band
in the ’90s, and former Frank Zappa guitarist
Warren Cuccurullo came aboard to shake
things up for several years. Andy returned for
a couple of albums in 2004 and 2007, but
he’s now out again. You’d never know it from
All You Need Is Now, though. Session guitarist
Dominic Brown has been filling in since Andy’s
second departure in ’07. And though Brown
is far more adventurous, toneful, and adept
than Andy Taylor, anyone hoping he’d add the
same sorts of earthy grit he’s been adding to
Duran live shows—search YouTube for “Duran
Duran – Skin Divers (Private Sessions)” for a
sampling—will be disappointed. Brown’s lines
sound exactly like Taylor circa 1981. In fact,
the whole album is a return to the sound that
put the band on the New Wave map. The first
single, “All you Need Is Now,” takes a stab at
being more cutting edge with its industrial
synths, semi-sneering verses, and danceable
chorus, but the rest of the album is filled with
so many nods to the past that it comes across as
cynical. It’s not that they can’t pull it off—it is
their sound—and there certainly are some nice
songs, including the bittersweet, acoustic-driven
“Leave the Light On” and the catchy, upbeat
“Blame the Machines.” It’s just a shame Brown
is left to so slavishly cop the sound of a player
that he obviously blows out of the water.
All You Need Is Now
Tapemodern
For 30 years now,
Duran Duran has
been one of the few
unabashed purveyors
of synth pop to also
make guitar and bass
guitar crucial elements
of its sound. Andy Taylor’s chorused, funky/
neo-punk chord stabs added indispensible bite
and adventure to every one of the band’s ’80s
hits, from 1981’s “Planet Earth” to “Girls on
Film,” “The Reflex,” “Wild Boys,” and “A View
to a Kill.” Likewise, John Taylor’s slinky, galloping
bass lines were probably the funkiest on
radio that whole decade. Andy left the band
in the ’90s, and former Frank Zappa guitarist
Warren Cuccurullo came aboard to shake
things up for several years. Andy returned for
a couple of albums in 2004 and 2007, but
he’s now out again. You’d never know it from
All You Need Is Now, though. Session guitarist
Dominic Brown has been filling in since Andy’s
second departure in ’07. And though Brown
is far more adventurous, toneful, and adept
than Andy Taylor, anyone hoping he’d add the
same sorts of earthy grit he’s been adding to
Duran live shows—search YouTube for “Duran
Duran – Skin Divers (Private Sessions)” for a
sampling—will be disappointed. Brown’s lines
sound exactly like Taylor circa 1981. In fact,
the whole album is a return to the sound that
put the band on the New Wave map. The first
single, “All you Need Is Now,” takes a stab at
being more cutting edge with its industrial
synths, semi-sneering verses, and danceable
chorus, but the rest of the album is filled with
so many nods to the past that it comes across as
cynical. It’s not that they can’t pull it off—it is
their sound—and there certainly are some nice
songs, including the bittersweet, acoustic-driven
“Leave the Light On” and the catchy, upbeat
“Blame the Machines.” It’s just a shame Brown
is left to so slavishly cop the sound of a player
that he obviously blows out of the water.