Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 12/05/2003
Label: EMI

Any self respecting pop fan will own all of the a-sides here, either on Duran Duran's first three albums or a singles compilation (this is one band that justifies the Alan Partridge-esque declaration that your favourite of their albums is their greatest hits), so quite why this box of thirteen CD singles has been issued is a mystery.

It's not for the packaging: in shiny black, with a 'Ragged Tiger'-era style clockwork eye on the front, the box looks like an oversize packet of JPS. Only without the warning: "Eighties pop kills unborn babies". All that's unfamiliar beyond that are the b-sides, mostly "remixes" of the a-sides - which back then meant chucking on an extended intro and going for a cup of tea before adding the a-side - and the odd cover. Is there something that we're missing here? Is there a hitherto unheralded majesty in this box just waiting to be discovered?

The answer is: yes, surprisingly. The majority of the original tracks here are Duran-lite, clearly thrown together between highly expensive photo shoots and generally about having an existential crisis in a fashionable night club (the early Spandau-esque 'Late Bar', with its hilarious "you can dance all night/if you've got the time" pay off; the generally limp 'Khanada', surely the only Duran track to feature a sitar; the ho-hum 'Faster Than Light'). And the covers are nothing to get excited about: a join-the-dots reading of Bowie's 'Fame' and a live butchering of Steve Harley's 'Make Me Smile'.

But there are two curiosities and one revelation buried deep within. Curiosity one, 'Like An Angel', is Simon Le Bon at his seductive big brother best, offering a shoulder to cry on while he rustles in his back pocket for a condom. Curiosity two is a version of 'The Chauffeur' on Spanish guitar that, while lacking the spookiness of the original's synth line, is strangely compelling. And the revelation (and brace yourselves for this one friends) is that in 1983 Duran Duran almost turned into New Order but blew it for no good reason.

It's all there on the b-side of 'Is There Something I Should Know?' (itself a genius pop classic, but then most of their a-sides back then were, obviously). Either inspired by or artistically in tandem with 'Blue Monday', 'Faith In This Colour' is an ice-cool electro dance instrumental that sounds like the obvious leap forward for a band in thrall to Chic and the innovative possibilities of dance music. Even the 'Monster Mix' of the a-side comes with the synth sound that a decade later would conquer Ibiza. It's almost like Nick Rhodes sent the rest of the band home early and tried out a few fresh ideas.

Alas, it wasn't to be. Standing at a fork in the road between New Order suss and Depeche Mode pretension, Duran chose the latter and marched off into The Gibberish Years ('Union Of The Snake' onwards, the b-side of which 'Secret Oktober' is peppered with lines like "when the butterfly escapes the killing jar"). The nation went "eh?", 'The Reflex' managed a slight reprieve by being both sublime and ridiculous, and only the John Barry arranged orchestral version of 'View To A Kill' is worth bothering about after that.

They almost had it all. Ah, scratch that - they did have it all. That greatest hits is the one of the best pop albums of all time.

    by Ian Watson