My first Duran Duran Retro Spin was all the way back at the beginning of their career with the 1981 self titled album. For my follow up experience with them, I thought I'd go all the way to the end of the decade with their last entry in the 80's, Big Thing (1988).
By 1986, the lineup of Duran Duran had dwindled down from the original Fab Five to the trio of Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes and John Taylor. Despite the group still producing a fair amount of hits, the lack of members Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor was noticeable to many fans. The music was just...different. Synthpop had taken over, and it really wasn't for the better.
Other than that, there's very little to get excited about. It's not a bad album, it just doesn't have the life in it that prior Duran Duran albums had. It's as if the band itself is bored with their own material.
Big Thing isn't a "bad" album. Far from it. It's just disappointing. I honestly expected more from a group that's sold millions of albums across the world. For such a high profile status in the music industry, Duran Duran's albums shouldn't just be "okay". Am I wrong in feeling this way?
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I'm not a huge fan but I feel like a lot of their late 80s - early 2000s stuff was okay.
ReplyDeleteAstronaut was fantastic which only made Red Carpet Massacre that much more of a disappointment. I feel like they got the mojo back with All You Need is Now and have been doing great since then.
My wife is a huge "Duranie" so I've seen them live quite a few times and they always put on a great show.
Even though I own every Duran Duran studio album to date, I have not heard most of them. That includes the latter stuff you noted above. Shame on me.
DeleteTheir Paris concert was exciting to watch, and that was just on Youtube, so I don't doubt being their in person is quite the experience.