Duran Duran: Decade-Greatest Hits

Duran Duran: Decade-Greatest Hits

1989

Capitol Records

Format I own the shit on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Planet Earth  2. Girls on Film  3. Hungry Like the Wolf  4. Rio  5. Save a Prayer  6. Is There Something I Should Know?  7. Union of the Snake  8. The Reflex" (7" Remix)  9. The Wild Boys  10. A View to a Kill  11. Notorious (45 mix)  12. Skin Trade  (Radio Cut)  13. I I Don't Want Your Love" (Shep Pettibone 7" Remix)  14. All She Wants Is (45 Mix)


Some greatest hits album that's pretty far inferior to any of their regular studio albums...I pretty much keep this around for some of the remixes and alternate versions of songs I like and so I can listen to Duran Duran on the bus when the mood hits (most of the other Duran Duran stuff I have is on on vinyl, which is a format that discourages portability). I invariably shut this off after "The Wild Boys" finishes and since I've covered all the material up to that point in the last coupla posts, let's cut straight to the shit...

"A View to a Kill." A James Bond theme..This is actually alright-ish, lightweight new romantic pop, but it's hard not to notice that around this point in the album every single track signals a large drop-off in quality from the track immediately preceding it..."Union of the Snake"? Awesome. The remix of "The Reflex"? Eh, I like the original version better, but still good..."The Wild Boys"? Yea, I guess I possibly like it...I liked the video anyway..."A View to a Kill"? I dunno, this is sounding pretty flimsy next to "The Wild Boys" and so on and so on....Plus the song has ten thousand "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" synth brass hits that shred your eardrums if you listen to it on headphones...Ouch!

  "Notorious (45 mix)" Sigh...I like it but in a Devo "Shout" kinda way...I have a huge affection for 80's pop, so as a result I can stomach generic 80's stuff that would probably have most folks pulling the plug by the 2nd acapella "NO-TOR-IUS!!"  Some synth-loving synapse in my brain fires off and I tap my toe, but that's about it...I'm certainly in no position to defend it in any meaningful way...

"Skin Trade"  Man, if "Notorious" is your first single choice, representing the best and brightest your album has to offer then you're in some big trouble indeed...Hence, "Skin Trade." Again, I enjoy it in the most loose sense of the word...It sounds like a Prince song so obviously filler-like that I doubt even he would made room for it on side eight of his unreleased album quadruple album "The Next Crystal Generation"...Still, funky enough that I think I felt something move somewhere when I was listening to it...

"I Don't Want Your Love" (Shep Pettibone 7" Remix)" A remix of a track from Duran Duran's blockbuster 1988 album "Big Thing" remixed by Shemp from the Three Stooges. I'm betting your reaction was probably not too far removed from mine: "Wha-? Duran Duran were still making records in '88?" I was utterly unaware of "Notorious"'s existence, let alone its even more obscure follow-up...By this point every last shred of mystery is gone...This sounds like a New Kids on the Block B-Side...Yuck.

"All She Wants Is." I don't even know if I've ever made it to the end of this song...It's soooo doinky and boring that I forget how the song goes even as I listen to it...Bleh...I know Duran Duran released later albums but I can't do it...I can't subject myself to anymore of this jive...I want to remember them as they were...Shadowy, dashing figures who had the ability to craft some of the greatest damn hooks in the 80's...The early 80's anyway...

Damn, why didn't they cut the last 4 songs and replace them with "New Moon on Monday," "The Chauffeur," "Careless Memories" and "Friends of Mine"? That would have made it one of the greatest hits albums of all-time easily...

Here's "Planet Earth" by Duran Duran...Enjoy...