Album review: Duran Duran's 'All You Need Is Now'
Duran Duran has made no secret lately of its desire to keep up with the kids: For 2004’s “Astronaut” this long-running English synth-rock act hired producers including Dallas Austin and Don Gilmore to help freshen its sound, and “Red Carpet Massacre,” from 2007, contained collaborations with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake.
The band’s choice of Mark Ronson to helm “All You Need Is Now,” Duran Duran’s 13th studio album, seems consistent with that pattern; Ronson has crafted hits over the last few years with such youngsters as Adele and Amy Winehouse. Yet the producer’s specialty is providing his clients with a kind of meticulous throwback vibe, and here he aims not to update Duran Duran’s style but to restore it to its early-’80s splendor. Never mind the disingenuous title: “All You Need Is Now” blasts unashamedly back to the chart-topping days of “Rio” and “The Reflex.”
Not everything is worth making the journey; indeed, it’s hard to know why the band bothered adding five new songs to the superior nine-track version of “All You Need Is Now” that Duran Duran released through iTunes late last year. But with their sleek keyboard lines, trebly guitar chatter and frontman Simon Le Bon’s swooping vocal melodies, taut neo-New Wave gems like “Being Followed” and “Girl Panic!” make a strong argument for the lasting utility of these hitmakers’ original formula. Maybe the kids should come to them.
—Mikael Wood
Duran Duran
“All You Need Is Now”
(S-Curve)
Two and a half stars
All hail DuranDuran!...30years and counting!
Posted by: peteburns | March 21, 2011 at 08:19 PM
So they need to hire the young kids to make themselves sound hip and relevant? That's lame. I'm a fan from the 80s, but they definitely jumped the shark after "Big Thing." I was never a fan of the direction they went in even before that. They began to sound "old" before their time, I think, and now are trying to rewind. They've made some unforgettable music, of course, but have not really had the staying power of other bands.
Posted by: Sophie | March 21, 2011 at 09:03 PM
Duran Duran is the best band of the world!!!
Posted by: eduardo | March 21, 2011 at 11:12 PM
While I didn't really agree with the hip hop overtones of RCM and Bedroom Toys from Astronaut is REALLY REALLY best forgotten, I have found "All You Need Is Now" to be quite a refreshing up to date sonic adventure. This is really how Duran should have progressed, capitalising on what they're good at - solidly crafted synth pop.
I admire the directions they attempted through the late 80s and early 90s. Obviously, striving for something new you're going to shed some fans, but as their eponymous 1993 album proved, you can pick new ones up along the way.
I'm not sure what the 2.5 stars is out of, but I have to assume 3.
Posted by: Richard | March 22, 2011 at 02:23 AM
This guy wouldn't know good music if it hit him in the face. What a pathetic review for a great album.
Posted by: Chris | March 22, 2011 at 07:31 AM
This is a GREAT album. And this is coming from a fan who did not like their last album at all, so I'm no band synchophant.
Runway Runaway is a great as so many other songs out there right now, reaching for the new with a foot in the old great harmonies from the 80's.
Glad DD found Mark Ronson and Mark found them to make the album they've needed to make.
Posted by: julie | March 22, 2011 at 11:50 AM
Having heard "All You Need is Now," I'd say the vocals are vintage SLB, but the lyrics leave something to do be desired. For a pretty "pop" band, Duran always had killer lyrics. And the style is in the Depeche Mode/NIN category, while those two have developed further. Too derivative sounding for Duran. I don't see them as originators anymore.
Posted by: Sophie | March 22, 2011 at 12:45 PM
Duran Duran is fun. Astronaut is an enjoyable ride of am album. Red CArpet Massacre was just that - thanks to Timba and Justin Timba-lame. Ronson adds nothing. DD does not need these producers of the month.
Posted by: Tony | March 23, 2011 at 08:17 AM
Welcome back DD... Love the new album, the band will always be magic.
Posted by: Laura | March 25, 2011 at 07:38 AM
This is a great album. Well done!!! It really is the worthy follow-up to "Rio"... that "Seven and The Ragged Tiger" should have been. What Mark Ronson did here, something that I have been suggesting for Duran Duran--for years, is to bring them back to a definable sound, their trademark sound, from their self-titled debut album...and Rio--which they abandoned. What made Duran Duran unique stand-outs in the music industry, is that by combining their influences from bands like Chic, Japan, and Roxy Music, and styles of Punk, New Wave, Funk, and New Romantic--respectively, in a blend with their own internal dynamic, they created a sound like no other, and that was their brand; and they were the new Beatles. Ronson gave them back their branding--by encouraging them to embrace that sound once more. Bravo!!!! This is the album that I wanted to produce on them!!!!
Posted by: Jacques C. Earley | March 30, 2011 at 02:23 PM
This is a band of originators. The pop album of 2011. I have been a fan since their first album, and this is my favorite. I have never heard so much high art on one album. And nothing sounds alike (unlike Rio where there is a similar sound through every track). But if I had to rank them, I would rank as follows (and contrary to the author of this article, much of their best work is among the additional tracks):
Superior
1. Runway Runaway
2. Safe
3. Return to Now
4. Being Followed
5. Mediterannea
6. Too Bad You're Too Beautiful
7. Other People's Lives
8. Leave A Light On
9. Too Close to the Sun
Good
10. All You Need Is Now
11. Blame the Machines
12. Early Summer Nerves
13. Girl Panic
Average
14. The Man Who Stole a Leopard
15. Before the Rain
16. Networker Nation
Posted by: Ben | April 20, 2011 at 12:02 PM