514. Duran Duran - Rio (1982)
















Track Listing

1. Rio
2. My Own Way
3. Lonely In Your Nightmare
4. Hungry Like The Wolf
5. Hold Back The Rain
6. New Religion
7. Last Chance On The Stairway
8. Save A Prayer
9. Chauffeur

Review

No album is more emblematic of the 80s than Rio by Duran Duran, from the amazing cover to the three smash hits and era defining videos, it would probably be one of the first albums that anyone would think of when thinking of the 80s. And there is good reason for this.

This is probably one of the most perfect pieces of Pop ever produced, and the album is successful in many different ways, its music is some of the catchiest to come out of the 80s, but it isn't simple or simplistic. The songs are actually pretty complex pieces, with so many layers of sound to them that they are eternally fascinating. This is exhilarating music, it makes you happy, makes you dance and doesn't challenge you in the least, hard to make common denominator music so well.

Of course the lyrics are mostly nonsensical, but all the same they will stick with you, both because of their weirdness and because they just sound good. It is not the meaning that takes precedence here. If ever there was a decade where style won over content it was the 80s and content is indeed sacrificed in the altar of style here, but in an amazingly successful way. Pretty much the perfect pop album.

Track Highlights

1. Save A Prayer
2. Rio
3. Hungry Like The Wolf
4. The Chauffeur

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The North American version was released on Capitol's Harvest Records label, with rather poor sound quality, and didn't do well at first. EMI in Britain had promoted Duran Duran as a New Romantic band, but that genre was barely known in the United States, and Capitol was at a loss about how to sell the band.

The band, however, had their own plans and ambitions for promotion. They reunited with director Russell Mulcahy (who had directed the music video for their first single, "Planet Earth"), and planned the release of a full length video album -- eleven videos for the best songs off of the Duran Duran and Rio albums. The band travelled to Sri Lanka and Antigua between tour dates to film the memorable videos for the singles "Rio", "Hungry Like The Wolf" and "Save A Prayer", as well as the lesser-known "Lonely In Your Nightmare" and "Waiting for the Nightboat" -- the latter a creepy zombiefest set on a deserted island.

While filming the tropical videos, guitarist Andy Taylor contracted malaria and was hospitalized on his return to England. This forced the delay of Duran Duran's European tour, and the record company decided to hold the release of the third single until the band was ready to promote it again.

Save a Prayer: