Durandatory Duran: A Joint Review: Duran Duran’s All You Need Is Now

by Nathan Stout & Chris McGinty (of AccordingToWhim.com)

Welcome to the 400th Blog Post here at the Daily According To Whim Blog!
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Our 400th Blog was actually created on Cinco de Mayo but Chris and myself via According To Whim: The Audio Show. I will now transcribe our conversation in this Blog, Enjoy! In this Blog we will discuss Duran Duran’s newest album: All You Need Is Now (the full album).

Track #1 All You Need Is Now
CHRIS: This album hearkens back to Red Carpet Massacre and I really liked that album so this was an instant like for me.
NATHAN: The beginning of this track sounds weird and that’s what kept me from immediately enjoying it. After a few listens though I realized I really liked this song.

Track #2 Blame The Machines
CHRIS: I like the talking bit (the GPS talking) the most out of this song. The music in the background of that is what I really like about it.
NATHAN: I liked the theme of the song (the whole technology thing).

Track #3 Being Followed
CHRIS: Sinner and Saint (another Duran Duran song) is very similar (that secret agent man thing). It’s in the mid range for Chris’ rating for the album. It’s a very good live song.
NATHAN: This song starts out like a James Bond theme. Peter Gabriel did the same thing in one of his songs on UP. I don’t really care for that beginning but the song is still good. Let me get this straight, this album is awesome but we have to say some songs are better than others so there.

Track #4 Leave A Light On
CHRIS: It took a while for me to get into this song. This was about the third song I had heard off the new album so I was already astounded then this came along and I was a little less impressed.
NATHAN: This is a top 3 song for me. I love the keyboard work at the beginning. I also like the theme (theme as in its subject, not score) of the song. It’s a nice love-type song.

Track #5 Safe (in the heat of the moment)
CHRIS: This is another mid range song for me. I like it. There is this song from the Wedding album era called Stop Dead. I really like that song and this one sounds similar so I automatically fell into liking it.
NATHAN: This is going to have to be my least favorite of the whole album. What turns me off about the song is the diso-esqueness of the song and more importantly the woman talking on the track. I just don’t like that sort of thing.

Track #6 (Girl Panic!)
CHRIS: This is a very pop sounding song. I really like it. It sounds almost perfect. It has the same kind of drum beat as Girls on Film and Sunrise, it’s great.
NATHAN: This is the the top 3 for me as well. This is a great song. I like how it builds and builds and then… Girl Panic!

Track #7 (Diamond in the Mind)
CHRIS: This is sort of like that song on Pop Trash called Fragment, not a full song, more of a musical interlude. It’s also like Rose Arcana from So Red The Rose. This will have to be lower for me (since it’s not a full fledged song).
NATHAN: I don’t have a lot to say but I do like the use of strings.

Track #8 (The Man Who Stole A Leopard)
CHRIS: Early on this was one of my favorites. It’s just strange sounding but I really like it.
NATHAN: Me too. This is definitely in my top 3. I like the beat of the song and how it changes mid way though. The drum part that kicks in is awesome. The theme of the song is strange but the flow and the feel of the beat makes it great.

Track #9 Other People’s Lives
CHRIS: I haven’t gotten to listen to this much. It wasn’t apart of the original release (iTunes)… I didn’t buy the iTunes album but I did listen to the songs on YouTube. I just got the full album from Nathan last week and haven’t gotten to form a real opinion about it yet.
NATHAN: This is a neat song. It’s about people’s obsession with tabloids and keeping track of celebrities to such a microscopic level that its more of an obsession than an interest.

Track #10 Mediterranea
CHRIS: What I like about this song is the bass line. It has this John Taylor: Notorious, Big Thing era bass line. It specifically has a similar bass line to All I Need To Know (the B-Side to All She Wants Is).
NATHAN: This song is in my top 3 for sure. When I first heard it at the concert I was … meh. Then I listened to it a couple of more times then I started to REALLY like it.

Track #11 Too Bad You’re So Beautiful
CHRIS: Of the later ones (the ones not on the iTunes release) this is probably my least favorite of those but I do like it. It hasn’t grown on me yet.
NATHAN: I like it. I have noticed a re-occurring theme in Simon’s lyrics and that’s the Ice Queen or Lady Ice or something involving women and cold.

Track #12 Runway Runaway
CHRIS: This is going to be in the mid-rage for me. It is a very good pop song. The first time I listened to it I felt the same way I did about All You Need Is Now, it almost the perfect pop song that has that little bit that make you say hummm… At first I thought it was kinda dry but when I realised what it was I was like wow.
NATHAN: I like this song. It’s not in my top 3 but it’s in the top 5.

Track #13 Return To Now
CHRIS: I would call this: All You Need Is Now That Fatal Kiss. That Fatal Kiss was the B-side to A View To A Kill. It was a like an instrumental version of A View To A Kill. It’s an instrumental bit that is from All You Need Is Now.
NATHAN: Yes it’s cool. They opened the concert with that playing which built up to All You Need Is Now.

Track #14 Before The Rain
CHRIS: This is one of my least favorite songs of the album. It has the Chauffeur vibe but there is something missing that Chauffeur has (a darkness).
NATHAN: I agree with your assessment. It is one of my least favorite songs (but not as far down as Safe (in the moment)).

Track #15 Networker Nation (enjoy the video)
CHRIS: I like this one.
NATHAN: Yeah, it has a very ‘now’ theme. I like the ‘dah dah dah dah dahd dahd’ parts.

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THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!
Chris:
These are in my top five (but not in order or anything like that since they have all been my favorite as some point)

• All You Need Is Now
• Blame The Machines
• Girl Panic! – This one might be my favorite
• Mediterranea
• Man Who Stole A Leopard

Nathan:
These are my top five (in no order):

• Girl Panic!
• The Man Who Stole A Leopard
• Leave the Light On
• Mediterranea

Thank you for joining us for this album review! You may continue your day as planned.