Duran Duran (1993 album)

Duran Duran
Upper left: the Le Bons, centre: the Bateses (Rhodes), upper right: the Taylors, lower right: the Cuccurullos.
Studio album by Duran Duran
Released 11 February 1993
Recorded 1991–1993
Genre
Length 63:34
Label Capitol (US)
Parlophone/EMI
Producer John Jones and Duran Duran
Duran Duran chronology
Liberty
(1990)		 Duran Duran
(1993)		 Thank You
(1995)
Singles from Duran Duran
  1. "Ordinary World"
    Released: December 1992 (US) / January 1993 (UK)
  2. "Come Undone"
    Released: 29 March 1993
  3. "Drowning Man"
    Released: August 1993 (US only)
  4. "None of the Above"
    Released: August 1993 (US) / 11 May 1994 (Japan)
  5. "Too Much Information"
    Released: 23 August 1993 (UK)
  6. "Femme Fatale"
    Released: 1993 (France only)
  7. "Breath After Breath"
    Released: 1994 (Brazil only)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[2]
Entertainment WeeklyD[3]
Rolling Stone[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[5]
Select[6]

Duran Duran (commonly known as The Wedding Album) is the seventh studio album and the second self-titled album by Duran Duran, released on 11 February 1993.

After dwindling commercial success in the early 1990s, Duran Duran returned to the UK Top Five and US Top Ten with this album, which has been certified Gold in the UK and Platinum in the US. The singles "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone" reached the US Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.

The cover art by Nick Egan features wedding photos from the parents of the four band members.[7]

Background

Recording of the album was completed in early 1992 with an impending release by Capitol Records in the United States. Duran Duran's new management company, Left Bank, was distressed at the apparent lack of enthusiasm for the album and had it pulled from the release schedule. Manager Tommy Manzi later told HitQuarters it was the industry that were unenthusiastic about the return of the band rather than the music consumer.[8] Manzi said that industry insiders "laughed at" Left Bank while they worked on reviving the careers of not only Duran Duran but also Meat Loaf because they would rather focus on "the next hip band" than perceived "old" acts.[8] As it happened, the album reached No. 4 in the UK Albums Chart, their highest charting album since 1983's Seven and the Ragged Tiger.

In the UK, three singles from the album reached the Top 40 including "Ordinary World" (#6), "Come Undone" (#13) and "Too Much Information" (#35). Four singles taken from the album charted in the US: "Ordinary World" (#3), "Come Undone" (#7), "Too Much Information" and "Drowning Man". "Breath After Breath", a collaboration with Milton Nascimento, was released only in Brazil, "None of the Above" in Japan and "Femme Fatale" (cover of The Velvet Underground song) in France. The song "Sin of the City" is about the Happy Land arson fire that killed 87 people trapped in an unlicensed social club in New York City on 25 March 1990. The short track "Shotgun" is a kind of a cover of the 1965 single of the same name by Jr. Walker and the All Stars.

During the hiatus while waiting for the album to be released, the band began working on what would become the Thank You album, with John Jones, and a Warren Cuccurullo-derived riff of "First Impression" led to the rapid inclusion of the song "Come Undone".

Track listing

All tracks written by Duran Duran, except where noted.

No.TitleLength
1."Too Much Information"4:56
2."Ordinary World"5:39
3."Love Voodoo"4:58
4."Drowning Man"5:15
5."Shotgun"0:54
6."Come Undone"4:38
7."Breath After Breath" (Duran Duran, Milton Nascimento)4:58
8."UMF"5:33
9."None of the Above"5:19
10."Femme Fatale" (Lou Reed)4:21
11."Shelter"4:25
12."To Whom It May Concern" (lyrics by Nick Rhodes)4:24
13."Sin of the City"7:14

Personnel

Duran Duran

Additional personnel

Production

  • Produced by Duran Duran and John Jones, except "Come Undone" and "Femme Fatale" produced by Duran Duran
  • All instruments and vocals recorded by John Jones, except "Femme Fatale" (recorded by Tony Taverner), and drums on tracks 1, 2, and 7, recorded by Tony Taverner and assisted by Stuart Every
  • Mixed by David Richards, except "Drowning Man" and "Femme Fatale" (mixed by David Leonard) and "Shotgun" (mixed by Duran Duran and John Jones)

References

  1. ↑ AllMusic review
  2. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8.
  3. ↑ Entertainment Weekly review
  4. ↑ Rolling Stone review
  5. ↑ Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Duran Duran". The Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  6. ↑ Collis, Clark (April 1993). "Duran Duran: Duran Duran". Select: 74. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  7. ↑ "REFLECTIONS ON DURAN DURAN'S "THE WEDDING ALBUM"". www.DuranDuran.com. 20 February 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  8. 1 2 "Interview With Tommy Manzi". HitQuarters. 7 May 2001. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
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