Paper Gods

Paper Gods is the 14th studio album from the British band Duran Duran, released in September 2015 on Warner Bros. Records. The album was produced by Mr Hudson and Joshua Blair, who had worked with the band on All You Need Is Now (2010) and A Diamond in the Mind; Nile Rodgers, who had previously first worked on the band's "The Reflex", his remixed version reaching number 1, "The Wild Boys" single and Notorious album, and Mark Ronson, who produced All You Need Is Now. The first single, "Pressure Off", features vocals from American singer Janelle Monáe.[1] Duran Duran promoted the album through the Paper Gods on Tour.

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic64/100[3]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Billboard[5]
Consequence Of SoundB-[6]
Drowned In Sound5/10[7]
Entertainment WeeklyB-[8]
The Guardian[9]
Magnet[10]
PopMatters[11]
Q[12]
Rolling Stone[13]

Paper Gods
Standard and deluxe edition cover. On the Target-exclusive edition, the shades of blue in the background are replaced with shades of pink.
Studio album by
Duran Duran
Released11 September 2015
StudioLondon[1]
Genre
Length57:21 (standard edition)
63:05 (Target exclusive)
69:54 (deluxe edition)
LabelWarner Bros.
Producer
Duran Duran chronology
All You Need Is Now
(2010)		 Paper Gods
(2015)
Singles from Paper Gods
  1. "Pressure Off"
    Released: 19 June 2015
  2. "Last Night in the City [2]"
    Released: 10 March 2017

Release

The album cover, designed by artist Alex Israel, is his 2013 painting titled, "Sky Backdrop",[14] that features icons that represent the band's history. This includes lips and the eye painted by artist Patrick Nagel for their Rio album;[15] also representing the Rio album is a chauffeur's cap alluding to that record's closing track "The Chauffeur"; a pink telephone, champagne glass and the saxophone representing the single "Rio"; a sumo wrestler representing their controversial video for "Girls on Film"; Duran Duran's teeth are shown to be from "The Wild Boys"; the Eiffel Tower is a reference to the title song from the film A View to a Kill; a rocket from the greatest hits album, Decade; a silhouette of a female representing the single "Skin Trade";[16] an image of a tiger and a snake nodding to their third album Seven and the Ragged Tiger; a white shoe from the single cover and the music video of "Come Undone"; a stylized ice cream cone taken from their "Perfect Day" single.[1][17] The deluxe physical copy of the record comes with sixteen stickers of Duran Duran iconography to mirror the album cover.[18]

Promotion

The band announced a tour of the United States and the United Kingdom to coincide with the album's release.[19]

The lead single from the album, "Pressure Off", was released in the United States on 19 June, first via Microsoft's Xbox Music.[20] The song subsequently appeared on Google Music.[21]

Commercial performance

The album entered the UK albums chart at number 5, becoming their 9th Top 5 album overall and making them one of only a handful of bands who have scored Top 5 albums in four consecutive decades. In the US it entered the Billboard 200 at number 10 and became their first top 10 album since 1993's Duran Duran (1993). In its second week, the album fell to number 76, and in its third and final week fell to number 194, though it reentered the Billboard 200 at #45 in January 2016. In Italy, the album peaked at number 2.

Track listing

All tracks written and produced by John Taylor, Roger Taylor, Nick Rhodes, Dom Brown, Simon Le Bon, with additional writers and producers noted

Standard edition[22]
No.TitleWriter(s)Additional producer(s)Length
1."Paper Gods"Mr HudsonMr Hudson7:04
2."Last Night in the City"Kiesza, Mr HudsonMr Hudson, Josh Blair4:44
3."You Kill Me with Silence"Mr HudsonMr Hudson4:26
4."Pressure Off"Mark Ronson, Mr Hudson, Janelle MonáeRonson, Rodgers, Mr Hudson, Blair[a]4:21
5."Face for Today"Dom BrownBlair3:52
6."Danceophobia"Brown, Mr HudsonBlair, Mr Hudson[b]4:14
7."What Are the Chances?"Brown, Mr HudsonBlair, Mr Hudson[b]4:55
8."Sunset Garage"Mr HudsonMr Hudson, Blair4:43
9."Change the Skyline"Mr HudsonBlair, Rodgers[b]3:57
10."Butterfly Girl"BrownBlair3:15
11."Only in Dreams"Rodgers, Ronson, Mr HudsonRodgers, Ronson, Mr Hudson[b], Blair[b]6:05
12."The Universe Alone" Blair5:48
Total length:57:40
Deluxe edition (bonus tracks)[23]
No.TitleWriter(s)Additional producer(s)Length
13."Planet Roaring"BrownBlair3:49
14."Valentine Stones" Blair3:30
15."Northern Lights"BrownBlair5:13
Total length:69:54
Target-exclusive edition (bonus tracks)[24]
No.TitleAdditional producer(s)Length
13."On Evil Beach"Blair2:48
14."Cinderella Ride"Blair3:56
Total length:63:05

Notes

  • ^[a] signifies lead vocal production
  • ^[b] signifies an additional producer

Personnel

Charts
Chart (2015) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[25] 19
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[26] 24
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[27] 19
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[28] 8
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[29] 7
Croatian Albums (HDU)[30] 10
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[31] 14
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[32] 27
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[33] 4
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[34] 28
French Albums (SNEP)[35] 60
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[36] 24
Greek Albums (IFPI)[37] 13
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[38] 6
Irish Albums (IRMA)[39] 27
Italian Albums (FIMI)[40] 2
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[41] 45
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[42] 24
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[43] 16
Scottish Albums (OCC)[44] 6
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[45] 18
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[46] 15
UK Albums (OCC)[47] 5
US Billboard 200[48] 10
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[49] 2

References
  1. "Duran Duran Announce Title & Release Date of Upcoming New Album". DuranDuran.com. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  2. "Last Night in the City". iTunes Australia. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  3. "Reviews for Paper Gods By Duran Duran". Metacritic. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  4. Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Duran Duran: Paper Gods". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  5. Partridge, Kenneth (18 September 2015). "Duran Duran Party Like It's 1989 on Guest-Filled 'Paper Gods': Album Review". Billboard. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  6. Sackllahon, David (4 September 2017). "Duran Duran - Paper Gods". Consequence Of Sound. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  7. Beardsworth, Luke (11 September 2015). "Duran Duran: Paper Gods". Drowned In Sound. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  8. Anderson, Kyle (3 September 2015). "'Paper Gods' by Duran Duran: EW review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  9. Simpson, Dave (10 September 2015). "Duran Duran: Paper Gods review – synth-pop survivors still bouncing". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  10. "Duran Duran: Paper Gods". Magnet (124): 55.
  11. Gerard, Chris (14 September 2015). "Duran Duran: Paper Gods". Popmatters. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  12. "Duran Duran: Paper Gods". Q: 109. October 2015.
  13. Dolan, Jon (11 September 2015). "Duran Duran: Paper Gods". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  14. "Alex Israel - Sky Backdrop". Artsy.net. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  15. "Duran Duran - Rio at Discogs". Discogs. Discogs. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  16. "Duran Duran - Skin Trade". Duran Duran. DuranDuran.com. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  17. "Duran Duran - Perfect Day at Discogs". Discogs. Discogs. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  18. "Duran Duran - Paper Gods Deluxe Fan Edition CD". Warner Music Store. Warner Bros. Records. Archived from the original on 18 June 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  19. "Duran Duran US & UK Tour Pre-Sale/On Sale Information!". DuranDuran.com. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  20. "Duran Duran - Pressure Off at Xbox Music". Xbox Music. Microsoft. Archived from the original on 20 June 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  21. "Duran Duran: Pressure Off". Google Music. Google. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  22. "Duran Duran: Paper Gods". Google Play. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  23. "Duran Duran: Paper Gods (Deluxe Edition)". Google Play. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  24. "Duran Duran: Paper Gods (Target Exclusive)". Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  25. "Australiancharts.com – Duran Duran – Paper Gods". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  26. "Austriancharts.at – Duran Duran – Paper Gods" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  27. "Ultratop.be – Duran Duran – Paper Gods" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  28. "Ultratop.be – Duran Duran – Paper Gods" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  29. "Duran Duran Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard.
  30. "Top Kombiniranih" [Top Combined] (PDF) (in Croatian). Hrvatska diskografska udruga. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  31. "Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 201539 on the field besides the word "Zobrazit", and then click over the word to retrieve the correct chart data. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  32. "Danishcharts.dk – Duran Duran – Paper Gods". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  33. "Dutchcharts.nl – Duran Duran – Paper Gods" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  34. "Duran Duran: Paper Gods" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  35. "Lescharts.com – Duran Duran – Paper Gods". Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  36. "Offiziellecharts.de – Duran Duran – Paper Gods" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  37. "Official IFPI Charts – Top-75 Albums Sales Chart (Week: 41/2015)". IFPI Greece. Archived from the original on 22 October 2015. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  38. "Top 40 album DVD és válogatáslemez-lista – 2015. 39. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  39. "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 38, 2015". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  40. "Italiancharts.com – Duran Duran – Paper Gods". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  41. "ペイパー・ゴッズ | デュラン・デュラン" [Paper Gods | Duran Duran] (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  42. "Charts.nz – Duran Duran – Paper Gods". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  43. "Portuguesecharts.com – Duran Duran – Paper Gods". Hung Medien. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  44. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  45. "Spanishcharts.com – Duran Duran – Paper Gods". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  46. "Swisscharts.com – Duran Duran – Paper Gods". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  47. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  48. "Duran Duran Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
  49. "Duran Duran Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard.
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