But, hello, this is the eighties! And as I have mentioned on numerous past reviews it was a sign of the times and it is unfair to judge the past with todays eyes and ears. It's undeniable, the bass lines are too cheesy, the guitar work too glitzy, the keyboards too 'eighties', and the vocals too corny and repetitive. The key word in this album, in fact, is 'overdone'. Duran Duran were glitzy, fashionable and popular. I have always considered Duran Duran very highly, in fact, along with a handful of other bands, they defined the pop sound of the 1980's. This is really the last original record to contain their “traditional” sound, and the final with the essential five. This record, with its successful singles and eye-catching videos, helped the band have a massively popular year in 1984. The sound this time was a little darker, a little more artsy, and a little less New Romantic, and for the most part it was a solid bit of growth. Rio is, for many, their watershed moment or perhaps their self-titled debut although this album certainly continued the band's success, with the "The Reflex", "New Moon on Monday", and "Union of the Snake" charting high worldwide. They simply “Funked” it up a notch or two The problem is that the lyrics are some of cryptic and bazar, paradoxically speaking not too a different from their counterparts the Bunnymen, The Cure and Joy Division. Luckily, after all the turmoil that ensued during the next couple years, a stripped-down version of Duran returned with two very underrated albums of much higher quality, more consistent, listenable pop.After the excellent Rio, Duran Duran went in a bit of a different direction with Seven and the Ragged Tiger, which seemed an attempt at a more mature album. The best songs to come out of this era were the moody "Seventh Stranger," the nice instrumental "Tiger Tiger" and the awesome B-side "Secret Oktober." Even the associated 12-inch remixes, previously almost always strong, were terrible. Album tracks like "I Take the Dice" and "Of Crime and Passion" amount to nothing beyond annoying throwaway filler. The only classic here is "New Moon on Monday," which I think ranks among their best work. The latter is their very worst single in my opinion. Two of the three singles, "The Reflex" and "Union of the Snake" are just boneheaded songs with almost no redeeming qualities. The decision to drop Colin Thurston as producer in favor of Alex Sadkin was in retrospect a disaster. By all accounts, the band were at odds with each other, and the album sounds manufactured. It's a classic case of a band that quickly shot to stardom and its record company prematurely demanding a follow-up. Whereas the first two records still sound powerful and fresh today, this one just exudes 1980s, and not in a good way. Matrix / Runout (Runout variant 9 side B, etched): ST-2-12310 F-7 #2 Wally 0 MASTERED BY CAPITOLīy far the weakest of their first three albums, Seven and the Ragged Tiger is very much a product of its time.Matrix / Runout (Runout variant 9 side A, etched): ST-1-12310 F-2 #1 Wally 0 MASTERED BY CAPITOL.Matrix / Runout (Runout variant 8 side B, etched): ST-2-12310 F-11 Wally 0 MASTERED BY CAPITOL. Matrix / Runout (Runout variant 8 side A, etched): ST-1-12310 F-11 Wally 0 MASTERED BY CAPITOL.Matrix / Runout (Runout variant 7, side B, etched): ST-2-12310 F-3 #3 Wally 0 MASTERED BY CAPITOL.Matrix / Runout (Runout variant 7, side A, etched): ST-1-12310 F-1 #3 Wally 0 MASTERED BY CAPITOL.Matrix / Runout (Runout variant 6, side B, etched): ST-1-12310 F-11 #1 Wally 0 MASTERED BY CAPITOL.Matrix / Runout (Runout variant 6, side A, etched): ST-1-12310 F-3 #1 Wally 0 MASTERED BY CAPITOL.Matrix / Runout (Runout variant 5, side B, etched): ST-2-12310 F-8 #1 Wally 0 MASTERED BY CAPITOL.Matrix / Runout (Runout variant 5, side A, etched): ST-1-12310 F-3 #2 Wally 0 MASTERED BY CAPITOL.Matrix / Runout (Runout variant 4, side B, etched): ST-2-12310 F-7 #1 Wally 0 MASTERED BY CAPITOL.Matrix / Runout (Runout variant 4, side A, etched): ST-1-12310 F-2 #2 Wally 0 MASTERED BY CAPITOL.Matrix / Runout (Runout variant 3, side B, etched): ST-2-12310 F-2 #3 Wally 0 MASTERED BY CAPITOL.Matrix / Runout (Runout variant 3, side A, etched): ST-1-12310 F-1 #2 Wally 0 MASTERED BY CAPITOL.Matrix / Runout (Runout variant 2, side B, etched): ST-2-12310 F4 #7 Wally 0 MASTERED BY CAPITOL.Matrix / Runout (Runout variant 2, side A, etched): ST-1-12310 F6 #4 Wally 0 MASTERED BY CAPITOL.Matrix / Runout (Runout variant 1, side B, etched): ST-2-12310 F-5 Wally 0 MASTERED BY CAPITOL.Matrix / Runout (Runout variant 1, side A, etched): ST-1-12310 F-5 Wally 0 MASTERED BY CAPITOL.
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