ALL YOU NEED IS NOW - Duran Duran

Go ahead and snicker.

Have yourself a good long laugh.

But I'm telling you, this 2011 comeback effort from 80s MTV stars Duran Duran isn't half bad, in no way the embarrassment one might expect from a band returning after such a long lay off.

Is it cheesy? Of course it is...we're talking Duran Duran. Always a kitschy, crassly commercial act, if you never liked the band back in the 80s, nothing on All You Need Is Now will change your mind, primarily because though thirty years separated from the band's heyday, nothing sounds the slightest bit different.

But if you're one, like me, who sometimes caved in to the catchiness of the band's slick, video-packaged but highly dance-able contributions to 80s new wave, one who leaves your XM 80s radio station playing whenever Rio or Girls On Film pops on, then you are going to find plenty to like here, especially on the album's exuberant front half.

Highlights include the title track, the jamming Safe (In The Heat Of The Moment), best song Girl Panic!...which really captures the band's classic vibe...,the nice string interstitial A Diamond In The Mind, and the goofy but oddly engaging The Man Who Stole A Leopard.

So go ahead, if you're of my generation, give in to your teen years nostalgia, and grant All You Need Is Now a listen.  I think you'll find much of it to be an unexpected surprise.

Status: Solid Recommend.

Cherry Picker's Best Bets: All You Need Is Now, Safe (In The Heat Of The Moment), Girl Panic!, The Man Who Stole A Leopard.

Here's the video for Girl Panic!, which quickly makes it clear the band has lost none of its glitzy, made-for-televised consumption sensibility.



Component Breakdown:
1. All You Need Is Now - 8
2. Blame The Machines - 7
3. Being Followed - 7
4. Leave A Light On - 7
5. Safe (In The Heat Of The Moment) - 8
6. Girl Panic! - 9
7. A Diamond In The Mind - 7
8. The Man Who Stole A Leopard - 8
9. Other People's Lives - 6
10. Mediterranea - 7
11. Too Bad You're So Beautiful - 7
12. Runway Runaway - 7
13. Return To Now - 6
14. Before The Rain - 6
Intangibles - Above Average
Spotify / I-Tunes


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