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Post by Sir rogerlejohn jr. on Apr 24, 2015 15:36:27 GMT -5
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Post by coolbarn on Apr 24, 2015 22:28:01 GMT -5
Well we still have time to kill until September when the album comes out, and May 3 which John Connor tells us is the Pressure Off release date, so why not discuss 8 year old interviews right I see John hadn't reached the point where he said working with Timbaland and Timberlake was a nightmare yet, although he hints at it: "But every day or so, we did sort of have to say, "We're a band, so we have to represent ourselves that way-- the audience needs to hear that." That is John's politically correct way of saying that he was pissed off that he had to keep reminding Timbaland to actually work with him and Roger and Dom as well, and not just leave Nate and Nick to make all the music. And seriously - EVERY DAY??? Timbaland must have some pretty bad short-term memory loss. I can just see Mr Mackey now: Remember kids, mkay, making hip-hop music is bad for your brain, mkay. "We only did a week with him." That wasn't long enough, but considering he charges $250,000 per song I think $750,000 for a week of shoddy and inexperienced work is pretty good. "We kind of started out and he had some things prepared, a groove and a bassline, and that was "Nite Runner", and we came in and mostly added a vocal and a lyric." Can you believe that? All the band did for Nite Runner was add a vocal and a lyric. Only Simon contributed to its creation. No wonder they were pissed off, and it's no wonder some reviewers say that Red Carpet Massacre sounds like a Timbaland album with Simon Lebon on vocals. For the band to accept that, to allow somebody else to totally write their music for them, shows how unconfident they were after Reportage was rejected. "I think if we'd worked with him for longer, that collaboration would have broadened out." So John wasn't totally happy with the results, but might have been if Timbaland could have been even bothered to give them the time required to refine what they had. Proof again that Red Carpet Massacre was only half-baked at best and needed a complete overhaul. I also found it funny John saying that the Valley was "clearly not a single". I don't think the band are very good at knowing what are singles and what aren't, so shouldn't use that phrase. The Valley could have been so much more if re-recorded with better sounding instrumentation. Sure it might piss me off with its tinny repetitive drum beat, and repetitive chorus where every line ends with "it", but it's still a better song than the boredom that is Falling Down. Anyway the article was interesting to read like all Duran Duran interviews, but I'm more interested in the present and future. I'm sure the band has learned from the positives and negatives of Red Carpet Massacre, and if nothing else they proved they still have it with how they came back with All You Need Is Now. If DD14 is even better again I will be absolutely stoked
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oakey
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Post by oakey on Apr 25, 2015 2:36:28 GMT -5
The only song from RCM I still listen to these days is Falling down. It's the only true DD 'band' song on that album.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2015 8:09:32 GMT -5
To this present day I think that "The Valley", "Skin Divers" and "Dirty Great Monster" are the stronger ones, although it's still their weakest achievement compared to other albums they made.
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errbt
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Post by errbt on Apr 25, 2015 11:26:23 GMT -5
I think it's a great interview. Always great to hear an Duran interview by someone who clearly respects the band & their history. Not a single smart ass, condescending line in the entire thing (by either party)!
I know the real truth about Reportage lies somewhere in between the views of the various band members, particularly John vs Andy, but man does it piss me off that an album that, according to John's account of what Sony said, was only 'not ready' because it 'had a second & third single, but just not a first'. So, instead of focusing on writing one solid Duran lead single (something that's admittedly been pretty damn hard for them to do in the last 15 years), they decide to shelve the whole thing (Andy legal issues or not - lame excuse) and instead go for the garbage that is RCM? The only two songs I listen to from that album are Box Full o'Honey and Falling Down...and as usual for Duran, even the one that didn't make the album (Cry Baby Cry) is better than at least half of the songs that did make the cut.
Anyway, that album proved that selling your soul to chase a hit instead of writing & playing from your heart DOES NOT WORK...at least not for Duran Duran.
I honestly think that Reportage could have been the album that finally forced the critics to acknowledge the band in a positive light. Dark, intense music & timely, serious political & social subject matter are just the things that they never acknowledged the band was capable of (we all know they have done so at times throughout their history, but not the knee jerk, cliche throwing critics). An entire album of it, especially one written from the heart, might have been their last chance to really wow people, and they sh*t it away.
Oh well, maybe #14 can be that record, at least on some level.
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Post by intravenus on Apr 26, 2015 18:21:58 GMT -5
Very interesting, and hard to believe they agreed to wait 6 months to work with Timbaland for 1 week! No wonder they scrapped everything else because it would be a big stretch to include Timbaland tracks with the indie rock songs they were working on with Andy. It's a real shame they didn't finish the album with Youth instead... they should give him the Reportage tracks to knock into shape
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Post by mynick7 on Apr 26, 2015 21:04:57 GMT -5
As many know, I am a fan of RCM and am glad they took the chance to go with Timbaland. While I like FD, I do believe it is the weaker song on the album along with "Box O' Honey." The rest are great including "Tricked Out," "Tempted" and "Zoom In." I always think about "Careless Memories" when I hear the "Zoom In" because of the strong synth back beat throughout the song.
Now for the rant: I sincerely wish talk about Reportage would be confined to one single thread. No one knows that it would've been a game-changer for Duran or that it would've been any better than RCM (or any other album). No one can be positive that that album would've changed the critics minds about the group. It's pure speculation and part wishful thinking for Andy fans. I think some people believe that the world would be right again if Andy stayed with Duran. I don't want an on-again-off-again guitarist. I don't believe Andy would've stayed on after Astronaut through present day. At least Dom has been with them and consistent since part of RCM.
I just don't understand the fascination about "Reportage" and sincerely don't think people should dwell on it since all we have is a kind of vague description of the general idea or feel of the songs on the album.
While speculation is great on this board, speculating about something non-existent is silly.
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errbt
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Post by errbt on Apr 26, 2015 21:40:21 GMT -5
As many know, I am a fan of RCM and am glad they took the chance to go with Timbaland. While I like FD, I do believe it is the weaker song on the album along with "Box O' Honey." The rest are great including "Tricked Out," "Tempted" and "Zoom In." I always think about "Careless Memories" when I hear the "Zoom In" because of the strong synth back beat throughout the song. Now for the rant: I sincerely wish talk about Reportage would be confined to one single thread. No one knows that it would've been a game-changer for Duran or that it would've been any better than RCM (or any other album). No one can be positive that that album would've changed the critics minds about the group. It's pure speculation and part wishful thinking for Andy fans. I think some people believe that the world would be right again if Andy stayed with Duran. I don't want an on-again-off-again guitarist. I don't believe Andy would've stayed on after Astronaut through present day. At least Dom has been with them and consistent since part of RCM. I just don't understand the fascination about "Reportage" and sincerely don't think people should dwell on it since all we have is a kind of vague description of the general idea or feel of the songs on the album. While speculation is great on this board, speculating about something non-existent is silly. Haughty much? You really need to get off your high horse. Your hypersensitive defense of Nick in the "Nick vs. Andy" debate has caused you to actually insert a rant against Andy into a thread in which no one else had brought up any opinion on the split. The only times I mentioned Andy were in regard to the fact that his and John's accounts of Reportage were very different, and the fact that using the legal tangle of his departure as a reason to shelve the album was lame in my opinion. At no point in my post did I even hint that it might have been a mistake for the band to kick him out (in fact I do think it was, but it would probably have never even crept into this thread until, hmm, YOU brought it up). You like RCM...so do some other people. I hate it, as do many other people. I like Andy, you hate him. No problems there, on either point. Always going to be disagreements in a Forum, public or private. Your indignant need to say essentially 'no one must be allowed to discuss anything I find annoying anywhere but in designated areas' is both condescending and juvenile. You "sincerely think people should not dwell on it (Reportage)"? Tough luck. ps You finish your pious post with the gem "While speculation is great on this board, speculating about something non-existent is silly." 1. I can assure you, Reportage exists, and most likely will be released in some form by the band at some point. 2. What the hell should we be speculating about then? Things that were already released? Hmm, I wonder if RIO could have been even better if they'd had Todd Rundgren produce it instead of Colin Thurston? Why the heck wasn't Planet Earth 4:00 long instead of 3:59? Really? Really?pps Glad to see that Intravenus responded to your similarly snarky post in the Simon email thread...I nearly jumped to his defense (as he's a well respected, positive, long time contributor to this board who was not out of line with anything he said in his initial post to which you took such pompous exception), but he did a fine job of defending himself and pointing out some of the same things I did here. In fact, seeing you talking down to him in that thread was what first got my ire up, before I even saw your goofy attempt at the same thing in this thread.
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Post by mynick7 on Apr 27, 2015 0:27:43 GMT -5
Well. Let's see...
1) You brought up "Nick vs Andy," something to which I wasn't even thinking. 2) To clarify the points you have conveniently glossed over, I've always said there was a difference of opinions between Andy and the other band members...not just Nick. And in fact, I've defended how Andy and Nick worked well together protecting the group business-wise. 3) The biggest thing you've falsified is that never once IN MY LIFE have I stated that I hate Andy. I love Andy for the fact he was an original member of my favorite groups and kicked ass during his time with them. The group continued without him. I only brought up Andy because the topics of that album and him usually go hand in hand. 4) I don't try and pretend that I knew what happened between them because only they know.
Now I brought up that last fact because you seem to be in possession of a crystal ball and can see into the future, stating so proudly and defiantly that Reportage most likely will be released. Huh... I just see no need to dwell on and pursue an album that MAY or MAY NOT ever see the light of day. Not even you can say for sure. You are just wishful thinking. If it does come out of the woodworks by some miracle, then great! Until that miraculous day happens, I don't see how fawning over something that factually isn't finished yet can be productive or worth the time when so many other things are worth talking about.
It is perfectly tangible to put this album in its own thread for those that want to waste time obsessing over it. It could be done, but I know that it won't. It's reality. That was me just wishful thinking.
Don't try to make your point by saying things that aren't true and twisting words to suite your own opinions. That is juvenile.
P.S. And as for "non-existent?" That was meant figuratively...not literally. Duh... I know it exists and I was the one that found and posted the copyright info on it that hadn't been posted before. So don't get snarky...
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Post by intravenus on Apr 27, 2015 0:53:05 GMT -5
The first post in this thread links to an interview that quotes John talking in great detail about the Reportage sessions, as well as Red Carpet Massacre, so this thread would seem to be the ideal place to discuss both albums. I for one would not like to see any topic "confined to one single thread".
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