But "
not a lot of real drums" worries me a lot...
Same here. If I can't connect with each member's performance on a Duran Duran record, then usually I don't enjoy that particular album as much as I could have done.
This is where Duran's first two albums excelled. Every band member got a chance to shine. No instrumentalist stood out from the rest. Andy Taylor may have been the most experienced, but this didn't mean Duran Duran were a "guitar band" as such.
As John Taylor once remarked, when he listens to Duran Duran and Rio he thinks of five guys striving to play at their utmost peak performance levels. They really pushed themselves hard, seeing a couple of them had only been playing their instruments for a few years by that time.
Not only is the instrumentation great on Duran Duran and Rio, but the sound is as well. It sounds polished but also manages to sound a little raw if that makes sense. In other words it sounds like five guys actually jamming together in a studio (even though the tracks were recorded individually) and just sounds "real" like it did live. Yes there were overdubs, sometimes too many, but these didn't detract all that much and make the band sound less real.
Compare that to other albums which were a lot more computerised and electronic, and where the rhythm section did not stand out (not mentioning any names, but there are a few), and you lose me.
I don't care if it is Roger Taylor doing all the programming on any drum machines used. I don't care that it is Roger Taylor playing on an electronic drum kit. Fake, electronic drum sounds don't excite me. I would rather Roger Taylor play on a barebones 5-piece drum kit outstandingly well for an entire album, than have the latest and greatest electronic kit where every song exhibits 93 thousand different sounds and effects.
The beauty of a real drum kit is that I know Roger is playing it, I can see him in my mind playing it, and I feel like that I would love to play along with it. Plus when I actually do get to play drums along with it, it's nice to experience music that actually sounds like it does on the record.
However when I hear an album where the percussion sounds and effects are just so different from the norm, and I'm not sure whether it's a drum kit or a drum machine doing the work, and it could just be something programmed, then I lose the emotional connection. If I can't see or feel Roger playing in my mind and heart then the music loses a lot for me.
Same with synth bass. What a waste of a great bass guitar player that is! Is that John Taylor playing, or Nick Rhodes? Does Come Undone lose a little magic for me when I read that John Taylor wasn't even involved in the song? Yes it does. I still love it and regard it as one of Duran's finest songs of all time, but it still disappoints me that the whole band wasn't involved with it (especially one of my favourite musicians in that band!).
Anyway we'll know more come September, and I'm certainly not writing Paper Gods off after a couple of brief descriptions. I'll wait to make up my own mind as I do every Duran Duran album. And I'm still hoping for the greatest Duran Duran record of all time, just like I did for the previous twelve albums or so. And I think there may even be a chance this time!
But not if the album sounds too fake, too electronic, too polished, too computerised. On every Duran Duran record I want to be able to imagine all five instrumentalists together in the studio just jamming out and having a great time as a band. If they can convey those feelings of real, raw, passionate music on the album then I will be very happy.
Hoping to feel that real, live, humans made the album. Not R2-D2 and C3PO