It's a very good album indeed. Duran Duran used some top-notch instrumentalists (no disrepect to John and Andy Taylor fans, of which I consider myself one, but the instrumentalists used on So Red The Rose far surpass those Taylor boys) and it stands out like dogs' balls. The songwriting is great, and the performers lift the album above many other Duran Duran efforts.
Surprisingly though, like The Chauffeur and Secret Oktober, I think So Red The Rose is something that some fans get caught up with, and perhaps even over-rate.
The Amazing:
1) The Promise. What a beautiful song. Should have been the lead single.
The Very Good:
1) El Diablo - Really cool track, amazing bass (like most of the songs!).
2) Goodbye Is Forever - Catchy track, great synths by Nick.
3) The Flame.
The Good:
1) Keep Me In The Dark - More of a "classic" Duran sound, a very nice song.
The Disappointing / Overrated :
1) Election Day - Tuneless and hookless. How it was deemed worthy of first single, I will never, never know. I'll just assume Duran Duran were testing the waters in releasing the worst track first, sadly something they were to achieve numerous times in the future.
2) Missing - Puts me to sleep. Please wake me when it's over.
3) Rose Arcana - Come on guys, you're just taking the piss now. There are only nine tracks on the record in the first place, and one of them has to be a waste of time 50 second instrumental?
4) Lady Ice - See my "Missing" review - it's just as bad.
That is why I believe SRTR to be over-rated - there is just too much skippable stuff on there. Nice, but skippable. Dare I say it - boring (sacreligious I know!). Four years before that, Simon Lebon flippantly claimed that Duran Duran wanted to be "the band to dance to when the bomb drops". Well that is why I never mistake Duran Duran for Arcadia, as there isn't much hip-waving, faster-paced material there. I get that is the vibe that the guys were going for, but I'm just explaining why I can easily tell the difference between Arcadia and Duran Duran.
The songs, overall, are very pretty. It is a good album, made even better by the quality of musicians that Simon, Nick, and Roger opted to work with. But I think some of the boring songs get a pass mark by fans for being so different to what we had ever received from Duran Duran up to that point.
And as I have said many times before - "Different does not equal good". It simply equals "different". Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad.
Overall I prefer The Power Station album (just), as it is more exciting. There is not much between them though - they are both very good, and depending on my mood, there would be days where I prefer So Red The Rose. If every song on SRTR was as good as The Promise, then it would have been the greatest album of all time. But they are not, even considering the talent of the people who played on the record.
Am so glad we have material of that quality from both of the splinter groups - it really proved that they could write and perform, and weren't just style over substance