|
Post by andre005 on Mar 13, 2021 7:44:31 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by americanscientist on Mar 13, 2021 12:14:12 GMT -5
My gateway album for DD. Still top 5 in their discography for me. I was only 11 when it came out but the entire album was incredibly formative in shaping my musical tastes.
Palomino is a top 10 all time DD song IDWYL > Notorious ASWI was maybe 5 years ahead of its time as a single Land and DYBIS are all also pantheon DD songs, the latter of which actually helping me process real grief for the first time when I lost a loved one at 11.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2021 15:29:04 GMT -5
Big Thing is really great. A few things keep it from being like Rio/Debut/So Red the Rose great... - I prefer the Shep Pertibone version of IDWYL - switch out Drug for I Believe/All I Need to Know - the production is a bit thin for my liking Super strong first single. Followed by All She Wants Is which is just such a f___ing crazy experimental song to be a single but it works. The 1-2 punch of Palomino and Land on the b-side is magic. Even the interludes (which i tend to loathe) actually kind of add to the flow of the album experience. Too Late Marlene is the Lonely in your Nightmare of this album... not a single, not terribly experimental but just the perfectly crafted chill art pop that only Duran can write. soundcloud.com/bittersweetmachines/winter-marches-on-duran-duran-cover
|
|
|
Post by ttt on Mar 13, 2021 17:07:28 GMT -5
Remove Drug completely...and swap out the version of IDWYL that made the album and it is very good. I remember listening to Side 2 (yes, vinyl) for the first time and being blown away...and it still holds up. Palomino and DYBIS and Edge/LSD are exceptional. I Believe/All I need to Know is also a fave B side...and love Warren on ASWI.
|
|
|
Post by negative1 on Mar 13, 2021 17:24:02 GMT -5
big thing has a few good songs on it. but is too experimental, and of mixed quality.
so it didn't stand out for me.
i do like the remixes of some of the songs.
later -1
|
|
|
Post by Rabbit Dog on Mar 13, 2021 18:31:54 GMT -5
I was disappointed with Big Thing when it came out, but bloody hell it has grown on me over the years. So I'm guilty of underrating it initially, that's for sure.
I agree with the sentiments about Drug though - it wasn't the wrong mix that was originally included, but more fundamental than that - it was the wrong song. It really doesn't work regardless of the mix.
All She Wants Is is up there as a top drawer Duran track, as is Do You Believe In Shame?, and I Don't Want Your Love completes a rare event of the correct three singles being chosen.
And the album tracks hit the mark too, even the playground chant of the title track which jarred on my first listens back in 1988. This album really marks the growing influence of Warren too, it's doing him a disservice to label him a session player for Big Thing.
Swap out Drug for I Believe, and you've got a DD album that's up there with the best of them.
|
|
|
Post by riomar on Mar 13, 2021 19:13:47 GMT -5
Hmmm. A strange collection of tracks. I'm trying to think back, 32 years now, what my 'first impression' was on hearing it, in those simple days with no internet leaks etc. I can remember hearing IDWYL on a local radio station, and thinking "yeah, not bad." I was disappointed with the video. Really dreary, and added nothing to the song, something that I had become reluctantly accustomed to with the videos from the Notorious singles. When I heard the album version, I thought it dreadful. In fact it's a trend of what I think about the album. It doesn't sound finished. The mixing sounds unfinished - Big thing, IDWYL, Too late Marlene. There is a song somewhere in Land, but it just sounds unfinished, perhaps the chorus is unfinished? I just get a feeling that there is a good album, but it sounds rushed. I know the Strange Behaviour tour finished Jan'88, and they then went out to 'showcase' a few tracks in small clubs, under the name The Krush brothers, before the release of IDWYL in the UK in September'88. Maybe it was rushed after all? Not a lot of love for 'Drug', but it sounds like one of the few tracks that has been mixed properly! I know that John seemed to be very annoyed with that version being included in the album, but the other version sounds again unfinished. To finish on a positive note, I love ASWI! I can recall being so delighted that it had been chosen as the second single from the album, as it sounded so current at the time (I still love it now!). I thought "great! Duran are still relevant! People will love this!" I guess they did, for a short while, as Duran took advantage of the early January sales lull to reach the top 10 in the UK. The video is fantastic too! Overall, Big Thing has some great tracks, but mainly not really Duran sounding enough for me.
|
|
oakey
PAPER GOD
Posts: 2,600
|
Post by oakey on Mar 14, 2021 6:01:31 GMT -5
Actually Big Thing is not underrated. It is a mediocre album by a band at a loss, with less than a handful decent songs (ASWI, IDWYL and maybe DYBIS or Palomino, but I do not like ballads in general so these two songs are no favourites of mine). The rest is filler and doodling. Drug is among the worst songs they have released, in the same league als Violence of Summer and over half of Medazzaland.
I know EDM is not popular here, but I certainly enjoyed PG much much more than BT, an album I rarely listen to nowadays (once every 2 years maybe?). I do listen to ASWI in its many versions and IDWYL (the Shep Pettibone versions that is) once every while.
I liked BT at the time as it came out at the height of my fandom, went to see BLT too (one of the 2 DD concerts I have been to, the other one was MSG 2005). But after 1989 my musical taste buds expanded to discover a whole world of albums by artists and bands that are in so many ways superior to BT. I certainly did not play BT once from 1990-2000, always kept the vinyl though but sold the CD and cassette I had. Have bought the 2010 3CD but did not bother buying the double vinyl.
|
|
|
Post by theprocess on Mar 14, 2021 9:03:34 GMT -5
I think Big Thing is seriously underrated. If you listen to it after Arcadia and Notorious you can hear the band maturing in a similar way as Roxy Music did at the end of the seventies. Okay the title track is stupid and throwaway and Drug isn't great but there is some amazing material and I like how the album is split between dance and more ambient.
|
|
oakey
PAPER GOD
Posts: 2,600
|
Post by oakey on Mar 14, 2021 10:05:21 GMT -5
Maturing or jumping the bandwagon (and missing it...), that is the big question of course. History has not been kind to BT so I think most will agree with the latter. As for the first: it was clear by then they could not go on making music for 12-15 year olds for the rest of their career.
|
|