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Post by madoldlu on Dec 29, 2021 14:58:57 GMT -5
I remember tracking down a copy of the vinyl with To The Shore early into my and my sister's DD fandom. I think I said it before that tracking down B-sides early on was like finding literal lost treasures like the Ark of the Covenant! TTS was no exception. It was summer of 1985 so only the first 3 studio albums (which included the US first album with ITSISK) plus TWB and AVTAK were out, so we were starving for MORE DD! My sister went to Italy that summer and came home with the first LP and TTS! We were SO excited to get it, and my sister was even more eager since she had it in her possession for like a week but had to wait til she got back home to the States before she could listen to it!
We both loved it right away! It was easy to love everything and anything by DD back then. They only had 3 LPs, 2 singles and a handful of B-sides under their belt, and it all sounded great to us. We both felt it had a Led-Zepplin-ish edge to it, which is interesting in retrospect since I think the Air Studios Tel Aviv is very Led Zepplin--they seemed to have dabbled a bit in that style. But oddly we didn't think TTS seemed that out of place either. I think it was a good companion to Nightboat, both slow, moody and grey. And we were both fascinated by Simon's cryptic lyrics, particularly the made up word "Sanhedralite".
Gobbling up those first 3 albums, and then the subsequent B-sides those first couple of years (I think it took us 2 years to track them all down) was a magical time for us. They really could do no wrong in our eyes back then. SRTR was also an incredible surprise for us. Even Grey Lady of the Sea was amazing. Notorious was the first album to kinda test our faith since it was such a dramatic stylistic departure from the first 3 and Arcadia, but ultimately we ended up loving it as well.
So maybe it's difficult for me to judge TTS truly objectively since it was part of that initial rapture of newness, but for me it's definitely top tier DD.
Anyway, sorry, I saw the thread steer to TTS and had to interject!
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Post by Rabbit Dog on Dec 30, 2021 18:13:18 GMT -5
This thread has gone way-off, but I want to state a bit of love for To The Shore.
Maybe it's because I come from a seaside village that means the lyrics resonate with me a bit. No, not the bit about gorging your sanhedralite - but instead about washing away the rusty disease of your brown town days in our silver sea, because for me the sea was somewhere clean you could go and breathe (not underwater obvs).
And I think an album needs to oscillate a bit in tempo to work as a whole - and To The Shore works better in the suite of songs available in the debut album than Faster Than Light ever would.
Not that I don't love Faster Than Light - I do, it's a wonderful early DD track. But I find it a little more lightweight compared to the rest of the album.
If there's one B-side I would have considered for promotion to album track status from that era it would have been Khanada - it has a vibe that could work in the album.
But I ain't getting rid of Tel Aviv either, it's a great way to finish that legendary album.
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Post by ghostjet on Dec 31, 2021 0:01:41 GMT -5
Coolbarn, after some time with Future Past, I’m very satisfied. Having said that, I definitely lean towards AYNIN being the third best Duran album.
Part of the issue with AYNIN not getting attention is the serious lack of press and part of FP publicity is the press being impressed that after 40 years, the band still is out there trying. I’m impressed as well.
But in reality, AYNIN is ultimately more impressive as a project.
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Post by andre005 on Dec 31, 2021 0:06:49 GMT -5
Coolbarn, after some time with Future Past, I’m very satisfied. Having said that, I definitely lean towards AYNIN being the third best Duran album. Part of the issue with AYNIN not getting attention is the serious lack of press and part of FP publicity is the press being impressed that after 40 years, the band still is out there trying. I’m impressed as well. But in reality, AYNIN is ultimately more impressive as a project. No major record label backing and lack of radio singles did in AYNIN…FP has more more radio friendly tunes..
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Post by coolbarn on Dec 31, 2021 1:10:20 GMT -5
Coolbarn, after some time with Future Past, I’m very satisfied. Having said that, I definitely lean towards AYNIN being the third best Duran album. Part of the issue with AYNIN not getting attention is the serious lack of press and part of FP publicity is the press being impressed that after 40 years, the band still is out there trying. I’m impressed as well. But in reality, AYNIN is ultimately more impressive as a project. Completely agree mate I do like Future Past, and completely understand why it is popular with many of the fans. And I'm sure the band are very pleased with it as well.
I guess I am slightly disappointed though, because I felt we got enough of an EDM-vibe last album, and so was hoping for more typical pop/rock ala Invisible and All Of You, and not so much doof doof like on the Moroder tracks, Anniversary, and Give It All Up. There is nothing like that on AYNIN, no real weak points as such. Safe and Before The Rain don't grab me as much as the other tracks, but even they are quite decent. AYNIN was Duran Duran saying "this is the music we excel at, and are proud of it".
Turns out that the band is not quite as proud of it, as many of us are.
But I'm thankful for what we do have this time around. Wing is magnificent, and Nothing Less sounds like nothing else that the band have ever done before. Hopefully next record the band solidifies on those two tracks, making music which is exciting, surprising, and sounding nothing like any other band is doing or has ever done.
Not easy to achieve, but achievable for a pioneering band like Duran Duran, right? That's what I would love to hear from Duran Duran - a completely UN-Duran Duran album! A record that we would not expect to receive from them in a million years, but one we won't forget for a million more. If we live that long.
Maybe something inspired by So Red The Rose ?? Get some older, gun musicians and producers involved in the project, rather than young rappers and performers? Or maybe an acoustic record complete with strings like on their Unplugged set? A brass section like on Notorious perhaps? An album that doesn't sound so polished, that it is in danger of sliding off the table, and smashing on the floor.
Sure Duran Duran have done things like that many years ago, but no bands are doing it at the moment. Besides - no bands can do it like Duran Duran anyway! Currently it's all synth music everywhere you look, and I'm actually finding it kinda repetitive and dull.
I would love for Duran Duran to make a mature, different rock, album, that old people would love because it sounds so good, and young people jealously hate because they have never experienced such greatness before? They could name it "Antithesis"
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