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May 18, 2006
Duran Duran Guys Have Great Taste. No, Really...
Newly released to the shockingly priced import racks of US metropolises, is the Nick Rhodes and John Taylor curated Only After Dark, a surprisingly phenomenal compilation of dark, seventies/ early eighties electronic tinged rock music that provided them with inspiration in their formative years. Slaved over like a manically curated iPod playlist, the Duran-ers have very few missteps, hitting art rock highpoints like Wire, Magazine, Iggy, and Bowie. They show excellent sequencing prowess as well, bumping Kraftwerk up to Donna Summer, following Bryan Ferry with Roxy nemesis Eno, as sample moves among a uniformly well crafted disc. Most hardcore rock nerds have probably got the majority of these tracks lying around on a harddrive somewhere, but for those who don't it's pretty can't miss (New Yorkers try Tower Records in either their NYU or Columbus Circle locations, as they do employ perhaps the best import buyers in town).
In its full glory;
Only After Dark Tracklist:
1. Being Boiled - the Human League
2. Computer Game - Yellow Magic Orchestra
3. Always Crashing In The Same Car - David Bowie
4. Sister Europe - the Psychedelic Furs
5. Changeling - Simple Minds
6. Only After Dark - Mick Ronson
7. Underpass - John Foxx
8. Warm Leatherette - the Normal
9. In Crowd - Bryan Ferry
10. True Wheel - Brian Eno
11. Are Friends Electric - Tubeway Army
12. Robots - Kraftwerk
13. I Feel Love - Donna Summer
14. I Am The Fly - Wire
15. Shot By Both Sides - Magazine
16. Private Life - Grace Jones
17. Passenger - Iggy Pop
18. Slow Motion - Ultravox
So, good show boys. But I have to ask, really? I mean, don't get me wrong, Duran Duran had some pretty decent little pop songs and everything, but you're saying that this is what you put in your creative blender and "Hungry Like the Wolf" came out the other end? I'm not sure if that makes this redemptive, or further damning.
Mick Ronson - Only After Dark
The compilation's title track from lead Spiders From Mars guitarist Ronson was recorded in the brief period post Ziggy Stardust fame when Bowie claimed he was retiring. Quickly stepping into the glam star void, Ronson turns in a track that sounds exactly like prime David material. Exactly. If I claimed this was a lost track from the Aladdin Sane sessions that only just turned up, you would believe me. So similar it must have creeped Bowie out a little, as if Mick came to a party at his house wearing a sequined space pirate outfit indentical to the one he had worn out the night before. "Oh, that's nice Mick, I, uh, I've actually sort of been into Philadelphia soul lately..."
Tags: Duran Duran, Mick Ronson, David Bowie, Kraftwerk
Posted by Jeff Klingman at May 18, 2006 09:57 AM
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