Duran Duran - Paper Gods Review and Download

STILL HUNGRY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, DURAN DURAN RETURN WITH ALBUM #14, AS WELL AS, APPARENTLY, THE SECRET TO ETERNAL YOUTH. IS THERE SOMETHING WE SHOULD KNOW?

Having navigated the highs (the entire Eighties), the lows (1995’s covers album, Thank You) and more than a couple of comebacks, Simon Le Bon and his three remaining colleagues understand what it takes to survive. The answer is to surround yourself with people who know best how to serve you. In their case, this means producers Nile Rodgers, who oversaw their first reinvention on 1986’s Notorious, and Mark Ronson, who helped mastermind 2011’s All You Need Is Now. The former’s stamp is all over Pressure Off, whose rigid funk riffs and inspired keyboard stabs heralded their return with a triumphant co-vocal from Janelle Monáe. Ronson, meanwhile, co-wrote the track – as well as the lengthy Only In Dreams – with Rodgers and another vital collaborator, Kanye West’s Brummie pal, Mr Hudson. The latter became a third producer for the album, alongside a fourth, Ronson’s engineer, Josh Blair, after Ronson stepped away to work on his own record, and if this suggests a troubled gestation, there may be truth in that: Le Bon has suggested that he wanted the record to sit alongside his favourite albums – including, surprisingly, Neil Young’s Harvest and The Rolling Stones’ Let It Bleed – and admits they took their time.

 Inevitably, they fall short of such lofty targets: Change The Skyline’s melody, despite the presence of Mew’s Jonas Bjerre, is as obvious as some of its keyboards are cheesy, and What Are The Chances seeks to repeat the arena-friendly balladry of Save A Prayer only to end up like an A-ha B-side. But the presence of yet more guests – including John Frusciante (ex-Red Hot Chilli Peppers) and Canada’s Kiesza, who lends lusty lungs to the club-friendly Last Night In The City – adds further spice, while the ambitious title track, with Mr Hudson, never outstays its seven-minute welcome. Even Lindsay Lohan pops up on the thumping Danceophobia, playing a seductive doctor amid bouncing keyboard lines that recall Prince’s Erotic City. Ultimately, there are enough distinctively Duran Duran moments here to suggest that this extensive roll call of stars is the result of determination, not desperation. How much longer they can maintain their relevance is hard to say. But, as long as they can surprise with the unexpectedly tense social commentary of the sevenminute title track and the slick, soft rock of Sunset Garage, there remains a place for these aging, well-connected wild boys.
Rating: 80/100