“We really made an effort with the videos, the style and the artwork,” insists Nick Rhodes. A remix of Hungry Like The Wolf reached No.3 in the US, their breakthrough hit there, while the new version of the album also fared much better, peaking at No.6.Īny doubts the band had as to whether they had broken America were cast aside when 12,000 fans descended on a record store signing in New York.Īs visual identity was becoming a more predominant force in the industry, the aesthetics of the group became a major factor in their appeal, with the Duran HQ turning into a creative hub of music, video, fashion and design. As Rio had underperformed Stateside on its initial release, an EP of remixes, Carnival, was offered that met with a much better reception.ĭeciding to push the dance side of the band in the States, EMI hired producer David Kershenbaum to remix the album. The Night Versions were important for the band, particularly in the US, where Duran Duran was marketed as a dance act. If someone made a mistake, we’d have to go back to the beginning and start all over again.” We played them live, and as some of these mixes were over 10 minutes long, they were quite difficult to do. “You couldn’t cut them up on the computer and make loops as you do now. “We always did the Night Versions of the songs for clubs, but at that time we had to record them live,” recalls Roger Taylor. They became one of the first bands to take advantage of the art of remixing songs, recording alternative or extended ‘Night Versions’ of songs, specifically for nightclubs, often available as 12” singles or EPs.
Read our article on Duran Duran’s Seven And The Ragged Tiger Read our feature on Duran Duran’s 1990 album Liberty Released on, Rio reached No.2 in the UK and spawned a further three Top 10 singles, establishing Duran Duran as the biggest pop group in Britain.Īlthough regarded as pop’s hottest pin-ups, it was unusual that there was no photograph of the band on the front cover instead, the sleeve of Rio carried a painting by US illustrator Patrick Nagel (they turned down an offer from Andy Warhol “because he had already done it for The Rolling Stones”) with graphic design from Malcolm Garrett, resulting in one of the most famous covers of the era.Īlthough their meteoric rise had them marked out as The Beatles’ successors in terms of Britpop ambassadors, Duran Duran were keen to hang on to the club crowd who had embraced them as a dance act with their first hits. Cuts such as Hold Back The Rain, New Religion or Lonely In Your Nightmare were likely to have been monster hits had they been released as singles, while a last-minute addition to the album, The Chauffeur, highlighted the band’s darker, more experimental side.
Though Rio is marked by the triumvirate of career-defining hits Hungry Like The Wolf, Save A Prayer and Rio, a high standard is maintained throughout the album. Sure enough, the Rio sessions at London’s AIR Studios produced a plethora of stadium-sized anthems that would provide the perfect soundtrack for Duran Duran to fulfil their ambitions of graduating from Hammersmith Odeon to Wembley to New York’s Madison Square Garden at 12-month intervals.
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“It was a combination of a band at the top of its game who were just having so much fun playing together every day, with a producer who knew exactly how to channel what he was hearing,” says John Taylor. Once again with producer Colin Thurston at the helm, the sessions went incredibly smoothly, an outpouring of creativity bristling with energy.
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