Episode 66: Duran Duran - Rio (1982) - Part 1

 

It's been quite a while since our hosts have covered an entire album, so they're ready to get back to doing an in-depth discussion. And this is a group that they've been promising to cover for quite some time now: the Fab Five, Duran Duran! It's kind of hard to believe there hasn't been a Duran Duran episode yet, but Brian and Sarah are about to make up for that, by choosing to discuss the group's seminal 1982 release, "Rio."

 

Part 1 - Album History

 

Since this is such an important New Wave album, and since Brian and Sarah haven't covered Duran Duran previously, they decide to take a lot of time to talk about the history of the album and the band's situation at the time. Our hosts go into depth about the making of the album, the rather confusing release history in America, the chart positions all over the world, and some reviews from then and now. Brian also makes sure to talk about the iconic album cover and the artist who provided the picture for it.

Part 2 - Personal History

 

This may be one of the more surprising-- and perhaps even embarrassing-- personal history discussions both Brian and Sarah have ever had. They both profess to being long-time Duran Duran fans, but it may shock the listeners to learn when "Rio" finally made it into the hosts' record collections!

Part 3 - Track by Track

 

The first song on the album is, of course, the title track, and Brian and Sarah have a lot to say about "Rio" and its video. Release and chart information is shared, as well as a couple of reviews. Then they get into discussing how the song was put together, which involves an early member of Duran Duran.  Sarah gets to once again poke fun at Brian regarding saxophone solos, and they both poke some gentle fun at Simon Le Bon and some of his vocal tendencies.  At the same time, they also staunchly defend him against critics who often won’t even compliment the singer without making it a backhanded compliment. Both hosts talk excitedly about the video, which neither of them remembered very well apart from the end. Also mentioned are questionable fashion choices, comic books, and (not surprisingly) James Bond. All of this lively discussion takes up a lot of time, so they decide to end the episode after track one.

Rio

See the video here:

Rio

 

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