With the amount of time it took to find all the hidden extras on this disc I could have developed a tumour, died and had most of entrails removed against my will and passed on to sad, tragic and alchoholic former footballing geniuses; but find them I did. Eventually. And what did I get for all my hard work? A bored Nick and Simon discussing the recording and production of Seven & The Ragged Tiger, a tortuous and similarly bored Simon and Roger talking about the making of ‘Wild Boys’ and the edited (censored and ucensored) version of the notorious ‘Girls On Film’ video. It’s not that they’re unworthy additions to this really rather definitive video archive, it’s just they didn’t quite match, labour for labour, the time it took to actually find them, and I don’t doubt there’s going to be literally thousands of disappointed technophobes drifting back to HMV in their droves, holding their ‘faulty’ discs aloft in earnest and demanding their money back, which is a shame as this is a pretty smart and exhaustive account of perhaps THE most successful band of the 1980s and though too well ‘hidden’ by half, these are perfectly edible little Easter eggs (and it’s a sound viral ploy on behalf of the marketing department too, one might suspect).
So this is a Duran Duran review. You know the drill: the lofty and magnificent excess, the yachts, the locations, the bronzed bedazzled torsos, the jodhpurs, the pirate shirts, the swaggering Byronic ruffs, the outrageous overacting, the preposterous erotica, the ludicrous and flamboyant symbolism, the money, the decadence – all the things we hate ourselves for loving. But there are also some surprises, as I for one had totally forgotten just how sharp this band could be. The Godley & Crème directed ‘Girls On Film’ looks and sounds crisper than it ever really did at the time. The similarly homo-erotic thriller, ‘The Chauffer’ shows just how close it came to equalling Japan’s chilling ‘Nighporter’ and ‘Electric Barbarella’ shows how a band some twenty years later can still seem fresh and innovative as they did when they started.
Good sound quality – a minefield of hidden extras, slick white box and two discs in total to boot. A timeless and essential flight indeed.
Tracks:
DVD 1: 1. Planet Earth * / 2. Girls On Film (long uncensored version) * / 3. The Chauffeur / 4. Hungry Like The Wolf / 5. Save A Prayer / 6. Rio / 7. Is There Something I Should Know? / 8. Union Of The Snake * / 9. New Moon On Monday (E.P. version) * / 10. The Reflex / 11. Wild Boys (7“ edit version) * / 12. A View To A Kill
DVD 2: 1. Notorious / 2. Skin Trade / 3. I Don’t Want Your Love / 4. All She Wants Is / 5. Serious * / 6. Burning The Ground / 7. Ordinary World / 8. Come Undone (uncensored version) * / 9. Electric Barbarella
* Alternate versions available as hidden extras.
Tip for accessing the ‘hidden’ extras? Go to the ‘La Galerie Duran Duran’ section and try hitting the various forward, back, up, down buttons in various combinations until you come to something on the little album covers and thumbnails. if the title of the album lights up, or it says ‘play’ or next, you just may have something.