On The Road Again: Duran Duran "Seven And The Ragged Tiger"

jueves, 7 de junio de 2018

Duran Duran "Seven And The Ragged Tiger"

Seven and the Ragged Tiger is the third studio album by the English new wave/synthpop band Duran Duran, released in November 1983. It was the band's first and only number one album in the UK, and would prove to be the last studio album for the band's original line-up until 2004's Astronaut.

Vocalist Simon Le Bon said the album "is an adventure story about a little commando team. 'The Seven' is for us — the five band members and the two managers — and 'the Ragged Tiger' is success. Seven people running after success. It's ambition. That's what it's about."

EMI re-released the album in 2010 in two configurations: a two-disc digipak and a three-disc (two CD, one DVD) box set. The three disc box set includes on the DVD the first official release of the "As The Lights Go Down" video.

In 1983, Duran Duran intended to spend a year away from the United Kingdom as tax exiles, as their income had increased dramatically after the success of Rio and the reissue of their 1981 debut album Duran Duran the previous year. Thus during May 1983 the band began writing and making demo recordings at a châlet near Cannes in the south of France with producer Ian Little. The band was having some trouble writing material there but still came up with ideas for most of the songs that appeared on the album. Several were completed, including a track called "Seven and the Ragged Tiger", for which the album was named. This song was never officially released, but parts of it would eventually evolve into the track "The Seventh Stranger". A demo version of the original track has since leaked onto the internet, albeit in very rough, warped form. No quality recording of the song is said to exist.

With the songs written during their stay in France, the band started recording at George Martin's Air Studios on the Caribbean island of Montserrat in May. The sessions, which saw producer Ian Little joined by the vastly more experienced Alex Sadkin, would keep Duran Duran in Montserrat for five weeks. During one of these sessions, keyboardist Nick Rhodes collapsed and had to be airlifted to a hospital; newspapers later reported it was due to an episode of paroxysmal tachycardia (abnormally fast heartbeat).

Prior commitments brought the band back to the UK in July 1983, including a charity gig playing in front of Prince Charles and Princess Diana at the Aston Villa ground at Villa Park. It was later revealed that the Irish Republican Army had plotted to plant a bomb at the concert in order to injure Charles and Diana, but the IRA member sent to carry out the plot, Sean O'Callaghan, was in fact an informer working for the Irish Government and successfully helped to pull the plug on the operation.

It was around this time that the Princess of Wales publicly named Duran Duran as her favourite band. During their time in the UK, the band worked on a few more songs in a studio in London, before returning to Montserrat for one final late summer session.

After the island's isolation, the band moved the project to Sydney, Australia at the end of August. Producers Ian Little and Alex Sadkin continued working with the band on the album, now titled Seven and the Ragged Tiger, at 301 Studios. An argument during this period between John Taylor and Alex Sadkin over the prolonged mixing is said to have been the germination of the Power Station side project that happened in 1985, as Taylor contemplated leaving Duran Duran for the first time.

The album's cover photo was shot on the steps of the State Library of New South Wales.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Duran Duran.

Side one