Thank You

by

Duran Duran

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Duran Duran all-covers album "Thank You" elicited a predictable knee-jerk reaction from the critics, along the lines of "How dare they?" The critics apparently hoped to keep the "classics" on a pedestal in the Rock `n' Roll Hall of Fame, or somewhere.

The truth is that Duran Duran rocks out, and has fun doing it, on some of their favorite songs. The selection may strike some as odd; no Roxy Music, David Bowie, or other `70s glam icons that Duran hailed as major influences. Rather, the boys from Birmingham take on the gamut of classic rock & R&B: Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, The Doors, Sly and the Family Stone, and a host of other A-list greats. And for the most part, Duran does them justice.

Grandmaster Flash himself appears on the first track, a turbo-charged rendition of his "White Lines," instantly lending street cred to the proceedings. Duran's cover of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" is a lush, dreamy affair in the tradition of their own "Save a Prayer" or "Ordinary World." Reed himself called this the best cover ever of one of his songs; believe him!

Simon LeBon's crooning on Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" gives the song the vocal treatment it deserves, a great improvement over Dylan's Muppet-like phrasing on the original (Dylan was never the best intepreter of his own songs). Elvis Costello's "Watching the Detectives" gets a high-tech, art-rock workout, replete with ambient sound effects. Even the title track works far better than anyone could have expected, as LeBon effectively matches Robert Plant's histrionic delivery.

The production and engineering are simply astonishing; this is probably Duran Duran's best sounding record. Once you get past the audacity of Duran's song selections, you'll find yourself addicted. "Thank You" is simply fun to listen to.

Duran Duran gives their fans a real treat, a sincere "thank you" card for returning them to the top of the charts in 1993. Don't listen to the critics. Accept Duran's "thanks" - you won't regret it!

So... Q Magazine recently dubbed this record to be the worst album of all time. Hardly. Give the guys in Duran Duran credit for not treading down a worn path with their attempt at a collection of covers. Not only do they choose songs you wouldn't expect from them, but they also take the risk of completely reinventing these works. Sometimes the experiment succeeds wonderfully. Most of the time it doesn't. However, the results are for the most part never less than worthy of a passing listen.

The albums low point is a horrible cover of Public Enemy's "911 Is A Joke". Duran Duran is too stylistically far remeoved from rap and hip-hop for something like this to have even been feasible and I don't understand why it wasn't left in the rehearsal studio. From there on, things only go upwards because they certainly can't go any lower. The opening track, Grandmaster Flash's "White Lines" is decent. A slick version of Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady, Lay" is a pleasant but admittedly watered down version of the original. However, the cover of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" and "Drive By", a reworking of an introduction to one of the bands own earlier tracks, are definitely highlights.

I'm not sure why this album received the critical drubbing which it did. Critics complain all of the time about bands failing to take risks, and yet when a disc like this comes along they seem to yell even louder. I will always give greater credit to a noble failure than I will to something which is safely mediocre. I would put this album in the noble failure category.