Duran Duran: Seven And The Ragged Tiger CD Track Listing

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Duran Duran Seven And The Ragged Tiger (1983)
Originally Released 1983\nCD Edition Released ??\nRemastered CD Edition Released August 5, 2003\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: Despite the fact that Seven and the Ragged Tiger couldn't match the unrestrained pop/rock ebullience of 1982's Rio, Duran Duran put three of the album's singles in the Top Ten, taking it to number one in the U.K. Even though "The Reflex" gave the band their first number one hit, there's an overabundance of fancy glitz and dancefloor flamboyancy running through it, unlike "New Moon on Monday"'s straight-ahead appeal or "Union of the Snake"'s mysterious, almost taboo flair. It's apparent that Seven and the Ragged Tiger's content has the band moving ever so slightly into a danceclub arena, with the songs leaning more toward their ability to produce a sexier sound through electronics and instrumentation than through a firm lyrical and musical partnership. Even the unreleased tracks trade Duran Duran's handsome edginess for a shinier sound, heard mainly on "I Take the Dice" and "Cracks in the Pavement." It's here that Lebon and Taylor's personalities begins to get overshadowed by the demand to produce a more synth-snazzy and fashionable style of music. Although they may have turned their songwriting down a notch in order to succumb to the pabulum of synthesized pop, they didn't relinquish every aspect of their genius, and when they do deliver, it's bright, energetic, and effectual. Duran Duran's new direction eventually gave Seven and the Ragged Tiger double platinum status. -- Mike DeGagne\n\nAmazon.com Editorial Review\nSeven & the Ragged Tiger is artier than Duran Duran's first two releases. "The Reflex" opens with one of the best bass-fueled intros ever, remaining more in the dance-pop arena than the rest of the album. Lyrically, the song contains one of the most memorable Duran Duran lines of all time, "Fl-Fl-Fl-Fl-Flex," which is reason enough to buy the whole stable. "Union of the Snake" is a mix of male ritual, slithering synths, and, again, big bad beats. Along with their first two albums, Seven & the Ragged Tiger is necessary to effectively complete the early Duran Duran experience. Interesting haircuts remain optional. --Steve Gdula \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nRequired for your collection, but a black sheep almost., February 5, 2003\nReviewer: Ryan Brenner (Texas, United States)\nDuran Duran's debut was remarkable. Rio was phenomenal. Between the two, I'm hard-pressed to pick the best. Both albums were filled with cohesive songs and there were no weak filler elements. Seven And The Ragged Tiger does however suffer from that problem. Two songs in particular bring this album down: '(I'm Looking For) Cracks In The Pavement' and 'I Take The Dice.'\n\nWith them, this album is about ***1/2 worthy. Delete them altogether and the album is a solid ****+. Replace them with, in this order, 1983's 'Is There Something I Should Know?' and 1984's 'Wild Boys' and this is a five star album all the way.\n\nDon't think things like that should be done? Consider the fact that 'Is There Something I Should Know?' came out the same year as Seven And The Ragged Tiger but was put on the re-release of the 1981 debut album in place of the track 'To The Shore.' 'Is There Something I Should Know?' doesn't entirely fit the feel of the first album. It does fit particularly well with the likes of 'Union of the Snake' however. And since Duran Duran history has proven with 'To The Shore' that it is possible to delete a track altogether and replace it with a later track, go ahead and put 'Wild Boys' on there. It goes remarkably well with 'The Reflex.' Want to make Seven And The Ragged Tiger a 6 star album? Add 'A View To A Kill' in after 'Wild Boys.'\n\nBut to be fair, the debut Duran Duran album and Rio are two of the best albums of the era. Seven And The Ragged Tiger was Duran Duran competing with themselves and losing to a degree. Seven And The Ragged Tiger is a great album with two of the best Duran Duran singles ever (The Reflex and New Moon On Monday) and a couple of choice album cuts (Tiger Tiger and The 7th Stranger) that harken back to the darker, moodier elements of their debut (Nightboat, Friends of Mine and Tel Aviv).\nEXTD=nThen there is the quite solid and required single 'Union of the Snake' and very enjoyable 'Of Crime and Passion' and 'Shadows on Your Side' which are comparable to likes of 'New Religion' and 'Anyone Out There,' impeccable and single-worthy.\n\nIf you are going to buy Duran Duran albums, you MUST BUY the first three, it's just that Seven And the Ragged Tiger is the weakest among them for the two problem songs alone. If you can look past those two songs, you will enjoy this album much, much more.\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nmore like a sketchy lynx, December 17, 2002\nReviewer: gpdecuir (Denton, TX)\nOf the 3 Duran Duran albums with the original line-up, this is the one I would not recommend. Simon LeBon's vocals have gone from the confident crooning of the past to high-pitched yelps. The lyrics, although brilliant in places, ("catch me with you fizzy smile", "saw your heart turn spade this orchid's turned to black") are often unbearably cliche ("caught in the crossfire and it ain't no wind of change", "you belong to the hands of the night"). Andy Taylor's guitar licks are particularly corny here too, like bad hair-metal, especially on 'Of Crime and Passion' and 'Shadows on Your Side". All that said, it's still a fun listen if you're a fan. Fun that is, until the last few songs. The end of `Shadows on Your Side' is haunting (unfortunately, it too suffers from the aforementioned problems of whiny singing and inappropriate guitar work). 'Tiger Tiger' is a gorgeous instrumental. 'The Seventh Stranger' is heart-wrenchingly beautiful and is suavely delivered. John Taylor's bass goes all rubbery and fretless for these final two. Maybe they dragged Japan's Mick Karn into the studio and didn't tell anyone.\n\nSpeaking of that great under-recognized British synth-pop outfit, Japan, has anyone ever noticed the striking parallel between these two groups? It always appeared to me that Duran Duran was always one step BEHIND Japan musically and stylistically. Album by album, you can see the conscious following of footsteps:\n\nJapan-Quiet Life (1979) / Duran Duran S/T (1981) ... stark synth-disco\nJapan-Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980) /Duran Duran-Rio (1982) ... slick Euro-pop\nJapan-Tin Drum (1981)/Duran Duran-Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983) ... ethnic experimentation\n\nJust compare band photos from each period and you can tell from that alone. Ahh, but what Japan originated Duran Duran perfected and SOLD! Plus, Duran Duran were better looking!!! And isn't that what really matters here? Style over susbstance? NO! Duran Duran put out some great albums. Seven and the Ragged Tiger just isn't one of them. Buy the first one and Rio and get to know the true heirs to the Roxy Music throne of glamour and over-the-top greatness.\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nAs much flak as this album gets...it's still excellent., July 19, 2001\nReviewer: A music fan\nI might go so far as to say the synthesizer might need to be turned down a bit, or there are to many horns, but these small complaints are overshadowed by the excellent songwriting! "The Reflex" is perfect for the exact reason that the critics hated it--the words make absolutely no sense and yet you will be singing them by the second verse whether or not you've ever heard the song. "New Moon on Monday", although even the band has said they are a bit shaky on their feelings about that one in hindsight, is hands down the most elated and uplifting song I've ever heard! The echoing guitar arpeggios in the background of prechorus could be a song in themselves. And the "Seventh Stranger" seems to exude genuine heartbreak. There are a few songs of note in between these songs, all of which are undeniably catchy as well (but then again so is strep throat). But the bottom line is that the album is worth buying even if only for the three songs I've mentioned.\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nThe Metaphysics of Seven and the Ragged Tiger, May 7, 2005\nReviewer: James M. Cayon "ogam5" (Northampton, MA United States) \nSeven and the Ragged Tiger, Duran Duran's third proper album, remains in so many ways their most interesting. While it can be judged, 21 years later, as at best a modest musical triumph in its entirety (still, really deserving of another half-star) some of the songs are right up there with the band's best work, and there is no better insight into lyricist Simon LeBon's fascinating inner life. The enigmatic title is a multi-faceted reference to the two Berrow brothers who guided the quintet (2 + 5 = 7) early on, the seven 'chakras' (or wheels, in Sanskrit) of kundalini yoga and, more obviously, disillusion and the rapidly diminishing allure of fame (having 'grabbed the tiger's tail'). This ambitious effort was to have a huge influence upon my own metaphysical development; when I realized just how much information was being conveyed in the "Union Of The Snake" video, I sent LeBon my college newspaper review of it and the album by way of his mother, who replied (in a letter I still have) that Simon had not contested my interpretation. Essentially, it was my belief that the whole video (which I'll refrain from completely diagramming here; go back and see for yourself - one hint: the scaffolding represents his spine) depicts his kundalini experience, leading to a clarifying 'synchronicity' in the desert with all of creation - those fireworks signify not just a fever dream but the shakti, or snake, energy breaking through his seventh / crown chakra; the recurring images of fire and (r)evolution in "New Moon On Monday" add fuel to that perception of rebirth, even a sort of cleansing or purification, and transcendence (yes, the fundamentalist Christian concept of being "born again" or "saved" is identical to it; "The Seventh Stranger" alludes to the associated phenomenon of 'speaking in tongues' - "some say the seventh sounds a little bit stranger" - that interval where the participant loses his or her identity, and a very apt metaphor for the common effect that success has on many people). Nor is there any denying that Duran was to be baptized under fire and two members burned off / out as a consequence, quickly experiencing decidedly Beatlemanical adoration on the subsequent tour. Ironically, ...Tiger is the Fab Five's most unabashedly Beatlesque longplayer [for a more obscure example, the slowly descending brassy synth figure that colors "(I'm Looking For) Cracks In The Pavement" is today somewhat evocative of "Strawberry Fields Forever" for me]. As one reviewer on this site previously suggested, "Is There Something I Should Know?", with Liverpudlian touches all over it and the earliest product of sessions for what would become ...Tiger, fits in seamlessly with this collection of songs. And there's indeed no question that the inclusion of it and the superb "Secret Oktober" would've strengthened this CD but, of course, the former instead replaced "To The Shore" on the re-release of Duran's debut, strictly as a stop-gap measure to maintain Rio-derived momentum and almost landing DD their first US No. 1 in the process before "The Reflex" went positively ballistic ten months later. A very dark and deep (if not necessarily dense. even slightly spare) album, all in all, but one well worth exploring, despite its seeming disposable poppiness. Incidentally, Duran Duran were not the the first, nor the last, recording act to seize upon kundalini yoga as subject matter; preceding them were Styx (with 1973's The Serpent Is Rising, their third album as well) Earth, Wind and Fire, who went to 13 with "Serpentine Fire" in 1977, and Love and Rockets, with the minor college radio hit "Kundalini Express" in 1986. \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nDuran Duran at the crossroads, April 24, 2005\nReviewer: DukesFan01 (United States) \nFor those that only recall "Hungry Like the Wolf" and all the countless songs Duran Duran had on the radio, one can easily forget how different, unique and innovative a band like Duran really was in the early 1980s. Duran Duran were no doubt the first "new romantic" or "new wave" outfit that bands today like The Killers, Franz Ferdinand, The Strokes, The Bravery, Interpol and the like are influenced by/imitating to a great degree of success. (Who said the '80s were never cool? The joke is on them now!)\n\nThe third album by Duran Duran showcases a different and more pop/dance-oriented sound the band was experimenting with at the time. Elements of early Duran Duran, the dark, brooding and eerie "new romantic" sound they mastered on their first album and again on RIO, are less noticeable here. Perhaps only "The Seventh Stranger", a stand-out track on its own, reaches back for the classic, darker Duran sound. What is here is the masterful pop/dance rock music with elements like abstract lyrics (perhaps best personified in "New Moon on Monday") and night club taboo grooves (of which "Union of the Snake" screams). And then there is "The Reflex", which combines both elements to a flashy and climactic finish.\n\nThe underlying story of this album is that Duran lost a bit of its edginess as they struggled to maintain their original sound while trying to capture the glossiness that was friendly on radio at the time. (A struggle that eventually broke the original lineup apart in 1986.) However, the relevance of the Duran sound has been vindicated by the current rush of today's top acts to say Duran Duran was an influence. And in many respects, the songs on this album sound better today than they did in 1983. Even though the album was a huge seller and spawned three top 10 hits, it's a little uneven. But when they deliver, they put forth some of the best material of their original run, like the engaging instrumental "Tiger Tiger" and the masterful pop of "(I'm Looking For) Cracks in the Pavement" and the highly underrated "Shadows on Your Side".\n\nSome often forget Duran Duran was indeed a talented and instrumentally gifted outfit. The rhythm section of Roger Taylor (drums) and John Taylor (bass) are at long last getting their dues for the true talent they possess. Andy Taylor is an underrated guitarist who shines with both his delicate, atmospheric tones and what quickly became more urgent and rocking sounds, and Nick Rhodes does just the same thing, only with keyboards. Finally, Simon LeBon is perhaps the most brash and over the top front man since Mick Jagger, and that fit perfectly into the Duran style here, as by the time this album was released Duran were the kings of MTV.\n\nMany of the songs on SEVEN AND THE RAGGED TIGER remain highlights in a live Duran Duran concert setting in 2005. You like The Killers? You like the rush of "new wave" influenced music currently underway? This album, as well as "Duran Duran" (their debut album), "Astronaut" (their excellent 2004 comeback album), "The Singles 81-85" and "Rio" showcase the originators of the sound, of which there are many imitators (still today) but only one original.\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nBig Dud, July 20, 2004\nReviewer: Dave Bara "db" (Auburn, WA United States) \nThe Third Album was supposed to be the triumphal, world-conquering follow-up to "Rio". Instead it comes across as over-produced smarmy pop with an overblown title and bad cover art to boot. This is the one D2 album I hardly ever listen to. "The Reflex" is a promising start, but fair warning, the album mix is distinctly different from the Nile Rodgers produced single remix that hit #1 on the charts. "New Moon On Monday" is okay, but then the tracks descend into insincere pop inanity. "Cracks in the Pavement" and "I take the Dice" are pure pablum filler. Side one grinds to a close with "Of Crime And Passion", a song trying so hard to be edgy it ultimately spins off the 'ol turntable. "Union of the Snake" is solid chart material, the strongest song with a solid Bowie bass beat, excellent percussion and some good horn work. "Shadows On Your Side" comes off as an overdone uptempo number that seems to get to the chorus inside of 10 seconds and repeat it every 30 seconds thereafter. The band finally take a breath and stretch their creativity on "Tiger Tiger", an evocative instrumental number that leads in to the big finish "The Seventh Stranger", which is one of my favorite ballad/atmospheric numbers from the band, and Andy Taylor's guitar solo theme work is gorgeous. The album ends abruptly, far short of it's intended goal. This album needs a serious "Director's Cut" style updating from Nick and Simon to bring it back to respectability. If they had included the "Is There Something I Should Know" single, the outstanding B-side "Secret Oktober" and the remixed single version of "The Reflex" they might have had something. Buy this version only if you have to have it to complete your collection.\n\nHalf.com Details\nProducer:\tAlex Sadkin\n\nAlbum Notes\nDuran Duran: Simon LeBon, Nick Rhodes, Andy Taylor, John Taylor, Roger Taylor.\n\nAdditional personnel: Andy Hamilton (saxophone); Raphael DeJesus, Mark Kennedy (percussion); Michelle Cobbs, B.J. Nelson (background vocals).\n\nRecorded at Air Studios, Montserrat, West Indies.\nBy the release of 1983's SEVEN AND THE RAGGED TIGER, Duran Duran were genuine MTV-anointed superstars, which makes this set's somewhat more experimental vibe an impressive step. The band's original goal was to be a cross between Chic and the Sex Pistols, but most of SEVEN AND THE RAGGED TIGER explores a sort of glitter-tinged art-rock that occasionally resembles the first couple of albums by Sparks.\nThere were three enormous hits off this album: the jagged "Union of the Snake," the anthemic "New Moon On Monday," and "The Reflex," which was drastically remixed by Chic's Nile Rodgers for its single release. That version appears on DECADE and GREATEST, Duran Duran's two singles compilations. Critically drubbed upon release, SEVEN AND THE RAGGED TIGER holds up better than many of Duran Duran's other efforts.\n\nIndustry Reviews\n3 stars out of 5 - ...Drives home the band's ample, inescapable hooks...\nRolling Stone (09/04/2003)
This blues cd contains 9 tracks and runs 37min 40sec.
Freedb: 7608d209

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