Paper Gods

Largely, though, Duran Duran chooses its collaborators wisely here, opting for some from that golden age, like Mr. [Nile] Rodgers, or those who’ve internalized that era’s balance of sleaze and good cheer, like Mark Ronson.... So long as Mr. Le Bon is oozing atop brisk arrangements like this, the specifics of the words don’t much matter. Everyone here has the posture down cold.

In this age of frivolity, Duran Duran is straight-up thriving.

What makes this music fun is its youthful sense of invention.

It's that tension between the good and the bad, the yin and yang of Duran Duran, that makes Paper Gods absorbing.

Duran Duran innovate and push further. It may be flawed in parts, but Paper Gods is an ambitious and worthwhile effort that more than justifies its existence.

Paper Gods leans too heavily on robo-disco froth.

If Paper Gods isn’t quite as strong throughout as 2010’s back-to-basics All You Need Is Now, Kill Me With Silence and the title track have terrific choruses and Sunset Garage beautifully honours the band’s survival.

Paper Gods feels like a Duran Duran-shaped helium balloon, impressive, shiny, but oddly empty inside. [Oct 2015, p.96]

Despite a few missteps her and there, it's good to have them back. [Oct 2015, p.109]

While no reinvention, Paper Gods is both entertaining ad typically Duran-esque. [Oct 2015, p.75]

It’s not going to convince anyone new to pick up Duran Duran's records and it doesn’t surpass their previous work.

[Lead single "Pressure Off" is the] lone successful endeavour in recapturing the "classic" Duran Duran sound. The rest of the album, however, is utterly characterless. [Aug-Sep 2015, p.62]