Red Carpet Massacre
- Duran Duran
- Band Name: Duran Duran
- Record Label: Epic
- Release Date: Nov 13, 2007
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Duran Duran have updated their sound just enough to feel relevant, without embarrassing themselves in the process--no mean feat for a band in the throes of a midlife crisis.
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80The contributions of that tag-team of hitmakers take nothing away from the tightness and characteristic chic of the band--that they enhance the hypnotic sheen of Duran Duran, rather than subjugate it--makes a certain sense.
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70With Simon LeBon sharpening his typically abstract lyrics and everyone bolstering the contrasting, constant hooks, Timbaland perfects the rock-techno fusion his solo album fumbled, while Duran emphasize their willfully plastic extremes. They've never sounded this pretty and severe.
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While Duran Duran have worked steadily since their 1993 comeback, "The Wedding Album," they haven't always sounded as stylish and creatively tuned-in as they do on 2007's Red Carpet Massacre.
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70While Simon Le Bon's tenor is still in top form, his lyrical prowess remains hit and miss as do some of the late-in-the-album tracks. But this is one record the diehard Durannies should find room for in their collections.
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60Rather than sounding like an '80s soft-rock rehash, they have worked with up-to-the-minute beat merchants Timbaland and Nate 'Danja' Hills to create a dramtic, contemporary pop concoction. [Dec 2007, p.98]
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60If you're willing to overlook Simon Le Bon's always peculiar lyrics and occasionally strained singing, 'Red Carpet Massacre' is actually pretty impressive.
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60Less impressive are the band's own art-rock statements. [Dec 2007, p.116]
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Timberland gives the Fab Five a sleek funk track on 'Nite-Runner,' which could have been a leftover from "FutureSex/LoveSounds." Justin Timberlake even arrives to gloss it up--as far as Duran Duran are concerned, the union of the Timber-Snake is on the rise.
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60Justin Timberlake, Timbaland anf Timbo's partner Nate "Danja" Hills, provide a reasonably good return on investment. [Dec 2007, p.118]
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60The group's decision to concentrate on what keyboardist Nick Rhodes calls "the groove factor" has resulted in one of their more adventurous releases, in the sense that there's plenty of groove, but not much of the tunefulness that was behind their biggest hits.
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60So, Danja hooked up Duran Duran with some seriously dope beats and nasty Neu-ish grooves for Red Carpet Massacre, way hipper stuff than they even know. The downside is that Simon LeBon is still singing and writing all the lame lyrics.
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Between the odd pretty guitar motif ('She's Too Much') and marching drum roll ('The Valley') the pile-driving beatwork and rapping cameos only highlight the fact that the weakest element here is Duran themselves.
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60Simon LeBon and company have a lot of baggage, and their latest effort doesn't match the neon-lit glory days of yesteryear.
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60Red Carpet Massacre sounds like a remix of a great Duran Duran album, and for that it's merely good.
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50Red Carpet Massacre is largely just a ham-fisted example of what happens when fame, ego and squandered major label cash equate to a sad, missed opportunity.
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50Red Carpet Massacre feels almost like a weird sort of jam session between band and producers, and the quality is about as patchy and uneven as that description implies.
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50When all three work with the group, they invigorate Red Carpet....But when Danja is left to his own devices, problems arise. [Dec 2007, p.108]
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And it sounds... bloated and uncomfortable. Time for another re-think.
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38The problem isn't that Red Carpet Massacre pushes Duran Duran out of their comfort zone. The problem is that they sound just a little too comfortable there to make the most of bad situation.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 43 out of 45
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Mixed: 0 out of 45
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Negative: 2 out of 45
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EdwinaL.10
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HelloYou10
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RV10This release is just mega.