Thankfully this is better than I was expecting. A LOT better. That last album was absolutely dreadful and I feared the worse. "All You Need is Now" was the best thing they've done since "Rio". Wish only Ronson would produced them from this point forward.

I agree with EVERYTHING daytripper just said....except I was a bit underwhelmed with this new effort.

AYNIN was the best comeback album of any 80's artist, period. Well, perhaps next to Blondie's "Pollinator" album.

Last album was terrible. Sorry, never a big fan of that producer although I know he's iconic and a legend.

Not a fan of the new track. Not much melody.

Yes, "AYNIN" was simply superb in every way. Mark Ronson rescued that band. He brought back their retro goodness and still made them sound fresh at the same time. Every single track on that album could have been a single. Just amazing. Also, nice call on "Pollinator". That was also a huge surprise.

Here is a 1 star consumer review of “Paper Gods” from Amazon that I've saved because it was so on the mark.

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2015

I’m one of those early DD fans, having loved their early output. And though I stuck around in the late 80s struggling to find something redeeming about their move to a bland funk sound, thanks to the awful Nile Rodgers, I gave up by the 90s. Even their early 90s comeback made no impression and I continued to disregard this once great and innovative band.

Then back in 2010, rumor had it that a fan of early DD, Mark Ronson, was working with the band to make a return-to-form album, so I couldn’t help but be curious. The early signs were promising. Could this really sound like DD at their golden best? When the All You Need Is Now album was finally released, I fell in love with it. It was all there, the voice, the musical hooks, the experimentation and creativity. I couldn’t get enough. Still love it just as much all these years later.

DD reclaimed some of their former glory and people started taking note once again. DD took their good ole’ time coming up with a follow up, but I was even more curious when it was first reported that Mark Ronson would be back to produce. Yay! But the celebration was short lived when it was then announced that Nile Rodgers was now involved, and my hopes sank. Regardless, I still waited for any sign of something new, just for a glimmer of hope that perhaps it may be DD still being DD.
Oh, the horror! When the first taste of the new Paper Gods album was released, in the form of a nightmare called ‘Pressure Off’, I could have cried. The most banal lyrics and that generic funk guitar, which Nile seems to think is amazing even though it’s the SAME sound he’s been purging forth over the last 40 years. And that whiney “Oh oh oh oh oh oh” chant just makes me want to reach for a hammer!! I hated it passionately, but didn’t want to completely lose hope just yet.

Then came the release of several more songs. ‘Paper Gods’, the song, was so embarrassing. It was nothing but 90s style synthesized backing with Simon guesting on vocals. An initial thought, which now carries through most of the album…. Where’s Roger and John Taylor? For the most part, there’s no “live” rhythm section. ‘Last Night in the City’ was another faceless completely synthesized mess, and with another of many “Featuring” credits. I’m seeing the poorly chosen pattern here. ‘You Kill Me with Silence’ slows the tempo but it’s no less automated and dull on every level. I can’t believe how terribly uninspired the lyrics are across this release.

Having now tortured myself by listening to the entire album, I can tell you it was one of the most painful and disappointing experiences of my life. DD have completely lost their identity (and their rhythm section). Just listen to nightmarish doodlings like ‘Dancephobia’ if you are looking for a reason to run from the speakers screaming. And don’t let a song like ‘Sunset Garage’ fool you into thinking there’s something redeeming. This song is the most tolerable. It seems to have real drums and a 60s pop vibe, but then it’s back to the 90s dance mess with ‘Change the Skyline’. ‘Butterfly Girl’ is a mix of the worst things about the excesses of the late 80s and the dance vibe of the early 90s.

And I can't forget to mention the unbelievably bad artwork. Who did this, a 7 year old? For a band who have been claiming they are trying so hard to be current, the artwork is nothing but images from their past; a little colorforms pastiche of their former glory days, ironically, none of which is represented in the music.

DD has made what may be their WORST album, and they certainly have a lot of terrible back catalog to choose from. The album ended up being produced by several people, none of which did any good. They seem to be trying so hard to appeal to the youth of today with their thoughtless lyrics and same sounding dance beats without a bit of their own personality. They are “musicians” approaching senior citizen age foolishly trying to be cool and relevant, but it backfired tremendously. It took nearly 5 years to come up with this? Guess what boys, you have sabotaged your career yet again and have alienated people you managed to recapture with your brilliant last album. This album is in no way experimental, creative, interesting, or Duran Duran. I have no doubt that this album will eventually be viewed by many of the blindly praising fans as another Red Carpet Massacre disaster, and it will grace the cut-out bins (or recycle bins in the case of digital downloads) in abundance. I’m thankful that All You Need Is Now was so good, and I’m just going to have to accept that it was a one-off fluke and burst of their original spirit, and now it’s back to all of the reasons, and many more, why I ignored Duran Duran for decades. See ya!

Totally agree with every word of this review. Didn't want to mention Nile's name since he's so revered in the music world. He deserves the respect.

But that effort didn't work at all.

Oh, dear...........

I'll likely pick this up when the cd is released.

In practice, I've found that Duran Duran's listenable output ends for me with Arcadia and "A View To A Kill". (Power Station sounds very different).

After that, I found most of their later albums had very little to no consistent replay value for me.

Their new song sounds like something Prince might have done in the 80's.

Is Duran Duran a Yes or No or Maybe for the RnR HoF?

I guess yes since they had a impact but have other artists followed that copied their style or music or credit them as a influence?

They should be in. They are at least equally as qualified as many other artists that are in there.

Better. But not loving it yet.

Meh. I do not care much for the songs on this album. Nothing stands out in any way.

Nothing is memorable on this new album. Even after listening through it three times already.

Whatever musical "magic" these guys had before "View To A Kill", it has been long gone for over 35+ years.

Sorry, but you are wrong. While not a great album overall, 1993's "The Wedding Album" had some solid songs and two of their all-time best singles ever. And 2010's "All You Need Is Now" is their best album since "Rio".

Now that you mentioned these two titles, I gave them both a spin again earlier today.

After listening to The Wedding Album two times, nothing caught my attention. It was just as forgettable as I remembered, when I first picked up the cd for $1 at garage sale around 20 years ago. Which particular two songs on The Wedding Album did you have in mind which were better than the rest of the album?

I listened to "All You Need Is Now" again three times. (Two times the past morning, and once last night). Unfortunately I still found it unmemorable and mostly forgettable. Nothing really caught my attention this time around. (Back when I first listened to the cd when it was first released, I listened to it more than a dozen times but didn't listen to it much since then until today).




I guess you and I have somewhat different subjective tastes about Duran Duran. I'll agree to disagree.

My two favorite as well. Also saw them at ACL still sounded great.

With all that being said, I do sometimes listen to Duran Duran's subsequent albums after Arena for reasons unrelated to entertainment.

Back in the day, I found out the hard way that the bass lines in many Duran Duran songs were entirely a world in itself. So if one was into transcribing highly complicated bass lines, Duran Duran was one of the go to bands to listen to. It was a challenge to do such transcriptions by ear via trial and error.

Even though I thought their later stuff wasn't as good, john taylor was still writing highly technical bass lines. It was worth a second/third listening for me, just to figure out what he is playing.

On Duran Duran's semi-official youtube channels, John Taylor does a bunch of tutorial videos on how the bass lines developed in various Duran Duran songs. Very insightful.

Anniversary is not bad at all and sounds like it came from the 80's and nothing wrong with that.

If I had to choose tracks to listen to again for purely entertaintment reasons, it would be the Giorgio Moroder produced ones "Tonight United" and "Beautiful Lies".

Super Enjoyable.....I really like this album and the tracks grow on you on every listen
Got it on white vinyl...

I saw the show they did on Austin City Limits and they still got it

listened to the whole CD a couple of weeks ago, Very Good record,