So Red The Rose (which I found was an anagram of ‘Rhodes Stereo’ but was not intentional I have it on GREAT authority from Nick Rhodes himself thanks to a very Generous Mark Tinley who asked him for me) by Arcadia. One of my favourite albums ever. Why?

So Red The Rose - Arcadia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well to me it’s the best Duran Duran album Duran Duran never made! Apart from it missing John Taylor’s strong bass lines and Andy Taylor’s mix of raw rock and squealing atmospheric guitar it managed to retain the atmospheric ‘heart’ of the Band’s best early work (mostly the album tracks rather than the famous singles). It could possibly be considered a little bit of it’s time in places, but to me it’s like an artistic sonic relic from the dead centre of a decade that is distilled into it’s tracks with audacity and sense of occasion (detractors would use other terms here I’m sure but I’m biased).

I played this album alot around 1987/1988 along with the first 3 DD albums, Notorious and Big thing, in a kind of relay. I recall having to stick a 2 pence piece on top of my record player’s ‘arm’ to stop the needle from jumping on “El Diablo”. Yes vinyl really was that cool! I have it now on CD (twice inc the recent re-issue) of course and it gets quite frequent playing. Moreso than many ‘real’ Duran Duran albums in fact. As for The Power Station? I’ve got the album, I’ve got the documentary video too (for both Arcadia and The Power Station) but I prefer Arcadia’s offering much much more and it’s up there with DD’s best to me.

Favourite tracks are “Election Day”,”The Flame”, “El Diablo”, “lady Ice” and “Goodbye is Forever” but I really enjoy the album as a whole which is why it’s another in my list of favourite all time albums, who knew.

 

Thanks for reading.