Duran Duran 12” single – Is There Something I Should Know

Here’s how I accidentally stumbled into the world of 12″ singles.

In early 1984, not long after I got my copy of the Duran Duran LP, I began noticing the record shops were carrying what I thought was yet another album by the group. It was (apparently) called Is There Something I Should Know. After resisting for a few months I eventually caved in, saved up my paper route money, and went for it.

So I brought it home and went through what was becoming a routine: absorbing all the sights, sounds and smells of a new record.

Noob mistake

First, the sights. It bore all the hallmarks of a then-contemporary Duran Duran release:

• Circa 1983 Malcolm Garrett graphics
• A current band photo
• The (apparent) album’s name was from a very recent single

Upon closer examination, however, I remember being confused. There was no track listing on the back cover, just the words “faith in this colour.” Huh? I had no clue what that was supposed to mean. I dismissed it as an odd album tagline.

I removed the shrink wrap and pulled the record from the jacket. Hm. No fancy liner notes. Just a clear poly bag to protect the vinyl. I was hardly being blown away, but I pressed on.

Then I contemplated the record label, Capitol 75039, which is indicative of a Canada-only pressing from 1983. Then time stood still as I realized each side had only one song on it. They even made the record run at 45 rpm (!) to compensate for all the excess vinyl real estate, I reckoned.

I felt betrayed – this was false advertising! Why on Earth would I deliver newspapers and spend my hard-earned bucks for a glorified single like a chump?

Anyway, onto the sounds.

How I became a 12” single convert

I quickly realized my situation wasn’t quite so dire, after all. After a couple of spins I learned to appreciate a few things about the 12” single format:

• Longer and different versions of songs – Side A of the 12” single was the extended “monster mix” of ITSISK (I’d never encountered a remix before).
• Non-album tracks – Side B was the non-album instrumental Faith in this Colour. I soon learned 12″ singles would almost always have “exclusive” songs on the B-side – musical Easter eggs for fans willing to cough up some extra dough. (Of course, the same is often true for their 7” siblings.)
• More focus – In addition to forcing the listener’s attention to just one song, the remix took the layers of instruments apart so I could hear how the music was put together; it’s like a pop song anatomy class.
• Higher fidelity – Sound quality is better at 45 rpm, and it’s not a matter of opinion: it’s physics. Simply put, more information can be “read” by a stylus per unit of time when it runs through a groove at 45 rpm than at 33.3 rpm. Also, with just one or two songs per side, the grooves on a 12” single can afford to be wider, making for louder and more dynamic sound reproduction.

Interesting facts about the Is There Something I Should Know 12” single

A couple of minor points of interest:

• Backward masking – Back in the day, someone told me there was a backward message in the title track. Bizarrely, I was led to believe the repeated lyric “please please tell me know” translated into the sophomoric “you wanna see it, see it?” when played backwards. As a pre-teen this sounded plausible and I’m very embarrassed to admit I played this record backwards to try it. It actually kinda works.
• Faith in this Colour is too fast – Pro-tip: if you have this 12” single and a turntable with manual pitch control, play Faith in this Colour at 33.3 rpm with the pitch cranked to full speed (or at 45 rpm with pitch all the way down) – the song will sound better.

Final thoughts

This particular record would have been a much better 12” single had the radio version of ITSISK been included, and if they’d used a better-quality B-side than the bland Faith in this Colour.

Faith in this Colour features a repetitive drum machine, no bass guitar, purposeless synth parts and amateur ambient guitar. In other words, it was probably recorded solely by keyboard player Nick Rhodes, who I’d declared in a previous post to be the least-talented member of the band.

Even though it was imperfect, the ITSISK 12” single opened yet another door for me. More 12” singles were on the horizon, and some of them are perfect. I’ll get into it in my next post.