Welcome to my review of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Pleasuredome LP

Is it a blend of prog and pop, or an exercise in excess?  When I was in junior high school, none of my friends “got” Frankie. Only I “got” Frankie. No one but me appreciated the quirkiness, humour and – most importantly – solid craft and musicianship surrounding the band. (Note I used the word

Is So Red the Rose the missing Duran Duran album?

Find out how this side project bridges Duran Duran mark I and mark II. The women illustrated on the LP covers for Rio and So Red the Rose may not be able to talk, but they say volumes about what transpired between 1982 and 1985 within Duran Duran. The smiling Nagel girl adorning the band’s

Review of the Two Tribes single and 12″ extended mix

My take on Frankie’s controversial anti-war song. This post is written within weeks of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot on the U.S. Capitol, and like most sensible people, the aftermath has me shook. The extreme polarization of society – especially American society, which I’m happy to observe from a distance – is remarkable. It’s astonishing

Is Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas a modern Christmas carol?

… or is it just the starting point of Bob Geldof’s legacy? A Christmas miracle! As I settle down at 11 p.m. on December 25, 2020 to start this post, it coincidentally happens that the next sequential record in my collection to write about is Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas. It’s one of

Frankie say review: the Relax 12” single

Find out why Relax is more than a pop culture footnote. In 1984 I was a dedicated Duranie, but late that year the band put out a couple bum releases that cooled me off. Neither the Arena live album or The Wild Boys 12” single remain in my collection today, and I don’t feel poorer

What is Duran Duran’s Carnival EP about?

It’s a Duran Duran dance party. If you’re new to Duran Duran, I strongly advise reading this post: it’s my full-throated endorsement of a record that defines the band’s early era, the Carnival EP. In addition to telling the story of how serendipity led me to Carnival, this post also covers how the record came

Did David Bowie sell out with Let’s Dance?

Put on your red shoes and find out. When I was in the grip of 80s teenage pop music – you know, Duran Duran, Michael Jackson, et al. – David Bowie’s sudden emergence on AM radio in 1983 with Let’s Dance came unexpected. To be honest, at the time he struck me like a dinosaur

When six sides are better than two

10″ vinyl is the coolest. Let’s just get that out of the way. This post is about how songs can be partitioned out on an album to make for an optimal listening experience. Today’s exhibit: a recently purchased copy of Era Vulgaris by Queens of the Stone Age that I’m pretty enthusiastic about. Although it’s

Is Michael Jackson’s Thriller overrated?

Here’s my hot take on this classic album. It’s pretty hard to write about early ‘80s records without acknowledging that 1983 and 1984 belonged to Michael Jackson. He was everywhere. Despite not even owning a copy of Thriller then, I knew almost every song from the record back to front. It wasn’t until many years

Top ten original line-up Duran Duran 12″ singles

It only counts if Andy’s on it. If you stick with this blog long enough, one thing you’ll learn about me is that when I find something I like, I get drunk on it. This applies to Duran Duran’s early 12” singles. I remember a radio station When I was young, CFNY 102.1 Toronto had