Duran Duran to Reissue First Five Albums

Duran Duran will be re-releasing remastered versions of their self-titled debut album as well as Rio, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, Notorious and Big Thing. Long out-of-print, the albums will be available via Warner Music from July 5 – pre-order here.

From the press release: “Both 1LP and 1CD formats will feature the latest album remasters, with vinyl editions cut at Abbey Road Studios. The album artworks have been closely restored to the original sleeve designs, overseen by Malcolm Garrett, the visionary designer behind the band’s first three albums.”

Emerging from the U.K. New Romantic movement, the band – singer Simon LeBon, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, bassist John Taylor, guitarist Andy Taylor and drummer Roger Taylor – benefitted from the theatrical, over-the-top visuals that their music videos provided shown during the infancy days of MTV. With their teen-idol looks, impossibly fabulous hair and LeBon’s expressive and expansive vocals delivered over synth-pop-dance beats, their debut single “Planet Earth” drew raves from aspirational teens, even if the single didn’t chart.

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However, it was the unprecedented combination of visuals and music that catapulted the band into the global mainstream with their second album 1982’s Rio. Fueled by the title track’s music video – a pre-Harry Styles dip and splash amongst bikini-clad girls in the water with a fully-clothed band – and the iconic “Hungry Like The Wolf” short film (both helmed by then go-to director Russell Mulcahy), the band were able to secure pin-up status and salty sales on both sides of the Atlantic.

Subsequent albums had the band expanding their storytelling capabilities with emerging studio technology and the novel concept of computer programming to decorate their long players: Seven and The Ragged Tiger, Notorious (the first album after the departure of both Roger Taylor and Andy Taylor) and Big Thing.

Duran Duran’s latest release, 2023’s 13-track Danse Macabre, features six covers, including Billie Eilish’s “Bury a Friend,” Cerrone’s “Supernature,” The Rolling Stones‘ “Paint It Black,” Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Spellbound,” the Specials’ “Ghost Town” and Talking Heads‘ “Psycho Killer” along with three remakes of Duran Duran songs and a mash-up “Super Lonely Freak,” merging their own “Lonely in Your Nightmare” and “Super Freak” by Rick James.

Currently, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees are on a criss-crossing global tour, with special dates at the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 20 and headlining the Obelisk Arena at the Latitude Festival in Southwold on July 28.