Astronaut

Performer: Duran Duran
Producer: Don Gilmore; Dallas Austin; Nile Rogers
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Duran Duran: Simon LeBon (vocals); Andy Taylor (guitar); Nick Rhodes (keyboards); John Taylor (bass guitar); Roger Taylor (drums). As the premier ambassadors of the image-conscious, party-loving British New Romantic set in the early 1980s, Duran Duran duly conquered the pop world, with millions of teenage girls in their hook-filled thrall. After three albums, however, the original lineup splintered, and the band's profile began to fade. Two decades down the line, all five members of DD's vintage lineup finally reunited for ASTRONAUT. Unlike the group's more "mature" '90s offerings, 2004's ASTRONAUT eschews "adult alternative" trappings in favor of a return to their earlier bold, fun-loving sound, a move that couldn't have been better timed, considering the concurrent '80s-revival craze. Accordingly, Nick Rhodes's synthesizers buzz and zoom with reckless abandon, providing bright color and underlining the dance-rock beat. Guitarist Andy Taylor largely tones down the frantic fretboard exercises of his post-Duran days, opting for a chunkier, riff-oriented approach reminiscent of the glory days, and Simon LeBon comes off as every inch the rock star, his swagger, insouciance, and signature vocal style utterly undiminished by time. ASTRONAUT appeared on the horizon as an alert to '80s-worshipping young bands that the men who wrote the book were back in action.

Rolling Stone (p.103) - 3 stars out of 5 - "ASTRONAUT revitalizes Duran's early synth-pop magic....Duran always had a knack for radiant melodies." Entertainment Weekly (p.72) - "Glistening zero-gravity synth-funk....This is so '80s you can almost taste the freebase." - Grade: B

At the dawn of the 1980s, Duran Duran was part of Britain's "futurist" or "new romantic" scene, which merged glam-rock attitude with disco beats and synthesizers to form an intensely fashion-conscious variant on new wave. With their good looks and pop hooks, the group ruled the music world for the first half of the decade. After that, there were numerous side projects (Arcadia, Power Station) and personnel changes, but the original band reunited to much ado in 2003.

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