Seven and the Ragged Tiger

Performer: Duran Duran
Engineer: Phil Thornallie
Producer: Alex Sadkin
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Duran Duran: Simon LeBon, Nick Rhodes, Andy Taylor, John Taylor, Roger Taylor. Additional personnel: Andy Hamilton (saxophone); Raphael DeJesus, Mark Kennedy (percussion); Michelle Cobbs, B.J. Nelson (background vocals). Recorded at Air Studios, Montserrat, West Indies. Despite the fact that Seven and the Ragged Tiger couldn't match the unrestrained pop/rock ebullience of 1982's Rio, Duran Duran put three of the album's singles in the Top Ten, taking it to number one in the U.K. Even though "The Reflex" gave the band their first number one hit, there's an overabundance of fancy glitz and dancefloor flamboyancy running through it, unlike "New Moon on Monday"'s straight-ahead appeal or "Union of the Snake"'s mysterious, almost taboo flair. It's apparent that Seven and the Ragged Tiger's content has the band moving ever so slightly into a danceclub arena, with the songs leaning more toward their ability to produce a sexier sound through electronics and instrumentation than through a firm lyrical and musical partnership. Even the unreleased tracks trade Duran Duran's handsome edginess for a shinier sound, heard mainly on "I Take the Dice" and "Cracks in the Pavement." It's here that Lebon and Taylor's personalities begins to get overshadowed by the demand to produce a more synth-snazzy and fashionable style of music. Although they may have turned their songwriting down a notch in order to succumb to the pabulum of synthesized pop, they didn't relinquish every aspect of their genius, and when they do deliver, it's bright, energetic, and effectual. Duran Duran's new direction eventually gave Seven and the Ragged Tiger double platinum status. ~ Mike DeGagne By the release of 1983's SEVEN AND THE RAGGED TIGER, Duran Duran were genuine MTV-anointed superstars, which makes this set's somewhat more experimental vibe an impressive step. The band's original goal was to be a cross between Chic and the Sex Pistols, but most of SEVEN AND THE RAGGED TIGER explores a sort of glitter-tinged art-rock that occasionally resembles the first couple of albums by Sparks. There were three enormous hits off this album: the jagged "Union of the Snake," the anthemic "New Moon On Monday," and "The Reflex," which was drastically remixed by Chic's Nile Rodgers for its single release. That version appears on DECADE and GREATEST, Duran Duran's two singles compilations. Critically drubbed upon release, SEVEN AND THE RAGGED TIGER holds up better than many of Duran Duran's other efforts.

Rolling Stone (9/4/03, p.146) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Drives home the band's ample, inescapable hooks..."

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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