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Duran Duran (1993 album)

Duran Duran (commonly known as The Wedding Album) is the seventh studio album and the second self-titled album by the English pop rock band Duran Duran, released on 15 February 1993 through Parlophone and Capitol Records.

Background

As the 1990s progressed, the once-certain popularity that Duran Duran enjoyed in the 1980s began to fade. Many critics began to write them off as a throwback to the new wave era, with some declaring their career "over". During this period, the band found themselves struggling to adjust to the evolving music scene, which was being shaped by the rise of genres like hip hop, techno, and alternative rock. Keyboardist Nick Rhodes said in a 2013 retrospective piece:

The '80s had ended and a lot of people wanted to lock the door and close Duran Duran in that decade, too, I think. At the end of the '80s, music changed considerably. We had grunge, techno and rave culture, which left us in a place where we felt we had to make ourselves relevant to the times. We weren't about to make a grunge or techno album, but we had our songwriting. We very much went back to basics.

After the band released their studio album Liberty in 1990, the financial situation for Duran Duran became increasingly dire. Their financial future appeared hopeless due to low album sales, not touring to support Liberty and excessive spending. Liberty was a commercial decline, peaking at number 46 in the US. Additionally, its two singles "Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over)" and "Serious" experienced moderate to low success on the US or UK charts. Even though Liberty came in at number eight in the UK, it wasn't enough to persuade Capitol or EMI, Duran Duran's record labels, that the band was on the right path. However, Capitol didn't forsake them altogether. They agreed to advance the band money for a new album under strict supervision.

Recording

Duran Duran was recorded and produced mainly at American musician Warren Cuccurullo's home studio in Battersea, London, named "Privacy".

Title and packaging

The band ultimately chose to self-title the album after describing themselves as having to go "back to the basics". After its publication, the album became known alternatively as The Wedding Album, inspired by the album's cover art and to distinguish it from the band's 1981 album.

The album's cover was created by British visual design artist Nick Egan. American actor Billy Zane initially got in touch with Egan after British bassist John Taylor asked if he could assist with the album's artwork. Within hours, the two got together at Taylor's house and outlined the band's concept of using not only photos of their parents' weddings but also going against their previous notion of commissioning an expensive album cover photo shoot. The result was a collage of the band members' parents' wedding photos with golden text of the band's name in the centre. Egan wrote that he took inspiration from American graphic artist Robert Rauschenberg, describing his work as "seemingly random images [laid] on top of each other with the faintest hint of off-register colour as if the whole thing were screen printed".

Release

The release of the album was delayed, with then manager at Left Bank, Tommy Manzi, later telling HitQuarters that this was due to industry resistance to the revival of the band, who he said would rather focus on "the next hip band". Manzi said that industry insiders "laughed at" Left Bank while they worked on reviving the careers of not only Duran Duran but also Meat Loaf.

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from the album's liner notes.

Duran Duran

Simon Le Bon – lead vocals
Warren Cuccurullo – acoustic and electric guitars
Nick Rhodes – keyboards
John Taylor – bass guitar (except track 6)

Additional personnel

John Jones – programming, engineer, keyboards, drums (all tracks except 1, 2, 7 and 9), bass (track 6)
Milton Nascimento – vocals (track 7)
Steve Ferrone – drums (tracks 1 and 2), percussion (track 10)
Vinnie Colaiuta – drums (track 7 and "Falling Angel")
Dee Long – additional keyboards (track 11)
Bosco – percussion (track 7)
Lamya – backing vocals (track 3)
Tessa Niles – backing vocals (track 6)
Karen Hendrix – vocal samples (track 4)
Jack Merigg – vocal samples (track 4)

Production

Duran Duran – production (all tracks), mixing (track 5)
John Jones – production (all tracks), engineering (all tracks except track 9), sub-mixing, mixing (track 5)
Tony Taverner – live drum session engineering (tracks 1, 2, 7, and 9)
Stuart Every – assistant live drum session engineer (tracks 1, 2, and 7)
David Richards – mixing (tracks 1–3, 6–8, and 10–13)
David Leonard – mixing (tracks 4 and 9)
Kevin Metcalfe – mastering