Delving into Duran Duran’s classic album ‘Rio’

I once responded to one of those chainmail-type ‘Name Your 10 Favourite Albums’ requests on Facebook, stopping at number 7 and wondering, “Surely my time would be better served doing something constructive?” But I was beyond halfway, having already submitted thesis-length reviews for epic albums like The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s and Scritti Politti’s Cupid & Psyche, so a couple more dissertations wouldn’t hurt me.

At number 7, in fact, I put Duran Duran’s Rio, beginning with a declaration that no music genre had more effect on me as a teenager than the New Romantics which, when I think about it, set in real hard. Like that gel by L’Oreal Mondrian you used to be able to buy at the chemists for $3 a tub.

Of all the New Romantic records, ‘Rio’ was my lead romance. It had everything you needed in a 1980s pop long-player: deep and meaningful verses, infectious choruses, sharp fashion tips and dyed hair for days – its sleeve art and band photography as iconic as the music itself.

It’s nice, then, to have come across a book by an author who apparently shares my sentiments about this solid and sassy LP. Author Annie Zaleski had the pleasure (I’m sure) of breaking down bit by bit of Duran’s Rio in her instalment in the very brilliant 33 1/3 pocketbook series. In fact Zaleski got one better than most and landed a hardback cover that is almost one third larger in size than the usual books that stem from this clever publishing subsidiary. Burst bound and looking as though it’s been wrapped in moleskin, I’m sure the Duran lads would not have expected anything less.

The book was originally published in 2021 but has recently been repackaged in hardback, partly in celebration of Rio‘s 40th anniversary.

As is likely with Zaleski, it means so much to me this album; like a birthday or a pretty view. And while Zaleski occasionally comes across as a gushing fan, she is given license to do so, for as Taylor / Taylor / Taylor / Rhodes / Le Bon wrote in the title track, “I’m sure that you know it’s just for you”.

That’s the thing about Duran Duran songs – even when the earlier lyrics often bordered on the schizophrenic (Simon writing too rapidly on too much coke on occasion, perhaps?), the songs still sounded like they were written with the individual on the receiving end in mind. Zaleski was on the receiving end decades down the line, which makes for a refreshing perspective on the band and their music. We’ve already read what the ageing editors of Q and Classic Pop magazines have had to say about the wild boys – now it’s nice to get a younger, female perspective from the other side of the Atlantic.

My only gripe with this book is that at times Zaleski’s fact-curation comes across like passages out of Wikipedia, albeit well fleshed-out with paragraph-sized quotes from band members. Not that Zaleski’s prose is ever pedestrian, but it does at times come across as matter-of-fact when I think a little more colour could have been injected.

Oddly enough, it is when the author interviews singer Simon Le Bon one-on-one that her words become more vivid, and when she puts captions to the book’s photo section, making these segments the most enjoyable to read.

One fan has cleverly turned Duran Duran’s Rio into a cool-looking fruit bowl.

Duran Duran’s Rio album is one laced with ingenuity, wrapped in attitude and stamped with striking style. From its swaggering post-punk take of a classic Sinatra sentiment (My Own Way) to the psychedelic stretched-out bliss of The Chauffeur (even Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin might have wished he’d written it), I’m happy to see the album is now part of the very credible 33 1/3 series.

Bring on more pop-rock titles, I say!

Antonino Tati

Duran Duran’s Rio by Annie Zaleski is published through Bloomsbury in hardback and paperback.