For a quick marriage, click on this link back to the main Duran Duran page. Duran Duran [The Weeding Album] Overall Album Score: 8.1 out of 10 I HATE DOODIE HEADS! ... unless we're talking about Duran Duran. But really! These guys are complete jerks! Their first three albums in this world were three of some of the most enjoyable albums on the planet. Their next three albums weren't as enjoyable (...everyone must succumb to SUCK ... it just happened sooner than most with Duran Duran...). And then, in 1993, when the world remembered Rio as a hangover, Duran Duran gathers a bunch of old wedding photographs and slaps them on the album cover. They also have a bunch of good songs in here ... PLUS a hit single! "Ordinary World!" And that's an awesome song, let me tell you. Duran Duran was admittedly unfocused in their previous album Liberty, as underrated as that album appears to be. In Duran Duran (The Wedding Album), they continue down this 90s pop trend following path but they FOCUS themselves more and come out with a formidable album. (Although, I guess their only "FOCUS" was on writing better songs ... this isn't like a Pink Floyd album or anything ... It's still pop.) In fact, this is so formidable that *whoah* it even measures up to, and in many aspects surpasses, their more famous classic albums! How cool was that? How many times do we hear that an old washed up 80s band coming back a decade later and giving the then-current pop listening audience something decent to listen to? It's kind of like The Return of the Living Dead ... almost. Oh! I forgot already! Duran Duran were/are true artists! (It's currently 2004, though, and I'm still waiting for another comeback!) Yes, there are a few stinker songs in here, but there are enough keepers to make me leap out of my chair enthusiastically and exclaim: "Hooray! Duran Duran are people! ... And they're cool!!!!!" (For the record, I don't hate the people on The All-Music Guide.) Overall Album Score: 8.1 out of 10 (Yeah ... this didn't score better than their other albums did back in their heyday. But it does have "Ordinary World" in it. That's pretty cool.) Average Song Score: 7.9 (This isn't as strong of a score as I might have suspected, but the presence of the rather dull tracks in here sort of drive away prominence from the "Too Much Information"s and the "Ordinary World"s. ... I think I just invented a new English punctuation rule. How cool is that?!?!?!) Album Tilt: 8.5 (I think this is a good album. Some of these songs aren't as special as I might have hoped for after listening to the first two songs especially. But I do enjoy listening to it.) Artist Rating: 8.0 (Well... This isn't an artistic album, really. But Duran Duran did better with 90s pop than most pop stars did ... especially Madonna.) Track Reviews Too Much Information 9.5/10 This is a NICE album opener! It's a well-written quick'n'loud pop song with a great melody and some great work with the arrangements. (Hear how many sounds there are on this song ... and how they work perfectly together.) These guys definitely aren't your regular pop artists. Ordinary World 10plus/10 I don't think I'm overrating this. This is an utterly sweeping song that's certainly the most engaging thing that Duran Duran has ever done. (I consider this one an absolute surprise ... 'cause even though I might hold a lot of affection for many of Duran Duran's 80s hits, I never actually mustered up enough love to give any one of them a 10plus.) The melody is perfect ... the arranging is even more perfect ... totally and utterly breathtaking. Most of Duran Duran's 80s hits were only really breathtaking in the choruses ... this is breathtaking throughout. It might have been overplayed in 1993, but I was only 10 back then, and I don't remember it at all. I remember it now. And I like it now! A great track! Alone, it makes purchasing this one worthwhile. (Even though I didn't actually purchase this album myself ... I plan to, though, one of these days.) Love Voodoo 8/10 Ohhhhh... Never expect Duran Duran to ever surpass "Ordinary World!" With that in mind "Love Voodoo" is a pretty good song! The song has hooks in it, I like the instrumentation ... Duran Duran is strong. I ended up docking a half-point from this because it gets stale at the end. Drowning Man 7/10 Awwww! Techno-rap?? Do they have to follow the 90s trends THAT closely? Poop! And it's kinda banal, even though it's mostly enjoyable. ... Nevertheless, a 7?!?!?! I had such high hopes for them! YOU DISAPPOINT ME, DURAN DURAN. But I won't put a voodoo hex on you because of "Ordinary World." Shotgun 3.5/5 Oh ... somebody wanted to shoot Duran Duran because they did a techno song. I shall not condescend them, because I considered doing the same thing. This song isn't even a minute long and it's very goofy. Um ... and it's not very enjoyable, either. Come Undone 8.5/10 You bet this is 90s pop. But this is good 90s pop, and there's absolutely NO TRACE of techno. Instead, it has a pleasant echoey riff ... the production was tight ... and, most importantly, there's a melody of some sort. Songs like this annoy me sometimes, but this one is far from doing that. (This sounds like a Pet Shop Boys tune, actually.) Way to go, Duran Duran! I think they should have had their own theme park. Breath After Breath 8.5/10 An interesting melody! That unfortunately doesn't automatically mean that it's completely good. This is kind of structured like the old 80s Duran Duran hits. The song is rather uneventful and then a gorgeous chorus strikes up to take our "breath" away. (This one also sounds like it was sung in an African language of some sort.) Overall, this is a pretty solid song ... if I'm allowed to say that the high quality of the chorus makes up for the general insipidness of the rest of it. This one has an undeniable understated charm overall. That's why I enjoy this one so. U.M.F. 5.5/10 Oooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh... We're getting uncomfortably close to banal 90s-ness here. *AAAAAAAAG*. That loud 90s-style drum machine gets annoying here and the melody isn't special enough to make up for that. This is comparable to Madonna, actually ... and a comparison like that can only mean this isn't that good. It's also too long. None of the Above 7.5/10 This one starts out sounding that it is going to be as boring and dead-90s-dull as "U.M.F," but the merit of the melody combined with the neat beat breaths this one into life. It's not as dynamic as a lot of the other stuff on this album, but it was an enjoyable effort that's far from being filler. Femme Fatale 7.5/10 Only jerks cover Velvet Underground tunes. That's why Duran Duran decided to cover them in their 90s comeback album. There's nothing like a good Velvet Underground cover to spice up your 90s comeback album. Actually, this is a surprisingly sensitive rendition. It seems like it might have been tremendously moving, too, but it's too wrapped up in 90s-production-ness to really succeed on that aspect. Eh! Whatever! This is pretty cool. Shelter 7/10 ORF! This is more second-rate material ... unfortunately. It's still good ... but it's like a weaker version of a bunch of other stuff that we heard on this album already ... it's second rate, you know. To Whom it May Concern 8/10 Not bad. This one sort of has a "Let's Dance" (by David Bowie) beat to it ... except it's not nearly as exciting. It still has a good melody ... and a good atmosphere. Yeah. This is good. Sin of the City 8.5/10 Rapping sucks! But this song is only partly rapping! The album closes with this 7:47 minute whopper that has a good pop-groove apart from anything else. It has multiple parts, too, and each of these are enjoyable ... even the rapping. Yep, this song catches fire, baby, and it was a wonderful thing to close this album with. I have a pair of pants. If you have any comments about them, or if you have any comments about The Wedding Album then please feel free to e-mail me here!

All reviews are copyrighted by the author, Michael Lawrence. It's a nice day for a white weeding.