Duran Duran Album: “Liberty”

Okay...so Duran Duran were falling out of favor around 1990. Sure, it would be another three years before they made a staggering comeback with "The Wedding Album," but "Liberty" is a solid, and sadly overlooked, gem.

True, the CD lacks focus, and it's obvious the band wasn't sure where to go stylistically at the time (this CD also introduced a couple of new band members), but there are some excellent tracks here...."Violence of Summer" is odd but catchy as hell, and "Serious" is a straightforward pop ballad...one of the best songs the Duranies have ever done.

The album as a whole, as previously mentioned, goes all over the place stylistically, and suffers a bit from Chris Kimsey's bloated production. But "Liberty" is far better than "Seven and the Ragged Tiger," a horrible mess that remains one of their most popular albums. "Liberty" has a bad rep from critics and three people may have actually bought the thing, but it truly is worth the time and money.

Duran Duran's last album as a true rock band, "Liberty" was probably just a victim of bad timing. With their early 1980's "Beatlesque" success behind them, the stale pre-grunge early '90's music scene, various line-up changes and the ill-advised "Big Thing" had finally begun to take their toll on the 'fab five'. Which is a real shame, because the disc is probably one of their most consistent.

The 'should-have-been follow-up' to 1986's "Notorious", "Liberty" opens with the uncharacteristic 'Fleetwood Mac-sounding' 'Violence Of Summer', an infectious tune that would have been right at home on late '80's radio somewhere between INXS' 'New Sensation' and George Michael's 'Monkey'(no pun intended). The title track treads the same water as the superb 'American Science' from Notorious' while 'Hothead' takes that disc's dance-funk one step further. Lyrically, 'Serious' is pretty lame but darn catchy, nevertheless. 'My Antarctica' is the next best thing to 1985's 'Save A Prayer' and 'First Impression' rocks in a way the boys rarely have before or since. Throw in a handful of filler tracks and the result is a satisfyingly consistent outing for the blokes. 'Liberty' was the last of the five real Duran albums (Duran Duran, Rio, Seven & The Ragged Tiger & Notorious with The Wedding Album a possible sixth). Highly recommended for any Duranie who might have missed it somehow. Here's hoping the reunion will continue the string.

Why do most fans of Duran Duran consider this the band's worst album? In my opinion it's one of their very best, up there with Rio. It's full of great songs: Rockers like 'First Impression' and 'Read My Lips', dance tracks like 'Can You Deal With It' and 'All Along The Water', and beautiful songs that send shivers down your spine and give you goose bumps like 'Serious' (should have been a worldwide number one), 'My Antarctica' and the title track. The production is excellent with all kinds of surprising sound effects and keyboard sounds popping up. It's also nice to hear really rockish guitars on a Duran Duran album. Last but not least, Simon is at his best on this disc, both what lyrics and singing is concerned. It's never too late to make up for your sins. Buy this one, and you will be forgiven!

Liberty is certainly an interesting album; I have listened to it extensively of recent times after having relegated it to the bottom of my cassette bin 17+ years ago as the deathknell of an era of great music.

Upon re-listen, the highs are higher, and the lows are lower - a lot of it sounds dreadfully outdated. "Hothead" was dreadful lo those many years ago and is just unlistenable now with its faux-pocalypse predictions; "First Impression", which sounded great in 1990, is just sort of laughable now for Simon LeBon's pseudo-metal pretensions. And there is simply no reason for "Downtown" to have ever been committed to tape.

And yet - some of it has aged phenomenally well. "Liberty" never grabbed me before; it now sounds very mature and smart. "My Antarctica" is far more beautiful for its age and may become recognized at last (perhaps as a tune for global warming documentaries?) And then there's "Serious", which may well be the best track this band has ever recorded. It is a crime that it is as unrecognized as it is; to be very honest, it belongs in the very top pantheon of 1990s singles along with U2's "One", Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", Oasis' "Live Forever" and the Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony". That Capitol Records did not better promote the album to allow this track to blast out of every radio on the planet is a crime because it is truly a sublime four minutes of music.

In short, worth re-examination, or examination...but phenomenally uneven, to the point of being case study material.

...and they don't particularly blow it, as well as not nailing it either. It's not the perfect album in the world, but after Big Thing, I'm ready to try anything. So, it's a mediocre effort, but there are some really awesome songs; you might even refer to them as gems.

"Violence of Summer" is a 50's-esque song, and a good opening track. This is one of those "gems" I was talking about. It's a good song; not great, but it does its job of trying something new. Very good for an opening track.

"Liberty" features the phoenominal keyboard stylings of Nick Rhodes, and it really shows. This is a good song; even better than the previous track, but we're only warming up. Simon's vocals are deep and relaxing, and they're a good relaxation to what's coming up next...

"Hothead" is an anti-gem. Not very good at all. My problem with this one is that it is spoken, and Simon doesn't uncover his rapping styles until "Thank You". Evil-ution isn't something I'm going to say all day. Not like "Rio" or "Lizard Mixture". It's one of the 'mediocre' tracks on the 'mediocre' album.

"Serious" got me into the album all over again! With its relaxed beat and decent music video, it's the best song on the album, if I may say so myself! I love this song mainly because of the funky guitars and Simon's awesome lyrics. Serious deserves the gold medal on "Liberty"!

"All along the waters" is another great song. Better than Liberty, but not as good as Serious. This song brought me to Deja Vu for some reason. The lyrics can seem repetive, but that's not a problem. A good song.

"My Antartica" is smooth and relaxing. Good song. Not much to say about this one, except it's one of the gems I'm talking about. Slow, moving, great lyrics all describe this song.

"First Impression" slowly transitions from piano-esque to rock. Very, erm...mediocre/good...I don't know how to describe this. It's good. That's all I can say, really.

"Read My Lips" has a heavy metal feel with lip-puckering effects courtesy of Nick Rhodes. The vocals are suggestive, but I don't care for this song.

"Can You Deal With It" saved my sanity. It's a good song, but the downside is it still has the lip-puckering effects; explained above. It seems like that effect is on most of the songs. This is truly a gem. Very good.

"Venice Drowning" is funky. Very good, but very funky. That's a good thing. It's definitely a good follow-up to "Can You Deal With It" but nowhere as good.

"Downtown" is the bomb. It just drops the whole album. It's like your 3000 miles up in the air after "Venice Drowning", and then after listening to "Downtown", you drop from the airplane and realize you left your parachute at home. Not very good at all. "Shame of the album" goes to this song.

Unfortunately, even the best bands have their low point. For Duran Duran, "Liberty" was the lowest point they'd ever get to. They're stil a great band, but it seemed like the 90's would bring the end to Duran Duran.

It seemed. Apparently not, since "Thank You" was a great album, filled with awesome surprising covers. I'm not saying that Liberty is the worst album in the world, but I'm not saying it's great. Don't buy it for anything over [$]. That's just too much. Spend it on "Astronaut" or "Medezzaland". That's my $0.02 on this album.