TRANSDIS PRESENTS:
TEN ALBUMS OF EIGHTIES WONDER!

In the next few weeks, Transdis will present to you ten albums of eighties wonder that we think we couldn't live without. Transdis loves music from the eighties, in fact it's our favourite decade for that sort of thing. And we were born then too. Trust us, this is a good idea.
Let us begin.

PART ONE
DURAN DURAN - 'DURAN DURAN' SELF TITLED DEBUT
(EMI PARLAPHONE, 1981, *1983)

Tracklisting: Girls On Film, Planet Earth, Anyone Out There, Careless Memories, Is There Something I Should Know?* Night Boat, Sound Of Thunder, Friends Of Mine, Tel Aviv, To The Shore.

If you have to start anywhere with Duran Duran, you should start at the beginning. If you were never into their glamour glamour rich boy posturing, you may be pleasantly shot in the arse with this one. Yes, it's a classic pop album, but it's also a classic post-punk/ new wave album. Not only does it contain three of their best singles - 'Girls On Film', 'Is There Something I Should Know' and 'Planet Earth' - but also any other track could've been worthy for release. 'Girls On Film' is cheap porn fantastic, and you know how excellent 'Planet Earth' is already - angular glamour, spiked with John Taylor's spasmic guitar riffs, bass rolling on your spine, Simon Le Bon the dashing debonair in a girly white shirt. 'Anyone Out There' is pure Blondie and the most new wave track on the album. 'Is There Something I Should Know' is a new inclusion to the CD version, it never appeared on the original UK LP release, and it's enough to make even the most rhythm deaf take to the dance floor. 'Night Boat' is an odd track. It's not the poppy Duran Duran played in gay clubs; instead it's a dark, brooding and eerie number. Hell, its Echo And The Bunnymen, or even Nick Cave.

'Sound Of Thunder' is just one hell of a track. A drum beat hits in hard, then a bass line Carlos Dengler would make love to, and a late Joy Division synth riff, typical new romantic lyrics about lying and waiting for the sound of thunder. 'Friends Of Mine' starts off with the same creepy low bass sounds as 'Night Boat', but has the damn poppiest chorus on the album. Haven't a fuck what the actual song is about though, but the line 'Why don't they drop the bomb' is a total eighties nihilism (see: Bret Easton Elis). 'Tel Aviv' goes where most pop albums, let alone alternative albums, fear to tread - a five minute plus instrumental. Yeah it's pretentious, but commendable, and boy can you taste that desert dust. Duran's debut ends in a strangely downbeat fashion with 'To The Shore', which sounds a hell of a lot like a Cure track in places, perhaps something off Disintegration. For all its eighties-ness, the album actually hasn't dated badly, and with those odd nuggets of gloomy new wave and post-punk next to the classic pop singles, it's an album of eighties wonder you cannot live without.

Rachel Duluoz.
if you like this album:
Duran Duran 'Rio'
Duran Duran 'Seven And The Ragged Tiger'
Arcadia 'So Red The Rose'
Power Station 'Power Station'
Tears For Fears ' The Hurting'

this album influenced:
Interpol 'Turn On The Bright Lights'

coming next:
PUBLIC ENEMY - 'IT TAKES A NATION OF MILLIONS TO HOLD US BACK'