ARCADIA "Arcadia" (PMI,9.99 pounds) by Chris Heath

The Arcadia project, claims Nick Rhodes in one of the small interview snippets spluttered around this video, "was something that needed to be done". In retrospect that is rather doubtful--it was hardly spectacularly successful and it's certainly one of the main reasons Duran stayed apart for so long--but this is still a surprisingly enjoyable video. Each of the five videos--the three singles ("Election Day", "The Promise" and "The Flame"), an American single "Goodbye Is Forever") and the very arty "Missing" video (which doesn't even feature Arcadia)--is preceded by a barrage of scenes from whichever town they're in (usually somewhere in France), set to ludicrously pompous music (Vivaldi, Wagner etc.) and some daft "behind the scenes" shots. The videos themselves are just what you'd expect--beautifully made lush affairs which, apart from the almost tasteful black and white one for "The Promise", will confirm any suspicions you might have held that Duran can sometimes be a bit sexist (scantily clad models are everywhere) and pretentious (there's loads of deeply symbolic scenes involving glass birds and men with masks). But the affair is saved by their daft sense of humour--for every sequence explaining how the name Arcadia "just emanated after six months of searching" and comes from an inscription In Arcadia Et Ego on a Poussin painting, and for every shot of the tomb of artist Jean Cocteau, there's Simon le Bon worrying about "my tassles" or Nick Rhodes explaining (in true crap joke fashion) that his new blond hairstyle gives him "more debonair 'air" (Har har --Not very many people). The best bit comes when Nick is suspended on a vertical clock hand ticking over Simon, who is lying horizontally and rotating on another clock face. After more crap jokes from Nick--"I want to go for a swing--I'm a swinger" etc.--and the honest declaration "I think this is the most stupid thing I've ever done", Nick looks below at his firmly padded partner and declares mischievously: "I'm like one of those trapeze artists without a net--I've just got you instead." Simon le Bon's answer is not recorded...