''Duran Duran'' (commonly known as ''The Wedding Album'') is the seventh studio album and the second self-titled album by English
new wave band
Duran Duran. It was released on 11 February 1993 by
Parlophone
Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...
.
After dwindling commercial success in the early 1990s, Duran Duran returned to the UK top five and US top 10 with this album, which has been certified Gold in the UK and Platinum in the US. The singles "
Ordinary World" and "
Come Undone" reached the US top 10 of the
''Billboard'' Hot 100.
The cover art by
Nick Egan
Nick Egan (born 4 July 1957 in London, England) is a visual design artist and director of music videos, commercials and film. He graduated from the Watford College of Art and Design with a DGA in 1976. While attending college, he created cover ...
features wedding photos from the parents of the four band members.
Background
Recording of the album was completed in early 1992 with an impending release by Capitol Records in the United States. Duran Duran's new management company, Left Bank, was distressed at the apparent lack of enthusiasm for the album and had it pulled from the release schedule. Manager Tommy Manzi later told
HitQuarters it was the industry that were unenthusiastic about the return of the band rather than the music consumer.
Manzi said that industry insiders "laughed at" Left Bank while they worked on reviving the careers of not only Duran Duran but also
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...
because they would rather focus on "the next hip band" than perceived "old" acts.
As it happened, the album reached No. 4 in the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...
, their highest charting album since 1983's ''
Seven and the Ragged Tiger
''Seven and the Ragged Tiger'' is the third studio album by English new wave band Duran Duran, released on 21 November 1983 through EMI and Capitol Records. It was co-produced by Alex Sadkin, Ian Little and the band. Following their deci ...
''.
In the UK, three singles from the album reached the Top 40 including "Ordinary World" (#6), "Come Undone" (#13) and "Too Much Information" (#35). Four singles taken from the album charted in the US: "Ordinary World" (#3), "Come Undone" (#7), "
Too Much Information
Too much information may refer to:
* Information overload, the notion that access to excessive information hampers understanding and decision-making
*The idea that personal information has been shared that should be kept private
Media
* ''To ...
" and "Drowning Man". "Breath After Breath", a collaboration with
Milton Nascimento
Milton Nascimento (; born October 26, 1942), also known as Bituca, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.
He has toured across the world.
Nascimento has won five Grammy Awards, including Best World Music Album for his alb ...
, was released only in Brazil, "None of the Above" in Japan and "
Femme Fatale" (cover of
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. The original line-up consisted of singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. MacLise ...
song) in France. The song "Sin of the City" is about the
Happy Land arson fire that killed 87 people trapped in an unlicensed social club in New York City on 25 March 1990. The short track "Shotgun" is a kind of a cover of the 1965 single of the same name by
Jr. Walker and the All Stars.
During the hiatus, while waiting for the album to be released, the band began working on what would become the ''
Thank You
"''Thank you''" (often expanded to ''thank you very much'' or ''thanks a lot'', or informally abbreviated to ''thanks'' or alternately as ''many thanks''Geoffrey Leech, ''The Pragmatics of Politeness'' (2014), p. 200.) is a common expression of ...
'' album, with John Jones, and a
Warren Cuccurullo
Warren Bruce Cuccurullo (born December 8, 1956) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, restaurant owner and former body builder who first worked with Frank Zappa during the 1970s. He was also a founding member of Missing Persons in the 1980s ...
-derived riff of "First Impression" led to the rapid inclusion of the song "Come Undone".
Title
While officially titled ''Duran Duran'' worldwide, the general belief that the alternative name was first adopted by fans post-release — due to the use of the members' parents’ wedding photos on the cover and to differentiate it from the band's
1981 album — is incorrect. Instead, the name was originally used on two different UK promo cassettes prior to release – one calling it ''The Wedding'' and the other ''The Wedding Album''.
While this name was officially dropped before release – with, for example, the UK & US TV adverts calling it simply ''Duran Duran'' – the commercially released UK vinyl and cassette versions still titled it ''Duran Duran (The Wedding Album)'' on the LP centre labels and the tape itself, though this was almost certainly in error.
Track listing
Personnel
Adapted from the album's liner notes.
;Duran Duran
*
Simon Le Bon
Simon John Charles Le Bon (born 27 October 1958) is a British singer. He is best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the new wave band Duran Duran and its offshoot Arcadia. Le Bon has received three Ivor Novello Awards from the British ...
–
lead vocals
*
Warren Cuccurullo
Warren Bruce Cuccurullo (born December 8, 1956) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, restaurant owner and former body builder who first worked with Frank Zappa during the 1970s. He was also a founding member of Missing Persons in the 1980s ...
–
acoustic and
electric guitars
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...
*
Nick Rhodes
Nick Rhodes (born Nicholas James Bates, 8 June 1962) is an English keyboardist and producer, best known as a founding member, keyboardist, and only continuous member of the band Duran Duran. He is also informally monikered as "The Controller ...
–
keyboards
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
*
John Taylor –
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
(except track 6)
;Additional personnel
* John Jones –
programming, Engineer, keyboards, drums
(all tracks except 1, 2, 7 and 9), bass
(track 6)
*
Milton Nascimento
Milton Nascimento (; born October 26, 1942), also known as Bituca, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.
He has toured across the world.
Nascimento has won five Grammy Awards, including Best World Music Album for his alb ...
– vocals
(track 7)
*
Steve Ferrone – drums
(tracks 1 and 2),
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
(track 10)
*
Vinnie Colaiuta
Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the '' Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 2014. Cola ...
– drums
(track 7)
* Dee Long – additional keyboards
(track 11)
* Bosco – percussion
(track 7)
*
Lamya
Lamya Al-Mugheiry (30 October 1973 – 8 January 2009), better known as her mononym Lamya, was a Kenyan-born English singer-songwriter and record producer. She rose to fame in the early 1990s as one of the lead singers of R&B group Soul II Soul, ...
–
backing vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...
(track 3)
*
Tessa Niles
Tessa Margaret Niles ( ''née'' Webb; born 27 January 1961 in Ilford, Essex) is an English singer, best known as a backing singer for a wide variety of contemporary artists. She began her professional singing career in 1979.
Early life and ca ...
– backing vocals
(track 6)
* Karen Hendrix –
vocal samples (track 4)
* Jack Merigg – vocal samples
(track 4)
;Production
*Duran Duran – production
(all tracks), mixing
(track 5)
*John Jones – production
(all tracks), engineering
(all tracks except track 9), sub-mixing, mixing
(track 5)
*Tony Taverner – live drum session engineering
(tracks 1, 2, 7, and 9)
*Stuart Every – assistant live drum session engineer
(tracks 1, 2, and 7)
*David Richards – mixing
(tracks 1–3, 6–8, and 10–13)
*David Leonard – mixing
(tracks 4 and 9)
*Kevin Metcalfe – mastering
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
1993 albums
Albums produced by John Jones (record producer)
Capitol Records albums
Duran Duran albums
Parlophone albums