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New Music: Duran Duran: "Night Runner" [ft. Justin Timberlake and Timbaland] [Stream]


Duran Duran hopped a hot new sound for "Night Runner", reputedly the first single from forthcoming 12th album Red Carpet Massacre. And, based on the low-quality stream available at EW.com, it's a FutureSex/LoveSound. The new-wave idols are the latest has-beens to hook up with Justin Timberlake's Prince-ly falsettos and Timbaland's sticky thump, perhaps hoping for a little "My Love" blood-sugar-cybersex magik.

This time, Simon Le Bon and J.T. get their sexy on as Tim mouths off on percussion, part of a funky rhythm that's the furthest thing from "Girls on Film" since Girls Gone... digital video. This particular girl might be some kind of vampire, but more likely she just spends all her time in the club, so either way, she's probably hungry. Wolf-hungry.

"Night Runner" isn't Duran Duran's first time turning to a chic producer to stay viable-- that's a tradition running back to 1983 No. 1 "The Reflex", helmed by Chic/Bowie producer Nile Rodgers-- but it'll likely only sound fresh if the last album you bought was their previous full-length, 2004's Astronaut.

Stream:> Duran Duran: "Night Runner" [ft. Justin Timberlake and Timbaland]
[From Red Carpet Massacre; due 10/30/07 on Epic]

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what the fuck? Why are they everywhere?

last time I saw them live they were less than marginal ( as was the album.) However, if my friends come over from the UK I will likely do it al again. XCrosses fingers for free ticketsX

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"Moderate intoxication includes additional abnormalities such as hyperactive bowel sounds,"

Duran Duran is still together?!

I personally have never seen them live at a concert. But I thought they were quite good at Live Earth.
Friends of mine have seen them live, and they all thought they were excellent.

DURAN DURAN
Red Carpet Massacre, the new studio album
Released on Epic, November 13, 2007

Duran Duran's RED CARPET MASSACRE marks an all-time creative high in the band's illustrious 29-year career. Like all good things, it came to those who waited.

By May 2006, after a two-year tour in support of their previous album, ASTRONAUT, Duran Duran had completed 14 songs for a record provisionally titled "Reportage." But according to singer Simon LeBon, "When we sat down and listened to what we had done on our own, we didn't feel we had a lead track, so we got in touch with Timbaland, who was the only producer out there that we knew we all liked." America's most pop-savvy producer was more than happy to help, and a session was duly set up at the Manhattan Center Studios in New York in September of the same year. What none of the band realized prior to taking off in this new direction, however, was that one of their biggest fans, Justin Timberlake, was also keen to get involved in the project, so when they arrived in the U.S., he made room in the middle of his album release campaign to spend time in the studio with them.

But as if this new collaboration wasn't enough to really change things up, in the midst of all this, guitarist Andy Taylor split with the band, and with his departure the remaining four band members opted to change tack and start over completely.

"It was a real revelation working with producers that just understood the 'groove factor,'" enthuses keyboardist Nick Rhodes "And this really brought back the heart and the spirit of Duran Duran. They're an extraordinary team," he continues. "They have a fantastic chemistry in the studio."

"With these guys on board it was as if Duran Duran had been taken and surrounded in chrome," adds bassist John Taylor.

"In the past we always went to the big cities to work with the people that were having hit records on the dance floor," explains drummer Roger Taylor. "When we got to New York last year we found that inspiration again."

With three glorious tracks under their belt ("Nite-Runner," "Skin Divers" and "Zoom In"), the new Duran left U.S. shores and returned to the UK, where they proceeded to make an album that sounded quite different to "Reportage," with a new production team headed by Timbaland's right-hand man, Nate "Danja" Hills, and long-time Timbaland collaborator Jimmy Douglass. According to drummer Roger Taylor; "the first time we met Timbaland we were very impressed with this guy sitting in the corner, Nate Hills. Not only was he one of the most incredible beat guys we'd ever come across, he was also a great musician – which filled the gap that might otherwise have been left with Andy gone. So after the initial sessions in New York, we basically kidnapped him and took him to London. He's got so many ideas. Talent in bucket loads."

Most of RED CARPET MASSACRE was recorded in three sessions: the first with Timbaland, with a guest spot from Timberlake, at the Manhattan Center Studios in New York; the second phase on the band's home turf, Sphere Studios in Wandsworth, London over Christmas 2006, presided over by Nate Hills and Jimmy Douglass. And the final burst at Metropolis Studios in West London, produced by Hills and Douglass in early '07.

And that would have been that, had it not been for a chance meeting in Birmingham in the spring when Simon LeBon hooked up again with Justin Timberlake during his UK tour. "Justin asked to hear everything we'd recorded, and at the end he said, 'I think you need an "Ordinary World" to round things out.'" Duran's 1992 smash, Timberlake revealed, had been his favorite song when he was a pop-crazed 14-year-old. And as LeBon remarks, with powerful understatement: "What goes around, comes around."

A few days later when Justin's tour touched down in Manchester, England, Duran Duran and Timberlake got together in Blueprint studio and spent 36 hours writing and recording "Falling Down" – a tune destined to rank as one of the finest pop songs of the early 21st century and now the first single from their upcoming release. Marking one of Timberlake's first solo productions, this "tempo-ballad," as Justin describes it, is "very Duran Duran. He (Simon) wrote some very melancholic/inspirational/cryptic lyrics that are beautiful," explains Justin. "I think it's certainly one of the best lyrics that Simon's written for a very long time," concurs Nick.

Its parent album, RED CARPET MASSACRE, is consistently bold and adventurous. "We had to let go of most of our old ideas of what it means to be a band making this," notes bassist John Taylor, a point which is expanded by Nick Rhodes: "Most of our producers this time had never worked with a band before, and we'd never worked without a guitarist." "We really had to put our egos aside," adds Roger Taylor. "We've always been very self-contained in the past."

All four band members agree that they have never worked so hard and fast on any album as they did on RED CARPET MASSACRE. The results, however, speak for themselves: a stellar album that is daring and contemporary and yet quintessentially Duran Duran.

"By the time we get to finish an album," explains John, "it always feels to me like 'wow'… there's a book in there. This is another massive chapter in the band's history. We've made a record that we all feel really good about."

Tracklisting, with comments by Simon LeBon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor, Roger Taylor and Timbaland

The Valley
Music: Duran Duran and Nate Hills
Lyrics: Simon LeBon
Co-produced by Duran Duran, Nate Hills and Jimmy Douglass

JT: "This was the breakthrough, the crossover, the song we could build an album around. We set up the gear in the control room and came up with a progressive groove. It ended up becoming the album opener and feels like the perfect track to start our upcoming shows with."

SLeB: "It's about looking at life as moments rather than achievements. It's about making one's way through the trials and tribulations of life."

Red Carpet Massacre
Music: Duran Duran and Nate Hills
Lyrics: Simon LeBon
Co-produced by Duran Duran, Nate Hills and Jimmy Douglass

NR: "Punk electronica – a bit like "Warm Leatherette," the 1979 track by the Normal. Very tongue-in-cheek and very apropos of where we are now in the world with regards to reality TV and the whole 15 minutes of fame existence."

SLeB: "It's about Hollywood 'A-listers' having a go at each other – about the fantasy of celebrity and the media. It's sex, seduction and glamour – all the things we stand for, which is why we made it the album title. We wanted something with teeth."

Nite-Runner, with Justin Timberlake and Timbaland
Music: Duran Duran, Justin Timberlake, Timbaland and Nate Hills.
Lyrics: Simon LeBon, Justin Timberlake and Timbaland
Co-produced by Duran Duran, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake and Nate Hills

NR: "This was the first collaboration we did with Justin, Tim and Nate. It felt like we were in a nightclub. When we finished it we knew we were on the verge of something new."

SLeB: "This reminded me of NOTORIOUS when the band first split and we worked with Nile Rodgers."

Falling Down, with Justin Timberlake
Music: Duran Duran and Justin Timberlake
Lyrics: Simon LeBon
Produced by Justin Timberlake

NR: "It's a really beautiful, fragile song. It was so easy. Sometimes that's the mystery of making music and writing songs. It can be just natural and happens there and then, and other times you can struggle for weeks and not get what you want."

SLeB: "It's about a crash I had when I was racing a motorbike, the thoughts that ran through my mind before I hit the ground. As soon as I got the chorus, Justin was like, 'That's it!'"

JT: "It's easy to be esoteric. It's so much harder to write from the heart. This is an important song for Duran."

RT: "I'd just got back from my honeymoon in St Lucia and the phone rang. Justin was talking about us recording the new 'Ordinary World.' An hour later we were all in a van driving to Manchester."

Skin Divers, featuring Timbaland
Music: Duran Duran, Timbaland, Nate Hills
Lyrics: Simon LeBon and Timbaland
Co-produced: Duran Duran, Timbaland, Nate Hills

Timbaland: "That one hit me instant."

JT: "This is the song that best captures the sense of Timband meets Duran Duran. It wrote itself during a jam and then Tim finished off his parts a couple of months later when he was in the UK – very late at night, after a gig. He came down to the hotel ballroom and just recorded them on a laptop. Fucking genius. When you are that talented you don't need too much technology to create the magic!"

NR: "This is my favorite track. A real hybrid of Timbaland and Nate's grooves and our live playing. It's riddled with hooks."

Box full o'honey
Music: Duran Duran and Nate Hills
Lyrics: Simon LeBon
Co-produced by Duran Duran, Nate Hills and Jimmy Douglass

NR: "I started playing some chords late one night in the studio and it sort of grew from there."

SLeB: "It's my best lyric on the album. I can see the person I'm writing about, my 'queen of tumbledown.' No, I won't say who she is. People seem to be able to really relate to this song. It touches them in an emotional way."

Tempted
Music: Duran Duran and Nate Hills
Lyrics: Simon LeBon
Co-produced by Duran Duran, Nate Hills and Jimmy Douglass

JT: "This is the dance party track. It's arms in the air for French discos."

SLeB: "Nate Hills said before we recorded this, 'D you wanna go up, or go down?' It's about dance-floor politics."

NR: "It was instant smiles as soon as we gave in to our disco temptation. Which is always a good sign. It's like a song inside a mirror ball."

Tricked Out
Music: Duran Duran and Nate Hills
Co-produced by Duran Duran, Nate Hills and Jimmy Douglass

NR: "We set out to do something unusual for the live show, a special moment. Usually the instrumental song is the one that doesn't make the album and ends up as a bonus track, so I'm very happy we all liked this one."

SLeB: "I was going to do a melody over it but then I thought I'd leave it. This gives me a chance to change my shirt during the concert!"

RT: "This takes us back to our roots. 1979, Joy Division, Siouxsie, post-punk with a bit of techno."

Zoom In
Music: Duran Duran, Timbaland, Nate Hills
Lyrics: Simon LeBon
Co-produced: Duran Duran, Timbaland, Nate Hills

NR: "This is a very cool mixture of electro and rock. It feels very super-cyber-futuristic. The drum track was really one take, all the way through."

JT: "Very Timbaland, very Nate, very New York, a real transition track for us."

SLeB: "It's about the Second Life virtual world that exists on the web which Neil Stevenson writes about in his novel Snow Crash, where you can create an avatar. The sound was angular, digital, something from a different perspective."

She's Too Much
Music: Duran Duran and Nate Hills
Lyrics: Simon LeBon
Co-produced by Duran Duran, Nate Hills and Jimmy Douglass

SLeB: "It's about my 16-year-old daughter, Saffron. She was in the studio that day and triggered the lyrics. I didn't know I was writing about her until the second line, 'she's everything head first.' It tells a story. It's a soft moment on the album."

NR: "This is a key track, a storytelling ballad, which touches base with our traditional songwriting."

JT: "We built this up in a very textural way around the chords."

Dirty Great Monster
Music: Duran Duran and Nate Hills
Lyrics: Simon LeBon
Co-produced by Duran Duran, Nate Hills and Jimmy Douglass

NR: "It's about the elephant in the living room. We brought in a sax player for this one and said to him, 'Play something that's really "sick."' And he did, and it really made the track."

SLeB: "It's a song without a chorus. It doesn't pay off in the way that everyone expects."

Last Man Standing
Music: Duran Duran and Nate Hills
Lyrics: Simon LeBon
Co-produced by Duran Duran, Nate Hills and Jimmy Douglass

SLeB: "This one has very soft vocals."

RT: "This is one of my favourites. We did a lot of overdubbing with Dom Brown, the guitarist we use for our live shows."

NR: "The missing link between this album and our last, ASTRONAUT. Simon is so good at assuming a character."

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"Moderate intoxication includes additional abnormalities such as hyperactive bowel sounds,"

Duran Duran are confirmed to perform on GOOD MORNING AMERICA on November 16th.

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"Moderate intoxication includes additional abnormalities such as hyperactive bowel sounds,"

yes bitch. do your homework before you move forward with your faggy fuckery.

DURAN DURAN TO TAKE OVER BROADWAY!

In an unprecedented move, British superstars, Duran Duran, have today confirmed that they will play nine shows on Broadway over a two week period in celebration of the launch of their upcoming album, ‘RED CARPET MASSACRE’, which will be released November 13 on Epic Records.

Performing for over two hours a night on November 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 12 at the Barrymore Theatre on 47th Street and Broadway, band members Simon LeBon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor and Roger Taylor will take audiences in this historic thousand-capacity venue on a musical journey, presenting their new record in its entirety, as well as classics such as ‘Rio’, ‘Save A Prayer’, Hungry Like The Wolf’ and ‘Ordinary World’, with magnificent production values and a completely new stage show. These concerts will be the band’s first dates in support of their exciting new release, which they have worked on over the past year with Justin Timberlake and top producers Timbaland and Nate ‘Danja’ Hills.

With tickets priced at $150, $125 and $75 tickets will be available to the general public from Saturday October 6 at 9 am EST through Telecharge. For information about individual ticket sales call: 212 239 6200. (Outside the New York area call: 1-800 432 7250). http://www.telecharge.com .

In addition, members of the Duran Duran Fan Community will be able to purchase both exclusive VIP packages and tickets for every show from Friday September 28, 2007 at 11 am EST.

For more information please visit http://duranduranmusic.com.

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"Moderate intoxication includes additional abnormalities such as hyperactive bowel sounds,"

I couldn't stand Duran the first time round, and time hasn't improved them.

seriously.
dont get me wrong, theyre both talented. but not good enough to collaborate with greats like duran duran.

^ I might have agreed with you years ago. Duran Duran's "greats" are few and far betwen for the past 15 years.

U.S. PRE-ORDER NOW AVAILABLE FOR RED CARPET MASSACRE!

***The official pre-order of 'Red Carpet Massacre' is open to all Duran Duran fans, you DO NOT have to be a member of the Fan Community to purchase.***

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY OF 'RED CARPET MASSACRE' (US Version) through DuranDuranMusic.com by October 11 and it should deliver on the release date, November 13!

A DuranDuranMusic Exclusive: order the BUNDLE DELUXE VERSION (includes the CD, DVD Extras and special booklets) or the BUNDLE Regular CD, and get a limited edition Red Carpet Massacre mouse pad! This is ONLY available when you order through DuranDuranMusic.com!

Visit DuranDuranMusic.com now for more!

* IT'S OFFICIAL: RED CARPET MASSACRE ALBUM RELEASE DATE

RED CARPET MASSACRE IN STORES

November 12, 2007 - Europe

November 13, 2007 - USA

Visit DuranDuranMusic.com for additional territories and information on the first single from the album, Falling Down.

BROADWAY TICKETS AND VIP TICKET PACKAGES STILL AVAILABLE!

Tickets and VIP Packages are selling fast, but there is still stock available! Visit the DuranDuranMusic.com STORE now to get yours!

MORE EXCLUSIVES ON THE WAY

Concert presales, VIP packages, chances to meet the band, giveaways and new exclusive content are one the way! Don't miss out -- JOIN TODAY!

For more information please visit : : Duran Duran Music : :.



No I am not a member. The band has enough of my money. I hope i get a free copy. A funny sidenote -- a friend of mine was talking to Nick and Nick called Bowie passe and U2 no longer relevant. He said Duran is far better than U2. I was a U2 fan until the Joshua Tree and haven't been into many tunes by them since then , but even I laughed at the pomposity. And anyone who doesn't like at least one song on RIO just doesn't like well crafted pop music. Either that or they're a closet case.

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"Moderate intoxication includes additional abnormalities such as hyperactive bowel sounds,"