Album Review: Duran Duran, the Wedding Album (1993)

The Wedding Album, released 3 years after the ill-received Liberty was a turning point for the entity known as Duran Duran. Officially a second self-titled album (the first Duran Duran was their debut released in 1981), the body of work affectionately known as The Wedding Album helped pull Duran Duran out of a dated rut and paved the way for success in the 1990's and beyond.

Duran Duran had gone through some lineup changes and at this point, consisted of Simon LeBon on vocals, Nick Rhodes on keyboards, John Taylor on bass guitar and Warren Cuccurullo on guitar.

The cover art of Duran Duran (The Wedding Album) is actually wedding photographs of band members' parents. This was done to differentiate between the first self-titled effort and the second.

There are 13 tracks on this album, starting with Too Much Information. Instantly you can hear the growth and modernization from Duran Duran's previous work. Clean drums and bass run together smoothly in this dance-influenced tune. Listening to the lyrics it's clear Simon isn't saying, "it's good to be back..." he's saying "It's good to be back DESPITE everything." An upbeat tune that's easy to get into.

The second track, Ordinary World, is a rather emotional ballad still maintaining a dance influence. The hook is fantastic and the vocals are almost haunting at times. This song would go on to be the albums first single, winning an Ivor Novello Award and reaching number 3 on US charts and number 6 in the UK. The song is very moving and quite memorable.

Coming in third is the sexy club-style Love Voodoo. I think this song fit perfectly into its era with nice amounts of bass and a beat you can't resist tapping along to. The lyrics match the overall sensual feeling of the music, Simon at one point unleashing the lyrics "Night after night I try to prove/That I can resist you/Tied up inside your love voodoo/Designed to manipulate" with a thick desire in his voice. Its darkness versus its desperate lyrics makes it a true guilty pleasure.