Three out of four of them are, in fact, the same guys who epitomized slick, synthesized, bubblegum pop back in the ’80s and sold some 20 million albums. (Warren Cuccurullo joined the band full time in 1989). But they’re doing everything they can to tell the public that this is a new Duran Duran. On the strength of a hit single, “Ordinary World,” they’re playing what they call “acoustic evenings with Duran Duran” around the world, trying to engineer a comeback based on their music, not their fashion advisers. “We’re better musicians now,” says Cuccurullo. “We’re better songwriters,” says Rhodes. “Now, we’re in control of our own destiny,” says Le Bon.
They called their new album “Duran Duran”-which is exactly what they called their first album. But “Duran Duran” (II) is more sophisticated than its predecessor. It has sensual ballads like “Ordinary World,” with its soulful, wailing acoustic guitar, and in “Breath After Breath” the band collaborates with Brazilian composer Milton Nascimento. Too much of the music is lackluster, just like the old Duran Duran, but when Cuccurollo’s guitar dominates-he used to play with Frank Zappa-it pumps new energy into the band.
Can the group cut its connections to the past and still draw a crowd? “Stations will play old Duran Duran, but people want to hear our new stuff,” says Le Bon. Maybe so, but many of the people at the “acoustic evenings” seem to be fans of the Duran Duran Duran Duran is trying to put behind them. At a recent concert in Paris, just as the band and a small string section struck up “Ordinary World,” a pair of teenagers held up a silk scarf with the group’s past-perfect image sprayed on it in a misty, starlight twinkle. It was as if the ’80s had never died.
