Intro
This is Jason D'Orazio welcoming you to another episode of New Wave Beat. I’ll give a track-by-track analysis of Duran Duran’s third studio album, Seven and the Ragged Tiger. With the resounding commercial and critical success of Rio, Duran Duran fans were clamoring for more. The band struggled with the recording of a follow-up album, but managed to release it in late 1983. In his autobiography, John Taylor was not particularly pleased with the result, but I respectfully disagree. While it doesn't reach the mastery and diversity in sound of Rio, Seven and the Ragged Tiger still offers catchy songs and hooks galore. It's known for having a more poppy sound, but the lyrics throughout represent inner struggle and turmoil. Despite their nascent reputation as hearthrobs, Ragged Tiger is actually light on love/lust themes.
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Is There Something I Should Know?
While it got tacked onto the re-release of Duran Duran's debut album, I’ll talk a bit about the song Is There Something I Should Know, since it came out in between Rio and Seven and the Ragged Tiger.
The song begins with the aforementioned, impassioned chant, reprised in the choruses. The melody's intensity is in between Rio's Save a Prayer and Hungry Like The Wolf. The bass guitar is really good on Something I Should Know, and Simon LeBon’s voice responds with vigor. On the surface, the song seems to be about the narrator wondering how he can win over his crush, though references to “snow” and “blow” hint at a cocaine reference. The accompanying video mostly consists of Duran Duran performing and dancing. They're decked out in matching blue dress shirts and black pants, and the backdrop is full of simple geometric patterns, creating a distinct theme.
There are brief clips of previous videos in it as well. Is There Something I Should Know was a top-10 in the US, and was king of the hill of the UK charts. Duran Duran used the song as a set opener in their Seven and the Ragged Tiger tour.
Union of the Snake
Union Of The Snake starts with a high-pitched synth, soon deftly countered by a subtle guitar section. A saxophone enters the fray at the second verse, and gets a solo, a la Rio in the bridge. LeBon is a bit more restrained than in Is There Something I Should Know?, but his vocals are still melodic and hook-heavy. The synth in Snakeis a bit more eccentric than a lot of the band’s other hits, you make like it as a change-of-pace.
The lyrics suggest Union of the Snake is about one’s inner reptilian nature coming out. References are made to one’s senses breaking, and of course, the chorus, “The union of the snake is on the rise.” The stylistic video, reminiscent of the movie Road Warrior, would be a foreshadowing of theWild Boys video that came out a year later.
Union of the Snake's video features a lizard-like humanoid (union of snake and human) creeping around a desert landscape, tracking the band that’s decked out this time in Indiana Jones gear. Later, in a cool visual, Simon discovers an underground cathedral. Towards the end, he passes out but is thankfully saved. Union of the Snake peaked at #3 in both the United States and United Kingdom, continuing Duran Duran's torrid streak.
New Moon on Monday
New Moon On Monday is the second single off Seven and the Ragged Tiger. The drums are the highlight of the intro, and other instruments soon join in. New Moon On Monday showcases great vocal range by Simon, starting in the lower register but successfully reaching for the high notes by the chorus. As for the chorus, it has a five-note synth riff near the end that's one of the song's best hooks. But it's a hard karaoke song for me because of New Moon's vocal range and my deep voice.
New Moon on Monday could be about feeling euphoria, because of a love interest. Lyrics like “Firedance through the night” capture the narrator's high, while "I keep finding clues that you leave behind” showcases the narrator's attraction to the possible love interest.
The video runs almost a minute longer than the album track or single. It features the band sneaking around the city, fomenting revolution which occurs at the climax. New Moon On Monday was also a top-10 hit in both the UK and across the pond in the US.
The Re-Fle-Fle-Fle-Fle-Flex!
With The Reflex, Duran Duran had their biggest hit, and it still gets decent airplay nowadays (2017).
The album version of The Reflex was solid, but the single version is catchier, adding the famous “na-na-na-na” hook to the song to add to the original’s stuttering of “why-i-i-i” and others. It was remixed by Nile Rodgers of Chic, fresh off producing Bowie. It marked their first (and certainly not not last) collaboration, and was good for Duran's first chart-topper (Rodgers would also produce other new wave bands like the B-52s). Rodgers deepened some of the funky grooves in the song, and spaced out the sonics to let it breath. Effective ideas like these would inject a new element into Duran Duran's music that allowed them greater musical flexibility (and I'd argue longevity). One of many things I like about The Reflex is it's a solid team effort: all the instruments and vocals are present and build on each other. Super fun as it is, I’m not sure what "the reflex" actually is.
The video for Reflex features Duran Duran playing live. While I usually don't prefer this format, I'll give it a pass since they were just a tad busy in the early ‘80s, including a long string of narrative videos which take longer to shoot. Still, Reflex's video captures the electric environment of their early concerts (I wish I could have seen them).
Album Tracks are Good Too!
While Duran Duran are known for their monster hits, they try hard on almost every song and are worth analysis. Ragged is no exception.
I’m Looking For Cracks In The Pavement is a little slower and has some nice guitar work in the verses before Simon starts his vocals. The chorus and its lead-up show some good life. The synths are a bit experimental in the intro. Cool to hear, and are also effective later in the song. The lead guitar is more subtle, but still provides color at the right moments. Lyrics like “My head is full of chopstick” and “If I had a car, I’d drive it insane” suggest the song is about an internal mental struggle, in a similar vein as Union Of The Snake.
I Take The Dice has a strong, high-pitched, four-note synth hook throughout, with another synth layer added on. Meanwhile, castanets and John Taylor’s guitar add to the rhythm. Simon LeBon is melodic as usual and occasionally adds grit as a surpris., For example, on the words, “Braced lips.” The short bridge reminds me of Is There Something I Should Know? Lyrically, phrases like “Just this once, I take the dice” suggest the narrator wants to establish assertiveness in his interpersonal relationships, much like someone commanding a craps table or board game.
Of Crime And Passion tenses up with a heartbeat sound, then suddenly charges at you fast. Simon’s wailing at times and the Taylors’ guitars reminds me of Careless Memories from their debut. It features the most prominent (and I'd say best) guitar work of Ragged Tiger, especially in the bridge. I believe Of Crime and Passion is about being heartbroken, with brutal lyrics like “Falling into the gaping hole where your heart should be”/ Indeed, LeBon is a victim in the crossfire of love and based on the words of Of Crime And Passion, he ain’t too happy about it.
Shadows On Your Side has a killer baseline courtesy of John and again allows Andy Taylor to come to the forefront. The synths appropriately engender anxiety. It is stylistically similar and is a good companion piece to Of Crime And Passion. I have a strong feeling that Shadows On Your Side is, like a lot of Seven and the Ragged Tiger, about personal struggle. The line, “With everybody to say that you’re having the time of your life when your life is on the slide,” might be a reference to the breakneck pace that Duran Duran were going at in the early ‘80s, and that causing both internal and external turmoil.
Tiger Tiger is a relaxing instrumental track that allows the listener to take a breather from an album that moves along at a brisk pace. It allows Nick Rhodes to experiment a bit more with his keyboards, especially early in the song. It leans a little bit to the avant-garde and because of that, I think of it as kind of a prelude to the work that part of the band would do in its spinoff band, Arcadia. But more on that project next time. Like Union of the Snake, the saxophone shapes the song to some extent. The mental picture I have when listening to this track is relaxing on the beach, and I’m curious to hear what you picture.
The last song off Seven and the Ragged Tiger, The Seventh Stranger has a five-note raindrop-like synth that permeates throughout. The lead guitar is catchy and poignant in the chorus. Although one of the slower songs in the album, LeBon delivers good range and energy with this track. Regarding the lyrics, they are profound and I think it’s about ending relationships and then seeing those lovers as if their romance never happened. Lines like, “I look through the eyes of a stranger,” do hint at this. Indeed, The Seventh Stranger is an underrated gem and is a good wind-down to conclude a high-intensity album.
B-Side Babies
The singles around the time of Seven and the Ragged Tiger had a combined three B-sides:
Faith In This Colour is an instrumental that allows Roger Taylor to program a killer drum machine riff. Like fellow instrumental Tiger Tiger, Rhodes gets to play around with the synths. It is pretty good, but I prefer Tiger Tiger, given that the band wanted just one LeBon-less track on the album.
Secret Oktober is a fan favorite. While not my favorite B-side from their early ‘80s era, I still feel it is a solid track. It has a very good vocal range by LeBon and memorable synths by Rhodes. It might be about the lull after a whirlwind of activity. Could it be a reference to the breather the band wanted to take after the craziness of their early ‘80s schedule?
A live version of Make Me Smile is the B-side of The Reflex and is also a cover of a Steve Harley hit. It’s a competent cover. Early on, the song is quite sparse but launches into full energy mode a little less than two minutes in. It is more guitar-heavy than most pre-Ordinary World tracks, so if you like ‘90s and early 2000s Duran Duran, you might enjoy this a lot.
Reception
So with Seven and the Ragged Tiger, Duran Duran continued their whirlwind schedule, performing at sold-out shows at large venues such as the Oakland and Carolina Coliseums. In John Taylor’s autobiography In the Pleasure Groove, there is a picture of him exhausted with an oxygen mask on around the time of this tour. He wrote that he was getting very little sleep and had hit a hard alcohol and drug habit. Well, you could say that Duran Duran was becoming notorious...
And that’s a wrap for this episode of New Wave Beat. Take care of yourselves, everyone!
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