Duran Duran Rio Album Deep-Dive
Rio avoids the sophomore slump with upgraded energy and range
Originally recorded in 2017. Edited and re-released for 2025.
Intro
This is Jason D’Orazio welcoming you from New Wave Beat. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving, for those of you in the United States. Now that we went over Duran Duran’s debut album last time, let’s move on to their follow-up, Rio. This album is considered by many music experts to be Duran Duran’s best album, and I certainly agree. Let’s start with the iconic album cover, which was designed by pop artist Patrick Nagel. It inspired me to get another one of his works that my wife and I found at a flea market, which we then hung up in our hallway. Had I found an actual copy of the Rio album cover, I probably would not have chosen it because as Frasier Crane might say, “It would be a little bit too much on the nose.” As it stands, my phone wallpaper is the Rio album cover. It was the first Duran Duran album I listened to besides the Greatest Hits compilation called Decade. A whopping six memorable videos and four singles came out of the album Rio. I will discuss these videos and singles first, then talk a little bit about the remaining tracks.
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