Seven and the Ragged Tiger. This is the point at which the record label knew what it had and was willing to go whole-hog to get this album out and on the charts. They were right – the band’s gigantic smash “The Reflex” came from this one. But the creative bass lines are absent, and the songs sound…manufactured? The band members themselves have stated they are dissatisfied with this album, as they feel it was way overproduced and had none of the creative raw pop-power of Rio.

I went through the track listing again and again to decide which two deep-track songs to feature. But I only came up with one that is even remotely worthwhile. I previously wrote that my favorite Duran Duran song of all time came from this album. I’m not going to feature that until my final post on this topic.

With that, let’s have a listen to “Shadows on Your Side”. Many of the songs on this album seem to point to a struggle with the band’s skyrocketing fame and the innate human desire to lead a normal life.

That idea couldn’t be more obvious in this song:

Shackled and raised for a shining crowd
They want you to speak but the music is louder than all of their roar
With the heat of the planet’s core

Next up: I’m going to skip ahead to 1993’s second eponymous album, because the band imploded spectacularly in the mid-80’s and didn’t produce much of note. If you’re into this series, I recommend checking out the songs “Big Thing” (a cheeky number that is kind of a reverse euphemism – overtly sexual but not about sex) and “Do You Believe in Shame” (a haunting ode to one of Simon Le Bon’s best friends). I also won’t be going over the band members’ side projects – Arcadia and Power Station – but both albums are great and worth a listen (especially Arcadia’s “Missing” and Power Station’s cover of “Bang a Gong”).