Customer Reviews

Seven & The Ragged Tiger

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm a Duran Duran fan from way, way back. Like many of the reviewers here, I always felt that one of the band's strong suits had to be Simon Le Bon's lyrics. Nowhere is his gift more evident, to me, than on "Seventh Stranger." Here's just one example from that song: "A year of Sundays seems to have drifted right by, I could have sworn, in one evening."
I do think the album deserves a repeat listen lo, these many years later. I always felt that DD got a bum rap, simply because they came in on the same wave that brought in other, very lightweight, synthpop bands. But listen to their lyrics, folks. Here, they are second to none in the genre. George Michael probably still broods that he couldn't come up with comparable lyrics while in Wham!
I wish the band had decided to include "Secret Oktober" ("Union of the Snake" B side) in this album--it would have been a strong addition. The song is just over 2 minutes in length, but is a finely crafted work--again with incredible lyrics. "Racing on a shining plane--tomorrow we'll be content to watch as the lightning plays along the wires and you wonder..." It's an exquisite image.
DD was an unusual band for many reasons, not least of which was that each member of the group was good at what he did. I think that's borne out in this album, and in "Astronaut." Some bands have an instrumental weak link, but DD never did. But, because of some of the company they kept on the charts and in the clubs, somehow, a lot of the critics managed to overlook the talent, preferring to focus on their penchant for odd clothes and hair dye.
"Seven and the Ragged Tiger" is not a perfect album. But it is certainly in the top five of its genre. It also holds up surprisingly well this many years down the line. Even "The Reflex" really doesn't sound dated. The album deserves to be more than a musical footnote--it did define a sound. It's still worth a listen.

Duran Duran became mega stars after their second album, Rio, became a smash hit worldwide thanks in equal parts to radio friendly songs and glamorous videos. Their third album, the bizarrely titled Seven & The Ragged Tiger, is again filled with big hooks and hits, but also with a bit more of an edge. The album's first single, "Union Of The Snake" is one of their most challenging and experimental songs. The song has a catchy hook built around a slinky guitar riff and a Moroccan vibe. There is a jazzy saxophone solo in the break and is flush with synth flourishes that give the song a mysterious and sensual sound. It peaked at number three on the charts. "New Moon On Monday" was the second single and is a straightforward song in the classic new romantic vein. The band produced a Thriller like, 20-minute video to accompany the song involving some bizarre underground resistance group in France. It helped propel the song to peak at number ten. The third single became the band's first US number one, "The Reflex". The album version differs from the single, which was remixed, as it doesn't have the female vocals that are some prominent in the single version. It is still catchy and quite memorable and one can tell upon first listen why it was smash hit. Other songs have a shiny sound including "(I'm Looking For) Cracks In The Pavement" and "I Take The Dice". The last two songs return the band to the edgier sound that appeared on the last few tracks on their first album. The haunting instrumental "Tiger Tiger" segues into the hauntingly beautiful "The Seventh Stranger" creating two of the finest moments in the band's history.

John Taylor: "We were just drunk [on our new-found success] by this point. We were so into living the dream...and part of the dream was that you made at least one of your albums on the French Riveria."

Nick Rhodes: "I thought the thing was never going to get finished. It really took a long time. There was a lot of different feelings in the band about the direction we should take."

Simon LeBon: "We started off in the south of France, then we went to Mt. Surratt, came back to the U.K. briefly and ended up finishing it off in Austrailia...Sydney. It was a difficult time. It really was."

John Taylor: "We re-recorded it like three times. We did it once and said, 'Nah, this isn't right.' Did it again, said, 'Eh.'"

Nick Rhodes: "To me that album, more than any of them, on the surface of it seems like there's a lot of pretty songs on there, but then underneath there there's this sort of not quite controllable hysteria scratching away at the surface."

The last of the great Duran Duran albums, & one of the last albums of the New Romantic era, that was given its rightfull success (let's all agree the failure of later records by Culture Club was undeserved). Duran Duran made a few more timeless classics, the singles 'Wild Boys' & 'A View To A Kill', & their offshot gruop, Arcadia, made a wonderful album. But of the great Duran albums, this was the very last.

The album kicks off with 'The Reflex', one of their greatest hits (US #1), & deservedly so. The song is a dronin', Bacchanalian chant, that goes on for 5 minutes & puts the listener into a complete ecstasy by the time its chorus arrives the first time. Worth the price of the album alone, & far superior to all other versions of that song. The rest of the album is classic, impressive, &, especially the other two megahits, new moon & union, simply superior to everything else. But that ONE song simply beats the universe in splendour...

By the time Duran Duran's 1983 "Seven and the Ragged Tiger" came out, its platinum success was all but guaranteed. At that point, the Birmingham-based group was already a staple on MTV and had their first two albums in Billboard's Top Ten. Typically, each Duran Duran album sounds different from the one that preceded it, and the weirdly named "Seven and the Ragged Tiger" is no exception. They replaced producer Colin Thurston (who did the first two records) with Alex Sadkin and Ian Little, who were responsible for Duran Duran's smash hit "Is There Something I Should Know." The result is a slightly arty, more sophisticated sound that bears no resemblance to their 1981 self-titled debut. The record spawned three top ten singles, one of which, "The Reflex," went on to become their first American Number One single. Other interesting album cuts are the dynamic "Of Crime and Passion," "Shadows on Your Side," and the sax-flavored instrumental "Tiger Tiger." "Seven and the Ragged Tiger" has been remastered (there are no bonus tracks), and the sound quality is a decent improvement over the original CD pressing. Narrow-minded rock connoisseurs may scoff at both this band and this album, but "Seven and the Ragged Tiger" is still a fine effort from Duran Duran in its original, five-member lineup.

Although this album may not have aged QUITE as well as Rio, it is a masterpiece. It was the overblown, overproduced, overly-poppy album that Duran Duran absolutely had to do -- and they did it perfectly.

Seven and the Ragged Tiger could have benefitted from some "breathing room" somewhere in the track listing (as in a spacious, breezy, tempo-free song), but at this point in their careers, the members of Duran Duran had no such "breathing room" in their chaotic lives, so I can see why this was reflected in the album.

I am a songwriter and have analyzed the theory behind these songs...let me just say, from a musical point of view, the chords and melodies are fascinating and incredibly original. The sheer number of key changes that go on in these songs, oftentimes without the listener even knowing, is hard to comprehend.

Duran Duran are infamous for not knowing the strength of their own songs. I've seen the set list of their current tour, with that God-forsaken Timbaland/Timberlake record they just released, and I think that these guys just don't know which of their classic songs to play. In terms of Seven and the Ragged Tiger, the biggest blunder of this kind was not including "Secret Oktober" on the album. It is one of the greatest recordings ever made.

Oh, and don't blame Simon for cryptic lyrics. I mean, come on, sometimes even MY head is "full of chopstick." Such lyrics were just his style...and not everyone can be Morrissey.

"Seven and the Ragged Tiger" is England's Fab Five's third album (Number one in the UK and top ten in America!), which is more avant garde and complex than anything we've ever heard before. There will NEVER be a song as brilliant as "Union of the Snake" or "The Reflex" and never will! Buy today. Simon, Nick, John, Roger, and Andy are geniuses!

Seven and the Ragged Tiger is a fantastic album, but is not as good as Duran's previous Rio and Duran Duran. The sound is darker and the lyrics more convoluted. I remember when Union of the Snake came out and no one could figure out what the song was actually about. My favorite tracks would have to be Crime and Passion, Tiger Tiger, Reflex and New Moon on Monday. I love the packaging and all of the concepts behind it. Overall, a good album.

I'm commenting on the remastered sound here, not on the music. However, I will say that Duran Duran are one my favorite groups, and this is a great album overall. Unfortunately, this remaster is dull. The sound level is louder, but that doesn't really mean anything. You control the volume knob. The soundstage is two-dimensional; the dynamic range is squashed; the bass is weak, and the high frequencies are a little distorted. Is the original CD perfect? Of course not. But it didn't sound too bad either. Rio is a different story--the original CD mastering was poor, and the reissue sounds significantly better. Seven and the Ragged Tiger was remastered by a different engineer at a different studio and sounds worse in basically every way. This is one of those cases where you're better off staying with or finding the original issue CD.

OK, you have two bonafide classic albums under your belt, you are dubbed the "fab five," you take over the new music venue (MTV) with a vengence but you are seen through the eyes of the "rock music press" as bubblegum or teeny-bopper music. So you take some time with a new producer (80's miracle worker Alex Sadkin) and go over the top in terms of image and create "Seven and the Ragged Tiger." Even the title screams "Hey, this album is important!"

Unfortuantely, as most albums that are designed to be masterpieces from the start, this album has some problems. The sound is cold and angular even when the music calls for more sympathetic production. "New Moon on Monday" is a great song, but the production here reduces it to an odd anti-ballad with harmonies that sound like something you'd hear on a King Crimson record.

The funny part is that it is exactly this awkwardness that endears the album to its listeners. You listen and you know it doesn't really work, but it's still a lot of fun to hear.

Everytime I hear that "Why-yi-yi-yi" chorus in "The Relfex" I think to myself, "boy that's bad, but boy do I want to hear it again." The bass line alone in "The Reflex" is enough to redeem that tune. Then you have "Union Of The Snake" which really does show what Duran Duran were trying for. Something rock orientated with a pop sense about it. On that song they fire on all cylindars just like they do on "Shadows On Your Side" and "Of Crime and Passion." And even if lyrics like "My head is full of chopstick and I don't like it" (from "Cracks in the Pavement") make you cringe, I'd be damned if Simon Le Bon doesn't make an equally awkwardly worded and constructed ballad like "The Seventh Stranger" work.

Confounding thing this "Seven and the Ragged Tiger," but confoundingly brilliant and worth listening to.