Customer Reviews

Singles 1986-1995

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Everyone knows that Duran Duran was the premier singles band of the 1980s. But "Singles Box Set 1986-1995" shows that the post-"classic" period was nothing to sneeze at. This is a 14-CD collection of the band's singles from 1986-1995, including remixes and B-sides. While it may disappoint some hardcore fans, this boxed set serves as a long-overdue retrospective of an era that has gotten short shrift on other Duran compilations.

Unlike the earlier boxed set, which consisted of vinyl-era singles featuring only 2 to 4 tracks, this compilation features generous CD-era singles consisting of 3 to 10 songs each. Late 80s singles such as "Notorious," "Skin Trade," and "Do You Believe in Shame" illustrate the maturing of Duran's style after the departure of original guitarist Andy Taylor. And 1990s hits like "Ordinary World," "Come Undone," and "White Lines" demonstrate that Duran Duran's staying power extended far beyond the "MTV decade."

Beyond the singles, diehard Duran Duran fans may find it frustrating to get to the good stuff. You have to wade through endless dance mixes and previously released album tracks to find the real nuggets here, which include "We Need You," "I Believe/All I Need to Know," the Simon LeBon spoken word pieces "God" and "This Is How A Road Gets Made," and a cover of Neil Young's "Needle and the Damage Done."

Despite the generous running time, there are some egregious omissions, particularly "Stop Dead" and "Time for Temptation" (outtakes from 1993's "The Wedding Album"). Just about any serious Duran fan would have preferred these over the nine-millionth remix of "Violence of Summer" or "White Lines.". Did we really need two live versions of "Notorious" - especially when the band is obviously out of tune on the second one?

Durannies will argue endlessly about the set list, and rightly so. But in the end, the value of "Singles Box Set 1986-1995" justifies the purchase price. You're paying a little over $3 per disc, which is far less than you would have spent over the years to acquire the individual CD-singles. It's a worthwhile - if maddening - addition to any Duran Duran fan's collection.

This is my new and updated review. The Duran Duran Singles Box Set 1985-1995 is awesome. I am so pleased. I will admit, there are a few things about the set that puzzle me. I am definitly glad that there are more songs on some of the individual CD's this time than with the last set. But the choice of songs baffles me a bit. The CD for "Ordinary World" includes "My Antartica," "Skin Trade," "Save a Prayer," "Hungry Like the Wolf," "The Reflex," "Girls on Film," and another version of "Ordinary World." The extreme Duranie, (I'm just a big Duranie but don't know all the different mixes) might argue that these are different mixes, but I just wonder why they decided to put songs that were from the past on the set verses later recorded songs. I don't know if it was because they were no longer with EMI or what, but it seems like it would have been cool if they could have thrown a few "Meddazaland" or "Pop Trash" singles on the set. It's almost like the "Ordinary World" single is like a mini sampler of the popular older musc. None of the really popular older songs missing from the set "Rio," "Is There Something I Should Know," and "A View To A Kill" can be found on the set. I tale that back, "Wild Boys" is missing and that was a popular single as was "Union of the Snake."

I am so happy with this set because finally we get a lot of mixes of some of the later songs like "White Lines." A few more things that irk me, the individual CD jackets dont have the track listing for the CD on it and the discs are all grey so you have to have the big box or booklet to know the listings on the disc you choose to listen to. Of course you know what the single is based on the CD jacket cover art, but you don't know what the bonus goodies are.

The set also includes some songs that weren't included on previous full CD releases including, "God," "This Is How A Road Gets Made," "Decadance," "Throb," "Yo Bad Azizi," "Water Babies," "The Needle and the Damage Done," and "Make Me Smile," (which was on the first box set on the Reflex single.)

If you have the first set, the second set is a must have so you can sit your box sets next to each other and marvel in all of your little Duran Duran singles! I really, really love the remixes. I have always liked the "Oakland Fonk" mix of "White Lines," and it's nice to have it on CD. The "Violence of Summer" single includes 7 remixes of this song. You get 14 CD singles that were from the albums-"Notorious," "Big Thing," "Liberty," "Duran Duran (Wedding Album), and "Thank You." The single "Burning The Ground," is also included on this set.

The fact that the Durannies continued after their barrage of hits with true musical masterpieces like these is amazing. The new album "Astronaut" is also an aural masterpiece. These guys WRITE the music and lyrics and PLAY the instruments! I find this era of their output the most sumptuous and adventurous. It as also made me revisit their "covers" album 'Thank You' - and I have now actually understood it! They're not the beatles but there is something really intrinsic about the way the put it all together and make art. Thanks, guys.

. . . of the real villian, that is the endless (so it would seem)pursuit of the B-side singles. Unlike the 1st 81-85 boxset, not all the b-sides are present (The Wedding album especially). Maybe it's because by then, because of the introduction of cd's, there wasn't really a so called b-side. However, I suppose that's part of the Duran Duran game for the true fans. Not to despair, this boxset contains many remixes I've never heard or even knew about... so I was estatic over the collection. If I had a complaint about this set it would only be that it stopped at 1995 and didn't include the Medazzaland material. Otherwise a true gem to my Duran Duran song collection. Truly amazing!

I'm so glad I spent the money (finally) to purchase this boxed set! I'm a really big fan of the 12 inch singles that the band used to sell, and it is great to get a few of the old favorites on this set as well as everything that was from the era when the original 5 started to fall off one by one. Very good buy - cover art brings back a lot of memories!

Glad to hear some of these great songs for the first time on CD, but disappointed as usual with the "filler" and as usual the omission of several tracks from the US singles which were only available on cassette. Most notably, "Time for Temptation" and "Stop Dead", b-sides from the Wedding Album, were omitted, just to name a couple off the top of my head. These would have been more appropriate than the repetitive remixes they included.

Contrary to what some fans may tell you, Duran Duran didn't suck after 1985. While the band did lose its original drummer and guitarist (and its bass player in 1996), Duran Duran were still able to generate 2 platinum albums and a handful of top ten hits. "The Singles 1986-1995" covers the group's lesser known material and because it doesn't have early signature hits like "Girls on Film" or "Hungry Like the Wolf," the consumer most likely to buy this is the diehard Durannie. It has 14 discs of their singles, each featuring the original artwork and all the remixes/b-sides. Highlights include the Nile Rogers-produced "Skin Trade" and "Notorious," as well as the megamix "Burning the Ground" and "Come Undone," from their 1993 comeback self-titled album. But the real goodies are b-sides like "I Believe/All I Need to Know" as well as remixes like Shep Pettibone's house makeover of "All She Wants Is," the extended version of "I Don't Want Your Love" and the acoustic version of "Ordinary World." "The Singles 1986-1995" may be a tough sell for the casual listener but is worth checking out for Duran Duran's most devoted fans.

As a faithful fan since the early days, I stuck with Duran Duran even after Roger & Andy split during their 1985 peak. I continued to snatch up every 12" single, album, 45, cd-single, & cassette single I could get my hands on. To now have most of this material consolidated into one package, on one format, is a fan's dream come true.

This boxed set starts off with the band's first appearance as a trio, the "comeback" hit "Notorious." From that moment on, Duran Duran had a hit-or-miss career, as Simon, Nick, & John shyed away from their original new wave sound & explored a more Americanized, dance-rock-funk style- sometimes successfully, sometimes not. Regardless, there is enough good stuff here to make any Duran Duran fan happy- remixes, b-sides, live tracks & other rarities.

The packaging is almost identical to the last boxed set, The Singles: 1981-1985- a small flip-top box with each cd in its own sleeve, featuring the original artwork for each single (although the track listing has been removed on the back of each). Unlike the last boxed set, however, there is no fold-out poster of the band, but instead, there is a booklet with a track-by-track list of credits. Sadly, no photos.

Here are some of the most interesting rarities that I did not have until now:

"God (London)" & "This Is How A Road Gets Made" are both short, spoken-word bits of poetry by Simon from 1988/89.

"Water Babies" is actually a dance remix of "All Along The Water" from the 1990 album Liberty. Rumor has it that the title was a mistake on the pressing of the import single for "Serious."

"Come Undone (La Fin DeSiecle)" is a haunting, vocal & strings-only, ambient re-working of the 1993 hit.

"Ordinary World (acoustic version: Simon Mayo show)" reveals a somber, heartfelt live vocal by Simon & guitar by Warren.

The only complaint I have about the track listing here, is that 3 b-sides from the Wedding Album-era have been omitted: "Time For Temptation," "Stop Dead," & "Falling Angel" are sadly missing. The exclusion of these rare tracks seems odd when there is so much space wasted on older hits that were crammed onto the end of so many of these singles- do fans really need more re-appearances of old hits like "Save A Prayer" & "Rio," when these songs are from an entirely different era of the band? Apparantly the track selection here is based on the U.K. versions of these singles, whose track lists must have varied greatly from the U.S. versions.

All in all, this collection is a must-have for Duran collectors. No more dragging out the old crates of 80's vinyl to hear those long-lost b-sides & remixes! As for the inconvenience of 14 cd's, just get on your computer & make your own CD of favorite tracks! Enjoy!

This collection includes all of Duran Duran's singles from 1986-1995. Also includes B-sides and remixes of the original singles, all of which are worth listening to and adding to your ever-growing Duran Duran collection.

I'm not really into the remixes (but I will admit they are pretty good!), I enjoyed mostly the singles and their B-sides. "Burning the Ground" is mix of all their classic hits added in a dance-beat and song title chanted throughout. "Decadance" is similar to "Burning the Ground," only shorter and has a few new twists added in. "Needle & the Damage Done" great soft rock acoustic cover of Neil Young's song, just beautiful. "Yo Bad Azizi" is funky, it's based on the line "you're about as easy as a nuclear war" from their song "Is there something I should know?" "Throb" is 4 minutes of dance-pop goodness. "We Need You" "All Along the Water" "Water Babies" and "I Believe/All I Need To Know" are all great tracks and you'll enjoy them! Finally, "God" and "This is how a road gets made" are spoken tracks on the single for "Do you believe in shame?" So many good songs! Check them out!

Five stars for an awesome collection. Wished we had more B-sides/unreleased tracks and not so many repeats of previous songs. Also, it's missing one B-side that needed to be part of this collection- STOP DEAD!!! You can find it on the "Come Undone" single, but it's not included with this collection.

Hope they release another singles box in the future! Put those "Astronaut" tracks (Salt in the Rainbow, Beautiful Colors,TV vs. Radio, and Pretty Ones) on it, too!

Much like the first installment of singles, seeing these remixes and b-sides come out on CD in ANY form was a welcome sign.

There are so many good tracks here like "We Need You," "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)" and several excellent live recordings that its hard to overpraise the music contained herein.

The packaging however is tough. All single CDs... I am sure I am not the only one to quickly make a compilation CD of the rare tracks and put the nostaglia sleeves away for safe keeping.

Wish they would have done that for me.....