Customer Reviews

Thank You

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Duran Duran all-covers album "Thank You" elicited a predictable knee-jerk reaction from the critics, along the lines of "How dare they?" The critics apparently hoped to keep the "classics" on a pedestal in the Rock `n' Roll Hall of Fame, or somewhere.

The truth is that Duran Duran rocks out, and has fun doing it, on some of their favorite songs. The selection may strike some as odd; no Roxy Music, David Bowie, or other `70s glam icons that Duran hailed as major influences. Rather, the boys from Birmingham take on the gamut of classic rock & R&B: Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, The Doors, Sly and the Family Stone, and a host of other A-list greats. And for the most part, Duran does them justice.

Grandmaster Flash himself appears on the first track, a turbo-charged rendition of his "White Lines," instantly lending street cred to the proceedings. Duran's cover of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" is a lush, dreamy affair in the tradition of their own "Save a Prayer" or "Ordinary World." Reed himself called this the best cover ever of one of his songs; believe him!

Simon LeBon's crooning on Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" gives the song the vocal treatment it deserves, a great improvement over Dylan's Muppet-like phrasing on the original (Dylan was never the best intepreter of his own songs). Elvis Costello's "Watching the Detectives" gets a high-tech, art-rock workout, replete with ambient sound effects. Even the title track works far better than anyone could have expected, as LeBon effectively matches Robert Plant's histrionic delivery.

The production and engineering are simply astonishing; this is probably Duran Duran's best sounding record. Once you get past the audacity of Duran's song selections, you'll find yourself addicted. "Thank You" is simply fun to listen to.

Duran Duran gives their fans a real treat, a sincere "thank you" card for returning them to the top of the charts in 1993. Don't listen to the critics. Accept Duran's "thanks" - you won't regret it!

I'm not a Duran Duran fan at all, although I admit they do write some good songs here and there. I accidently came across this cd and listened to it and I was totally astonished! I'm not into writing reviews because I know people have different opinions and I respect that, but after reading very bad reviews by critics and fans, I had to make my say. I just think people aren't giving them a chance on this album.

Overall, I was very impressed with the creativity, excellent song structures, and musicianship. The first song, they rocked & grooved in "White Lines" but it's going to take a while to get use to Simone LeBon's weak rappin' voice. Even though, the scratchin' was fun to listen to and the beat was heavy and pounding. The follow-up song is a song I love by Sly & the Family Stone,"I Wanna Take You Higher." I loved the guitar riffs in this one, and the ending was cool when everyone is getting down.

After that, Duran Duran came out with some mellower stuff, Lou Reed's "Perfect Day," Elvis Costello's Watching the Detectives," and the classic Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay." To appreciate those songs, you would have to listen to it from beginning to end, and LeBon's singing was excellent.

Then, they did Public Enemy's "911 is a Joke." This time, LeBon's rappin' was great and funky, and I loved the beginning sound of the Mississippi Blues guitar and harmonica. After that came Iggy Pop's "Success," written by David Bowie. This version was awesome and it made me realized they actually picked GREAT SONGS! for the cover cd. Although, I didn't care for the Doors' "Crystal Ship." It's just not that good of a song period. "Ball of Confusion" was unique and interesting, and I enjoyed it. The surprised part is when I heard Led Zepplin's "Thank You." LeBon sounded like Robert Plant totally, but in a unique way. The atmospheric sound of the song was tremendous. The only song they wrote was "Drive by," which was very creative. The song creeped slowly in an intense atmospheric way again, and after it builds up, somebody breaks out in a recorder solo, which was awesome! The finishing song was another part of the first cover tune of Sly's. This time, they band just got into rocking in a soulful way and LeBon was getting down with his singing.

As you can see, I'm loved this cd...I think it has to be one of the greatest cover tunes cd around. I would love to see a good band do some Stones' songs and try to make it fresh and great. I probably won't write another review because this took longer than I thought, but it was worth it. You guys in Duran Duran, I did you righteous. Peace brothers!

So... Q Magazine recently dubbed this record to be the worst album of all time. Hardly. Give the guys in Duran Duran credit for not treading down a worn path with their attempt at a collection of covers. Not only do they choose songs you wouldn't expect from them, but they also take the risk of completely reinventing these works. Sometimes the experiment succeeds wonderfully. Most of the time it doesn't. However, the results are for the most part never less than worthy of a passing listen.

The albums low point is a horrible cover of Public Enemy's "911 Is A Joke". Duran Duran is too stylistically far remeoved from rap and hip-hop for something like this to have even been feasible and I don't understand why it wasn't left in the rehearsal studio. From there on, things only go upwards because they certainly can't go any lower. The opening track, Grandmaster Flash's "White Lines" is decent. A slick version of Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady, Lay" is a pleasant but admittedly watered down version of the original. However, the cover of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" and "Drive By", a reworking of an introduction to one of the bands own earlier tracks, are definitely highlights.

I'm not sure why this album received the critical drubbing which it did. Critics complain all of the time about bands failing to take risks, and yet when a disc like this comes along they seem to yell even louder. I will always give greater credit to a noble failure than I will to something which is safely mediocre. I would put this album in the noble failure category.

Okay, flashback time. The year is 1993. Duran Duran mount one of the most impressive comebacks of recent pop music history, putting out an impressive album with a couple of really good singles ("Ordinary World", "Come Undone") that get critics to take them seriously, attract new listeners, and top the charts like they did back in the day. So what do they do to keep this remarkable comeback going two years down the road? The worst thing possible: Instead of writing some more of their own infectious tunes, they sample a bunch of other artists' work (which is the album being discussed here, "Thank You"). And a lot of it is simply not worth covering, not by Duran Duran, not by the Beatles, not by anyone. No one cares, not even the Durans' own fans, and Duran Duran sink into semi-obscurity again.

"Perfect Day" sounded good when I first bought the album, but now it just grates. "Crystal Ship" is the only song on here that's an interesting cover, and the only truly good song is "Drive By", which basically becomes a retread of their own work, more specifically 1982's "The Chauffeur".

Like other people have said, it's ridiculous to think that Duran Duran were in any way influenced by Public Enemy or Grandmaster Flash. So why did they make this album? Still beats me. If they really wanted to pay homage to their "roots" as they were, why not covers of David Bowie, Chic, even the Sex Pistols? Interesting concept, the covers album, but poorly timed and even more poorly executed. No thank you.

I have heard a lot of cover albums/songs before, but this one is my absolute favorite!!... Duran did an excellent job of honoring the original performers of these songs by doing a superb job at re-creating these songs and adding a little of their own style. Most of them I prefer over the original. A must have for anyone!

Although I'm in the age bracket that most of the original "Durannies" sprouted from, I was never a big fan until around the time of Notorious or Big Thing. Even then, I thought that Duran Duran were some guys who had a few good songs but would never release an album I would consider buying. Boy, was I wrong. Thank You is EXACTLY the album that the band needed to win over people who weren't Duran Duran fans to begin with.

At first glance, it appears to be more of a curiosity than anything else (I mean, how can you take their versions of "White Lines" and "911 Is A Joke" seriously?) Not only are those particular tracks great, but it's a great insight to see the particular music that Duran Duran considers to have had seminal influence on their own music, as unrecognizable as it may be in their own stuff. Also, it's not a bad trick to record cover songs that no one would ever guess in a million years they would record.

The other really neat thing (see how I'm slipping back into 8th grade euphemisms?) is that the range of artists covered is so great (Led Zeppelin, the Temptations, Elvis Costello, etc) that you can't help but have some respect for a band that could take that wide a range and not only bring their own sound to the recordings, but their devotion and love of these songs to the listener.

Wow, a completely great Duran Duran album. I must be running a fever.

I can't believe this is the same Duran Duran I listened to as a teenager. The sound on this album kicks butt! It's great driving music or rocking out to with friends. Cheers!

Be open minded about this album. I held out on listening to it for a long time, finally got it so I could listen to "Drive By", and was very pleasantly surprised. I think Duran Duran had a lot of courage to risk their musical reputation and make an genre-defying album like this. "White Lines" is pumping with energy and wonderful to dance to, I'm sure it's just a joy live. If you stop listening to what everyone says about Mr. Le Bon's rapping, you might find it enjoyable! I think "911 Is A Joke" is awesome, it's got a great beat (you might even like it if you don't like rap!) "Watching the Detectives" and "Lay Lady Lay" are wonderfully juicy, and Simon's lovely voice makes them sexier than ever. "Ball of Confusion" is another underrated, fun, great to listen to track. "Success" and "I Wanna Take You Higher" both stand out as great fast-tempo songs (the only thing I don't like is that, in the latter, the voice of the speaking girl is very annoying.) Of course, "Drive By", the follow-up to one of Duran Duran's greatest songs ever, is a work of art. Worth it, even if you don't like Duran Duran, as it's surprisingly different from most previous or later works. It is a great joy to listen to, and I'm sure the band had a fabulous time making it as well.

Thank You was a real risk taker for Duran given they had resurrected themselves only two years earlier with the Wedding Album. While not perfect it was certainly MUCH better than the critics have led the public to believe.

Seriously, outside of The Beatles what other band in history ever took on the task of covering so many songs and gave the original songs the respect they so rightfully deserve? Duran gave these songs their own taste and flavour yet remained true to the spirit of the originals which was an accomplishment all by itself.

For example, I've hear Lay Lady Lay sung by Dylan and it sounds rushed and stumbly to me, almost as if Dylan had only 20 minutes left in the recording studio to completely record and finish the final version from scratch and was down to his last 50 seconds or so. Duran's version recreates this song making it sound almost entirely new, a significant accomplishment.

Even more surprising is that two of Duran's better cover songs never even made it to the North American album release. Both Needle and the Damage Done and Diamond Dogs were bonus tracks to the Japanese release and would have made the American release much stronger in place of Ball of Confusion and 911 is a Joke.

Some of the tracks don't quite work for me but when they do they are superb. The best tracks, in my opinion, are as follows:
Perfect Day
Lay Lady Lay
I Wanna Take You Higher Again
Thank You
White Lines
Watching the Detectives
Needle and the Damage Done
Crystal Ship
Diamond Dogs
Drive-by
Success

Critics be damned. Always true in the past and certainly true today.

I admit when I first listened to this when it first came out, I didn't like it. But as time passed, I got a little bit older and my taste matured a bit. I gave this a second chance and found that it is really really good. They did an incredible job remaking songs by The Doors, Led Zep, Lou Reed, etc. This is a great tribute from Duran Duran to the artists that originally recorded the songs. Check it out, you won't be disappointed.