With John Taylor’s birthday as an excuse, I pulled out
a couple of Duran Duran albums to play over the weekend. I could have gone,
like, totally retro and played Rio, Seven and the Ragged Tiger,
or even the jazz/funk Notorious and been happy, but I chose Astronaut—otherwise
known as “The Original Five Reunion Album”. For one thing, any of JT’s killer
basslines sound fa-boo-lus on the Tiguan’s kickass stereo, and for another,
well, the twisted wordsmith in me has always loved Simon LeBon’s way with a
lyric and he wrote a couple of dandies when O5 got back together in 2005.
I’ve always considered him to be a poet rather than a
lyricist, and while I admit that his distinctive vocal style (some call it
“whiny”) can be annoying, he’s a master at using his voice to convey the mood
of the song. He once said that his job as a poet is to knock holes in the wall
between the conscious and the subconscious without breaching said wall. That
way, the darker aspects of human nature are allowed to leak into the light and
be dispelled in relative safety. He can write hit radio candy, but from the
beginning of the band’s career, his lyrics often took the typical “boy wants
girl” theme to a deeper, more contemplative place. As he progressed, his scope
naturally widened to reflect social issues and a more mature attitude to
romance, but he never lost his ability to have fun.
I can’t pick a favourite track from Astronaut—there
are too many goodies in the bag—but I truly love “Bedroom Toys”. It’s a weird,
warped lyric in keeping with DD’s renowned love of “artistic smut”, and SLB
sings it with a genuinely playful humour. I laughed out loud when I first heard
it and even now, ten years later, it’s worth cranking up and singing along.
DD is and has been my all time feel good band; I
cannot be depressed when listening to them, for which I am eternally grateful. Paper
Gods, their 14th studio album, is due for release in
September—too late to be a birthday present, alas—and as devoted as I am to the
bass player, I am eagerly anticipating what SLB brings to this party.
