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Duran Duran - Seven and the Ragged Tiger

Once upon a time the cool boys would trash Duran Duran and the cool girls the boys wanted to get to know, had Duran Duran posters on their walls. They were the best of times, they were the worst of times. Begrudgingly I had to admit they had a few decent ear worms, and their videos were like cool mini movies. It wasn't easy to keep shitting on them, but I tried. I remember going to the mall back in 1984 with my buddy Mike, not that one, the other one, who used to date my wife (that's a story for another day) and we were talking about new music as we walked into a record store and there on the wall was a Duran Duran poster for Seven and the Ragged Tiger and I went into my whole Duran Duran sucks thing, and he looks me in the eye as if he's about to reveal a secret to me. "That's a pretty good album you know." 

I can't remember my response, but it was probably really caustic. I think that was the trip I bought the new solo albums by Dennis DeYoung and Tommy Shaw so I could alternate tracks on a mix tape and pretend it was a new Styx album. Yeah, sad.

It would be a decade after Seven and the Ragged Tiger came out that I'd actually buy a Duran Duran album, and that was 1993s Wedding Album, and by that time Andy Taylor was gone, and so was Roger Taylor leaving John all by himself as the lone Taylor in the band. It was a pretty solid album, and I'd pick up Decade their best of album and come to the realization these guys had a lot of really great songs.

Several decades and a few pant sizes later I found a copy of Seven and the Ragged Tiger in a discount bin and I figured it was time to make up for lost time. Besides, I'd never heard the album before, and here was a decent looking copy, complete with the insert. The vinyl also turned out to be in better shape than expected.

The album kicks off with "Reflex" a song I always thought was pretty cool, and structurally was quite interesting. For a band I always blew off as those guys who made videos, the source material for said videos was pretty intricate and more elaborate than a lot of pop that was floating about in the early 80s. I kind of figured the songs I'd heard before had the most impact, like "New Moon on Monday" and the infectious (I can admit this now) "Union of the Snake" - there aren't really any duds on the album, and the guys actually go big on the album's closer "The Seventh Stranger" where they stretch out and deliver a near six minute opus.

After decades of ridicule (a lot of it from me) Duran Duran would have the last laugh as they would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2022. If you'd told me back in the day they'd be in before A Flock of Seagulls, whose first two albums paved the way for bands like Duran Duran, I'd have thought you were an idiot.

Well guess who's a dummy?

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