Big Thing
Studio album by
Duran Duran
Released17 October 1988 (1988-10-17)[1]
Recorded1987–1988
StudioDavout (Paris)
Genre
Length44:48
LabelEMI
Producer
Duran Duran chronology
Notorious
(1986)		 Big Thing
(1988)		 Decade
(1989)
Singles from Big Thing
  1. "I Don't Want Your Love"
    Released: September 1988
  2. "All She Wants Is"
    Released: December 1988
  3. "Do You Believe in Shame?"
    Released: 10 April 1989
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[3]
PopMatters[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[5]

Big Thing is the fifth studio album by English rock band Duran Duran. It was released on 17 October 1988 by EMI Records. Produced by the band, Jonathan Elias and Daniel Abraham, it continued the sonic musical change the band explored with their previous album Notorious (1986).

Unlike Notorious which was funk and R&B oriented, Big Thing strives for a more diverse approach. Side 1 consists of intense techno tracks with synthesized bass lines and rhythmic guitar riffs, while Side 2 leans towards a more avant-garde feel with a post modern atmosphere. The band features drummer Sterling Campbell and guitarist Warren Cuccurullo, who previously started work with the band on Notorious after the departure of Andy Taylor. Both would become members of the group in 1989.

The album was a moderate commerical success, reaching number 15 on the UK Albums Chart and number 24 on the US Billboard 200. The album received mixed reviews by critics, but some praised the experimental compositions and the band's evolving musical style. The album would be spearheaded by two top 20 hits the first "I Don't Want Your Love" which went to number 14 in the UK and number 4 in the US, with the second single "All She Wants Is" reaching number 9 in the UK and number 22 in the US, the last of Duran Duran's top 10 hits during the 1980s.

Like Notorious, the album would develop a cult following for the band's changing musical direction. A CD reissue (with one bonus track) was released in 1994. The album was reissued again by EMI in 2010.[6]

Background

By the late 1980s, the musical climate was changing, veering to a more techno-based groove. Duran Duran were known famously as a new wave and synth-pop act, and the band was sitting at a career crossroads: they returned in 1986 with Notorious, which was a mature and more funkier album. While the title track was a massive top 10 hit in both the UK and the US, the album was a commercial failure compared to their earlier releases. Big Thing would be the band's stab at sustaining the popularity and hysteria they left behind in 1985.

Work on Big Thing began around early September 1987, while writing commenced the day after the end of the Strange Behaviour Tour for Notorious in January. The band would take some time off before reconvening in Davout Studios in Paris, where they also previously recorded Notorious. These early sessions would result in the compositions "All She Wants Is", "Do You Believe in Shame?", "The Edge of America", and "Lake Shore Diving". Lead singer Simon Le Bon would say, "It was amazing what came out of all that. Sometimes a little embryo of an idea can blossom into something tremendous."

The band teamed up with producers Jonathan Elias and Daniel Abraham to help produce the album. However, the recording sessions would have some issues over the change of musical style, resulting in tensions between the band and the two producers. Elias and keyboardist Nick Rhodes were more in exploring a electronic avant-garde sound, while bassist John Taylor and Abraham wanted to stick to band's synthesized dance pop. In 2010, Abraham reflected on the tensions saying, "Often, John and I worked in the mornings and afternoons, while Nick and Johathan arrived late in the evening and spent the nightworking on the keyboard tracks. John and I were trying to go in a rock/dance mix direction, working on grooves and hooks, while Nick & Jonathan went with the idea of doing more 'experimental' tracks. In particular, Jonathan was really into a lot of old prog rock, like early Yes. I found it incredibly depressing and frustrating that we couldn't find a common thread and work more in synch. Somehow it became pretty antagonistic and I think that was a terrible failure that we couldn't get the two sensibilities to work together, instead producing a somewhat disjointed album."

Musical differences would come to a head when John Taylor nearly quit the group over the mixing of "Drug (It's Just a State of Mind)". According to Abraham John was "really upset over the decision to use a remix on the album instead of the original mix, and he did tell me once that he was thinking of leaving because of what had happened. Aside from hating the mix, he felt it diminished what they had achieved, and I think he thought using a flavour of the day sound would age terribly."

Recording started with the trio and a Linndrum, eventually the band would hire drummers Steve Ferrone and Sterling Campbell, in addition to guitarist Chester Kamen. Guitarist Warren Cuccurullo had begun working with Duran Duran in the middle of the recording of the previous studio album Notorious (1986), after the acrimonious departure of former guitarist Andy Taylor. While he was still not a full band member, nor a true songwriting partner, Big Thing was the first full album with which Cuccurullo was involved. His contributions can be felt on 6 tracks of the record including the guitar solo on the album's closing track "Lake Shore Driving". At the end of the global Electric Theatre Tour promoting Big Thing in 1989, Cuccurullo became a full-time member of the band along with Campbell, who would stay for one more studio album, 1990's Liberty, while Cuccurullo would remain with the band until Andy Taylor returned during the reunion in 2001.

Composition

Big Thing would continue the sonic evolution that the band explored on Notorious, but with a more experimental tone. Side 1 mostly focuses more on edgier techno synth beats which were growing in popularity at the time, which also pays tribute to the band's early new romantic days on songs like the title track, "I Don't Want Your Love", "All She Wants Is", and "Drug (It's Just a State of Mind)". On the other hand, side 2's compositions lean towards a avant-pop sound similar to So Red the Rose by Arcadia (1985), a darker and moodier Duran Duran spinoff group created while the band was on hiatus during their peak on tracks such as "Palomino", "Land", "The Edge of America", and the closer "Lake Shore Diving".

Lyrically, the album holds a more mature and intense passion focusing on love, lost innocence, death, and religion: "Too Late Marlene" deal with regret following the end of a romantic relationship, "All She Wants Is" focuses on materialism in a more dominant feel, "I Don't Want Your Love" as about someone who strives for attention but does not want a relationship, "The Edge of America" serves a metaphor on the band's wavering popularity and poor chart success, and "Do You Believe in Shame?" goes for a more personal tone on death as the song actually pays tribute to three people close to the band that they lost at the time: artist Andy Warhol who died suddenly in early 1987, producer Alex Sadkin who was killed in a car crash a few months later, and Daniel Miles, a longtime friend of Le Bon who died of a heroin overdose during the recording of Big Thing. On the album's liner notes, the band decided to write personal dedications which was the first time in the band's history they would do such.

For Le Bon, "Do You Believe in Shame?" would be the first song of a trilogy dedicated to Miles; the second would be their 1992 comeback single "Ordinary World", and 1997's "Out of My Mind".

Singles

  1. "I Don't Want Your Love" (September 1988) #14 UK, #4 US
  2. "All She Wants Is" (December 1988) #9 UK, #22 US
  3. "Do You Believe in Shame?" (April 1989) #30 UK, #72 US

Promotional singles

  1. "Official Bootleg: LSD Edit" (as the Krush Brothers)
  2. "Big Thing" (UK and Mexico only)
  3. "Too Late Marlene" (Brazil only)

Track listing

1988 original release

All songs written and arranged by Duran Duran

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Big Thing"3:41
2."I Don't Want Your Love"4:06
3."All She Wants Is"4:34
4."Too Late Marlene"5:08
5."Drug (It's Just a State of Mind)"4:36
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."Do You Believe in Shame?"4:23
7."Palomino"5:19
8."Interlude One"0:32
9."Land"6:12
10."Flute Interlude"0:32
11."The Edge of America"2:37
12."Lake Shore Driving"3:03
Bonus track on 2006 CD reissue
No.TitleLength
13."Drug (It's Just a State of Mind)" (Daniel Abraham mix)4:20

As neither of the UK CDs show the track listings the difference between them can be identified by the catalogue numbers. These are:

  • 0777 7 909582 7 (UK: CDDDB 33) Original 12 track CD
  • 0777 7 898342 2 (UK: CDPRG 1007) 1994 reissue with bonus track

2010 reissue

CD one
No.TitleLength
1."Big Thing (Nocymb)"3:41
2."I Don't Want Your Love"4:06
3."All She Wants Is"4:34
4."Too Late Marlene"5:08
5."Drug (It's Just a State of Mind)*"4:18
6."Do You Believe in Shame?"4:23
7."Palomino"5:19
8."Interlude One"0:32
9."Land"6:12
10."Flute Interlude"0:32
11."The Edge of America"2:37
12."Lake Shore Driving"3:03
  • "Drug" as included here is actually the Daniel Abraham mix included on previous releases, which is how the song was originally meant to be included on the album. The version which appeared on the original album, remixed by Joe Dworniak and Duncan Bridgeman, is included on disc two, labelled "remix".
CD two: Singles and B-sides
No.TitleLength
1."I Don't Want Your Love" (7" mix)3:47
2."All She Wants Is" (45 mix)4:36
3."I Believe/All I Need to Know" (full version)6:21
4."The Krush Brothers LSD Edit"3:30
5."God (London)"1:40
6."This Is How a Road Gets Made"0:47
7."Palomino" (edit)3:30
8."Drug (It's Just a State of Mind)" (remix)4:36
9."Big Thing" (7" mix)3:53
Mixes
No.TitleLength
10."I Don't Want Your Love" (Big mix)7:24
11."All She Wants Is" (US master mix)7:19
12."Big Thing" (12" mix)6:40
13."All She Wants Is" (Eurohouse mix)7:34
  • Tracks 3, 9 and 12 are previously unreleased.
DVD: Big Thing Live – Palatrussardi, Milan, Italy, 12 December 1988
No.TitleLength
1."Introduction/God"1:57
2."Big Thing"4:10
3."I Don't Want Your Love"4:48
4."Hungry Like the Wolf"4:28
5."Do You Believe in Shame?"4:39
6."All She Wants Is/Planet Earth"5:47
7."This Is How a Road Gets Made/Winter Marches On"4:20
8."Palomino"5:47
9."Too Late Marlene"5:52
10."Girls on Film"3:43
11."Notorious"4:54
12."Skin Trade"5:58
13."Is There Something I Should Know?"4:56
14."The Wild Boys/Drug"8:02
15."Band Introduction/Save a Prayer"7:48
16."The Reflex"4:03
17."Rio"3:41
18."The Edge of America"9:42
The Videos
No.TitleLength
19."I Don't Want Your Love" 
20."All She Wants Is" 
21."Do You Believe in Shame?" 

Japanese bonus disc

Toshiba EMI also released Big Thing in a two-disc set, which featured not only the complete album, but a five-song live CD, Previously released as Duran Goes Dutch (US promo EP, 1987):

  1. "Notorious" (live)
  2. "Vertigo (Do the Demolition)" (live)
  3. "New Religion" (live)
  4. "Hungry Like the Wolf" (live)
  5. "American Science" (live)

Personnel

Duran Duran

Additional musicians

Technical

Charts

Certifications

Certifications for Big Thing
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[21] Silver 60,000^
United States (RIAA)[22] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ↑ "BPI".
  2. ↑ AllMusic review
  3. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  4. ↑ Bergstrom, John (21 October 2010). "Duran Duran: Notorious / Big Thing". PopMatters. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  5. ↑ Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Duran Duran". The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  6. ↑ "Big Thing [2-CD/DVD] – Duran Duran". AllMusic. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  7. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Duran Duran – Big Thing". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  8. ↑ "RPM100 Albums" (PDF). RPM. Vol. 49, no. 8. 10 December 1988. p. 11. ISSN 0033-7064 – via World Radio History.
  9. ↑ Lwin, Nanda (1999). Top 40 Hits: The Essential Chart Guide. Music Data Canada. ISBN 1-896594-13-1.
  10. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Duran Duran – Big Thing" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  11. ↑ "European Top 100 Albums" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 5, no. 47. 19 November 1988. p. 26. OCLC 29800226 – via World Radio History.
  12. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Duran Duran – Big Thing" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  13. ↑ "Classifiche". Musica e dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 29 May 2022. Select "Album" in the "Tipo" field, type "Duran Duran" in the "Artista" field and press "cerca".
  14. ↑ デュラン・デュランのアルバム売り上げランキング [Duran Duran's album sales ranking] (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on 1 August 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  15. ↑ "Charts.nz – Duran Duran – Big Thing". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  16. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Duran Duran – Big Thing". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  17. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Duran Duran – Big Thing". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  18. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  19. ↑ "Duran Duran Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  20. ↑ "Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1989". Billboard. Archived from the original on 21 September 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  21. ↑ "British album certifications – Duran Duran – Big Thing". British Phonographic Industry. 1 November 1988. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  22. ↑ "American album certifications – Duran Duran – Big Thing". Recording Industry Association of America. 20 December 1988. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.