“All You Need Is Now” is Duran Duran album number 13; unlucky for some, as they say. But for Simon Le Bon, John Taylor, Roger Taylor, and Nick Rhodes, this new long-player (released March 2011) was the one they had no choice but to bet the house on; a venture, perversely, more about not losing than it was winning.

Given that it was entirely self-financed and released, making them not only masters of their own fate but investors risking their shirts to boot, this must have made the sweet sound of anything less than indifference a mighty reassuring thing. Produced by wonder-kid Mark Ronson, and featuring an eclectic team of contributors (from Arcade Fire’s Owen Pallett, Ana Matronic and Kelis, to cellist Jamie Walton and fictional TV news presenter Nina Hossain), the 14-track album is a concise, well-executed stab at nailing Duran DNA in one. It looks both backwards and forwards simultaneously; operating to reaffirm the band’s brand sound, yet doing so in a contemporary fashion. 

Yet for being such a solid offering so late in their game, and not being the first (whisper it) comeback they’ve staged in 30-years, “All You Need Is Now” also goes some way towards suggesting the band might deliver their best work when bucking against the odds. Because, if anything, Duran Duran do seem to have become masochistic masters of the career hill-start--only theirs are pulled off repeatedly facing uphill, not down. Which leads to the conclusion: for all their high profile, celebrity-affirmed presence as a classic pop act, Duran Duran might remain after thirty-plus years in the fame game, a band of outsiders.

Even entering the pop race as they did in 1981 (with debut single “Planet Earth”), Duran Duran did so as veritable outsiders; hailing for the most part from England’s Birmingham, which for all its former musical sons of note (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Slade, Steel Pulse), is generally the last place London-based labels to go to find their next big things. Granted, the first three albums were a fancy dance of pop perfection, but beyond that--and excluding the side-project sit-outs that were the Arcadia and Power Station albums--the band’s career rhythm has been a medley of downbeats to ups.

Arriving after a three years absence, “All You Need Is Now” once again finds Duran Duran’s star stock in the descendant, due in no small part to the limpid performance of previous album, “Red Carpet Massacre;” an album which, as its name sadly suggests, arrived big on smiles via a well-orchestrated entrance, only to be mercilessly cut down and bloodied soon after by critics and--worse still--many fans. Written quickly, and arguably in the spirit of having something to show following the cancelling of intended set, “Reportage,” “Red Carpet Massacre” was not a bad album; just not an entirely good one. A world tour followed which, in contrast to the victory laps of the “Astronaut” reformation outing, sold but hardly soared. Cut forward one Sony contract-dissolving business meeting and three backroom working years later--and no doubt a few tense talks--and Duran Duran have pulled it off again: because “All You Need Is Now” is far better than any thirteenth album by an act clocking thirty-plus years deserves to be.

Launched by the title track--both commercially via its release as a single, and as album opener – “All You Need Is Now” proceeds at pace to revisit, refine and re-purpose the Duran box of pop tricks into a set that could arguably be described as all killer, with no filler. Taut, broad and, despite many tracks running to five or six minutes, never once allowing any one song to outstay its welcome, album number thirteen locates then celebrates the art in life’s party. And so, for every ballad like “Leave a Light On”, there is a sass of strong dance tracks (“Girl Panic!,” “Blame The Machines”), even a return to Duran’s more esoteric art-rock adventures with set standout “The Man Who Stole a Leopard”.

In short, “All You Need Is Now” is a success. Nailing the art in artifice, it is a pure pop album, yet one which never fears more serious conceits. Though, whether it goes the distance and flings Duran Duran back from outside to topside remains to be seen. It’s doubtful; success like they tasted first time out is rare, not least in these times of accelerated media turnover. But in a world of gloom, hedonism will always be required. Echoing Simon Le Bon’s infamous line in their very first interview (for Sounds magazine, as reported by Betty Page in 1981), when the singer stated his band wanted to be the ones people danced to “when The Bomb dropped,” Duran Duran are back, brazen as ever--and who cares about the bad times, splits, spats, duds and critical moans, because all we only truly need... is now.

Photo: Teajay Smith Pearsall