Kind of odd that Duran Duran would make a video for a song on their first album, while already promoting their second album, and shooting videos for it...

Was it merely something to round out the upcoming video collection? Or more like "while we have Mulcahy here, we'd might as well..."

Unfortunately, "Notorious" by Steve Malins didn't offer any insight on this choice of video... and he didn't really "get it," for that matter. I've always loved the "Queen Mab" bit with Simon, towards the beginning. And of course the use of sound in this video alongside the music is pioneering.

From what I understand, the plots of their videos were not in their hands anyway... but I've always found Nightboat somewhat relevant. It's the nightmare side of Rio.

Thoughts, anyone?

My understanding is they did the vid for the collection, pretty much because they always wished they had one. Like you said, it was probably a matter of doing it since they had Mulcahy there. They did quite a few videos on that collection, and some were for non-single releases ("Lonely In Your Nightmare" & "The Chauffer" spring to mind), so I think the boys were really just getting videos made to songs they wanted to. I really think Duran Duran was the first group to really grasp the concept of the video as more than just a promotional tool, but also an artform as well.

The whole thing is pretty well laid out like a horror movie, and the shambling zombie-like figures certainly add to that feel. To me, this totally works, since the song is quite eerie. I haven't seen the vid in ages, so my memory is pretty rusty. I just remember Simon sitting on a shoreline, with creepy looking zombie types coming out of the woods.

JediMaster said:

they've got simon in something of a trance, and chase roger into one of the houses... we don't know what becomes of him.

i don't know why malins thinks the queen mab speech is a "bad cultural moment." i think it's one of their oddest, and best! the effects are cheap, but highly effective. like the breaking mirror, the close-ups of crabs crawling along the shore...

have you noticed, incidentally, that water is something of an obsession on the first album?

Heiress said:

Oh, I forgot about the crabs!!!!

I've noticed a whole water/weather fixation throughout the first two albums!

JediMaster said:

well, considering that they're BRITISH.... so, were the first records just polite chit-chat?

interesting that they shot their first videos on islands (if not in studios)

seriously, i think Night Boat reveals deep-seated male insecurities about women... what do you think? (i seem to see these everywhere in pop music, tho, )

Heiress said:








Possibly, or just deep-seated insecurities in general. I've always felt the song conveyed a type of fear spawned by isolation. The character sits waiting for the the boat, but starts (presumably) imagining all sorts of horrors stalking him in the darkness and the water. The boat itself seems to be his means of escape, yet Simon's delivery indicates a sort of ominous nature regarding it as well.

JediMaster said:

This is all about women, somehow... Why else did they want to become pop stars so badly? They admit it themselves...

But back to the video... Why do we call boats "she" when the ocean is already a she?

And why is she "the faerie's midwife?" Remember that the old fairies - the pre-Shakesperean ones, that is - were seductive tricksters. Dark women, and the size of a small human being. I call D2's models of this period "the dark ladies of the video."