this album is overlooked to be sure, but justly so? think about it, LIBERTY received NO airplay in 1990, rose no higher than 48 (i think) on the US charts, and many casual listeners were unaware that the group had released anything in the 90s when they came back strong in 1993. the preceding album, BIG THING went gold and had two no. 1 dance trax - i don't want your love and all she wants is. and the following album - the wedding album - took off like it was 1983 all over again. but in between those albums is LIBERTY. what happened? i think it's a good album, maybe even a very good album, but nothing that special. maybe it's the production. they were kinda going for a straight rock sound with chris kimsey at the helm, and as a result some good material ended up sounding pedestrian.
is LIBERTY a misstep for Duran Duran? or is it an underappreciated gem? i'm a huge fan, but honestly i never really put much time or interest into LIBERTY even when it was brand new. i'm interested to know some of your impressions of this album.

I skipped over it, but then again, the only post-glory days stuff I've really gotten into was the Wedding Album.

i think the problem with Liberty is that it lacked an obvious first single. The Violence of Summer is a weak track. Serious and My Antarctica, both steller tracks, are not really first single material. Liberty needed maybe one or two more really strong tracks to kick start its promotion.

There's a lot of strong material on that album, IMO. 'Serious', 'My Antartica', 'All Along The Water', and 'Venice Drowning' I like a lot.

'The Violence of Summer' I liked as well, but as stated above it's not a strong first single.

All in all, I still enjoy the album, but that may be because of my intense bias towards the group. But if you really want to talk underrated, let's discuss 'Big Thing'.

When Liberty came out, I LOVED it. I played it over and over. Violence of Summer was played a LOT on our "Alternative" radio station and the video did get some airplay as well. That summer, I met them. It was great fun.

Since I'm mainly a Nick fan, this cd really appeals to me, as it has some of the BEST synth parts.


A short review, since I gotta get ready for work.

Violence of Summer is a fun track. I don't think it was that dull. Even though it really doesn't sound like Duran to me. The 12" was a little weird, I must admit.

Liberty. Story of my life. Maybe this should have been a single? Again, sounds nothing like Duran has done before. That's why I love them so much, but perhaps this is why people don't get them. A very soulful track. The brass section and backup vocals work very well. Sounds like something that could have been on the Notorious cd.

Hothead. Everything about this song is amazing. This definitely should have been a single. Just as good as Union of the Snake. The guitar is amazing. Warren Cucurullo really added to their sound. Nick, the keyboard God, just RULES on this. I LOVE when he works the pitch bend. A very complex and well-produced track. Really great percussion as well.

Serious. This is a nice track, but I agree, not strong enough for a single. I do love it, but it took a while to grow on me. All their songs are well crafted. This was really cool when they did it on Unplugged.

All Along the Water. Who was doing music like this back then? Love the lyrics in this one. Nick's keyboard licks are GREAT as well. Some of the breaks rival Prince's music. I'm not kidding!

My Antarctica. Beautiful. No question. The piano and etheral keyboard sounds work very well together. The lyrics and melody are just dreamy. Obviously I tend to focus on Simon and Nick, but John's baseline works really well here. The thing about John's base parts is that they are unobtrusive. They support the song.

First Impression. My first impression of this was. One of the few Duran songs I don't care for. I can get into it for fun. My God, I know the words.

Read My Lips. A great intro. Very sexy. Again, I hear some Prince comparison, and it's not just the 80's drum sounds. Put the headphones on and just groove to this. The keyboard breakdown at 1:50 DRIVES ME CRAZY! Love the lyrics and melody on this one. Once again the guitar is Warren all the way.

Can You Deal With It? This whole album is just full of great tracks. Funky baseline on this one. The rhythm piano part is killer. Good solid drumming on this one. Everything is great on this one.


Venice Drowning. An erie track. Love it. I'm listening with headphones and I can hear so much in this track. Their mixing is genius. The drums go all around you, beat by beat. I wonder if some of those are Linn sounds? Love this all the way through. Everything about it.

Downtown. Keyboards work very well with the guitar on this one for the intro. Lots of tracks on this album keep reminding me of Darlin Nikki. Probably the tempo and the sexiness. Brilliant.

As much as I've listened to this album and loved it, I've never tried to analyze it like this. Listening to all the parts and trying to focus on things other than the vocals and keyboards is making me realize what a great album this is, production-wise and compositionally. Are those words?

Produced, Arranged, Composed and Performed by my favorite band, Duran Duran.

That was fun!

Good review, Vina! No need to reiterate since you summed it up quite nicely.

Liberty is actually one of my favorite Duran albums. This disc is sooo underrated. I agree that the choice of singles was part of the problem, as well as a lack of promotion by Crapital records (it doesn't help that Duran didn't tour for this one). VOS was my least favorite track on this disc, and I've never felt it should have been the lead single. The song is a goofy number, that should probably remained a fun album opener.

This album really laid the groundwork for The Wedding Album. The nearest analogy that I can come up with is that it is to TWA what The Unforgettable Fire was to The Joshua Tree. Many of the ideas on this album are fleshed out more fully on the next (but I personally like the originality of this one more). "My Antartica" is one of their best songs, period! All in all, this is a forgotten classic, and if you've skipped over it, you're missing out on some good stuff!!!

There are great things on ALL of DD's albums, and almost everything post-Notorious is hugely underrated by the music press.

"All Along The Water" is my favorite. I dig songs about water. Maybe its because I'm part fish???

I used to love Duran Duran, but for some reason it quickly faded away.. I cant stand to even hear "Rio" anymore..

Sdldawn said:

Maybe its 'cuz "Rio" and "Hungry Like The Wolf" were played to fucking death!!! Check out some of their other, lesser known stuff.

TheGillman said:

I LOVE Duran Duran, but if I never heard Rio or Hungry Like the Wolf again, I wouldn't mind.

Just like Purple Rain and Little Red Corvette.
[This message was edited Wed Dec 17 15:29:28 PST 2003 by VinaBlue]

Ellie said:

thanks people for your input.
mow more of my in a dd career over view -
the duran album that does it for me is medazzaland. i think it's their best and most overlooked. every song sends me over the top. big thing is stellar too, especially "land," but also underappreciated. notorious has good songs but overall lost under too slick, unimaginative production.
can't say too much about thank you, except it's fun to listen to. despite what NME says, this is NOT the worst album ever recorded! the first time i heard "drive by" the hairs on the back of my neck stood up straight.
seven and the ragged tiger - maybe their weakest ever, despite 3 huge singles. lots of filler.
rio and duran (1981) - obvious classics.
waiting for the next one...

Ugh, I remember when Pop Trash came out in 2000 and all the snotty reviwers gave it 1/5 or even less.

TheGillman said:

or maybe because Rio is an annoying, terrible song...



and it smells like a piece of cheese from the 1980's...


sorry, its true:)

I do enjoy Ordinary World and a hand full of others.. but my love for them has passed.. I doubt I'll ever go back, my musical tastes have out grown them.

Ellie said:

I have to listen to Pop Trash some more. It sounds sooo unlike a Duran album. I think if it was released by a young, new group it might have gotten more attention. The tracks that stand out on that one for me are Someone Else Not Me, Mars Meets Venus and Hallucinating Elvis.

fms said:

I got some of their new demos...