Rio (album)

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Rio
Studio album by Duran Duran
Released	May 10, 1982 (1982-05-10) September 7, 2009 (2009-09-07) (Special Edition)
Recorded	January-February 1982 at AIR Studios in London
Genre	Rock, New Wave, synthpop, dance rock[1]
Length	42:38
Label	EMI (Capitol Records in the USA)
Producer	Colin Thurston
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau (C-) link
Duran Duran chronology
Duran Duran (1981) Rio (1982) Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983) Alternate cover Alternate Rio cover used on 2001 limited edition remaster
Singles from Rio
"My Own Way" Released: 16 November 1981 (1981-11-16) "Hungry Like the Wolf" Released: 4 May 1982 (1982-05-04) "Save a Prayer" Released: 9 August 1982 (1982-08-09) "Rio" Released: 1 November 1982 (1982-11)

Rio is an album by Duran Duran, originally released worldwide on 10 May 1982, but re-released in November 1982 in the United States. It reached #2 in the UK and #1 in Australia.

The album went Gold in the US on 1 March 1983, and Platinum on 26 April 1983, eventually reaching Double Platinum status. It peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 album chart in the US on March 12, 1983, and remained on the chart for 129 weeks.

[edit] Recording and release dates

The first song to be recorded for Rio was "My Own Way", written and recorded in October 1981, and released as a single in November 1981. The rest of the album was recorded in the early months of 1982 at Air Studios in London, with producer and engineer Colin Thurston. "My Own Way" was re-recorded as well; the album version is significantly different from the single version.

The second single, "Hungry Like the Wolf" was released in the UK on 4 May 1982. It peaked at #5 in the charts on June 26, 1982.

The Rio album was first released worldwide on 10 May 1982, peaking at #2 in its second week of release. The image on the album's distinctive purple cover was painted by artist Patrick Nagel. The cover itself was designed by Malcolm Garrett.

The lyrics of "Hold Back the Rain" - written by lead singer Simon Le Bon - deal with bassist John Taylor's emerging drug problem and excessive lifestyle. ^[2]

The band had their own plans and ambitions for promotion. They reunited with director Russell Mulcahy (who had directed the music video for their first single, "Planet Earth"), and planned the release of a full length video album—eleven videos for the best songs off of the Duran Duran and Rio albums. The band travelled to Sri Lanka and Antigua between tour dates to film the memorable videos for the singles "Rio", "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Save a Prayer", as well as the lesser-known "Lonely in Your Nightmare" and "Waiting for the Nightboat" -- the latter video being a creepy zombiefest set on a deserted island.

While filming the videos, guitarist Andy Taylor contracted a tropical virus and was hospitalized on his return to England. ^[3] This forced the delay of Duran Duran's European tour, and the record company decided to hold the release of the third single until the band was ready to promote it again.

"Save a Prayer" was finally released on 9 August 1982, and peaked at #2 on the UK charts in mid September 1982.

[edit] North American release

The North American version was released on Capitol's Harvest Records label, with rather poor sound quality, and did not perform well chartwise at first.

[edit] Remixes and reissues

Meanwhile, the band had worked with producer David Kershenbaum to create some new dance mixes for their twelve-inch club singles. In September, Capitol collected the remixes and released them on an EP called Carnival. It included "Rio", "Hold Back The Rain", "My Own Way", "Hungry Like The Wolf", and "New Religion", and was released in North America, Spain, the Netherlands, Japan and Taiwan.

Following the success of the Kershenbaum remixes, Capitol changed its marketing strategy on Duran Duran in the U.S. from a New Romantic band (something that was a British phenomenon) to a dance band. Frustrated with their lack of success in the U.S., the band capitalized on the moment and pressed Capitol to allow them to issue a remixed and remastered version of the Rio album in North America. The company agreed, and brought Kershenbaum back to remix the rest of the album.

On 1 November 1982, the "Rio" single was released worldwide. It peaked at #9 in the UK in December 1982.

Capitol re-released the Rio album in the U.S., with Kershenbaum's new remixes in November 1982. All tracks benefited from some minor reworking, but the significant structural differences in the songs on this second pressing (matrix #ST-1-12211-Z13-REI #1) include:

• Kershenbaum "album version" of "Hungry Like the Wolf" (later used on the American 7" single re-release)
• Kershenbaum "nite version" of "Hold Back the Rain"
• Kershenbaum "My Own Way" - drastically different from the original
• Kershenbaum "Lonely In Your Nightmare"

As the album began to take off, Capitol rushed a third pressing of the Rio album into stores, identical to the second, except that the "album version" of "Hungry Like the Wolf" was replaced with longer Kershenbaum "nite version". The third pressing (matrix #ST-1-12211-Z16 #2) is much more common than the second.

These remixed versions of "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Hold Back the Rain" were later released on CD on the Night Versions: The Essential Duran Duran compilation in 1998, and "My Own Way" was released in the 2003 Singles Box Set 1981-1985. However, the Kershenbaum version of "Lonely in Your Nightmare" is only available on the second and third pressings of this vinyl album; it has not yet been officially issued on CD.

On 3 December 1982, the Kershenbaum remix of the "Hungry Like the Wolf" single was released in the US, some six months after its initial UK release. The single included both the album version and the Carnival remix. It peaked at #3 in the US on March 26, 1983.

Part of the continued success of the album was due to the very popular videos, in heavy rotation on MTV. The video album Duran Duran was released (on VHS, Betamax, and laserdisc) to coincide with the North American re-issue of the "Rio" single on 11 March 1983, four months after its original release. This single included the Kershenbaum 7" remix of "Rio" and peaked at #14 in US on May 14, 1983.

The first pressing of 30,000 copies of the Japanese version of the LP (Toshiba/EMI EMS-91037) came with a colour poster. There is a notation on the OBI^{[clarification needed]} that mentions this. Later issues of the album have the notation on the OBI removed and contain only a lyric insert with a bio in Japanese and some photos.

[edit] Versions on CD

All official versions of the Rio album released on CD have been made from the original UK master tapes, and do not include any of the Kershenbaum remixes. This includes the release, in 2001, of a 20-year anniversary reissue, completely remastered from the original.

The packaging on a limited edition version of this release (EMI; 529 9240/Capitol; 72435-25919-0-9) included an alternate version of the famous Nagel cover painting, submitted by the artist along with the first when he completed the commission. (This image was first used for the Japanese 7" single of "My Own Way".)

On April 7, 2009, Duran Duran's official website announced that Rio would be reissued as a 2 CD Special Edition on September 7, 2009 (2009-09-07) in the UK and October 6, 2009 (2009-10-06) in the US. This edition includes the album's original UK vinyl release tracks but adds substantially more to make this a definitive edition (including several tracks that have never been released in CD form as well as previously-released material from Singles Box Set 1981–1985). This issue reached #185 in the UK Albums Chart

[edit] Track listing

All songs written and arranged by Duran Duran.

[edit] UK/US Original LP: EMI 3411

1. "Rio" – 5:33
2. "My Own Way" – 4:51
3. "Lonely In Your Nightmare" – 3:50
4. "Hungry Like the Wolf" – 3:41
5. "Hold Back the Rain" – 3:57
6. "New Religion" – 5:33
7. "Last Chance on the Stairway" – 4:21
8. "Save a Prayer" – 5:33
9. "The Chauffeur" – 5:13

[edit] US Kershenbaum version 1: Harvest ST-12211

1. "Rio" [US album remix] – 5:24
2. "My Own Way" [Carnival remix] – 4:31
3. "Lonely In Your Nightmare" [US album remix] – 4:52
4. "Hungry Like the Wolf" [US album remix] – 4:02
5. "Hold Back the Rain" [US album remix] – 6:32
6. "New Religion" – 5:31
7. "Last Chance on the Stairway" – 4:18
8. "Save a Prayer" – 5:33
9. "The Chauffeur" – 5:12

• Tracks 1-5 remixed by David Kershenbaum. Mixes not listed as such on the album.

[edit] US Kershenbaum version 2: Capitol ST-12211

1. "Rio" [US album remix] – 5:28
2. "My Own Way" [Carnival remix] – 4:36
3. "Lonely In Your Nightmare" [US album remix] – 4:52
4. "Hungry Like the Wolf" [Night Version] – 5:14
5. "Hold Back the Rain" [US album remix] – 6:32
6. "New Religion" – 5:31
7. "Last Chance on the Stairway" – 4:18
8. "Save a Prayer" – 5:33
9. "The Chauffeur" – 5:12

• Same as the first Kershenbaum remix album, except "Hungry Like the Wolf" has been replaced with the "Night Version" of the song. Mixes not listed as such on the album.

[edit] CD album version: EMI (CDP 7 46003 2)

1. "Rio" – 5:33
2. "My Own Way" – 4:51
3. "Lonely In Your Nightmare" – 3:50
4. "Hungry Like the Wolf" – 3:41
5. "Hold Back the Rain" [CD version] – 3:47
6. "New Religion" – 5:31
7. "Last Chance on the Stairway" – 4:18
8. "Save a Prayer" [single edit] – 5:25
9. "The Chauffeur" – 5:12

• Same as the UK/US initial vinyl release, except for the "new" mix of Hold Back The Rain and the shortened mix of "Save A Prayer". Again, mixes not labelled as such on the disc.

[edit] Duran Duran: Rio (2 CD Special Edition)

• Tracks 1-9: Original UK album release
• Tracks 10-14: David Kershenbaum album mixes, released November 1982

CD 2:

• Tracks 1-4: Demos recorded August 28, 1981
• Tracks 5-8: Non album singles and b-sides
• Tracks 9-13: Versions & Mixes
• Tracks 14-15: Digital only extras

[edit] Legacy

In 2000, Rio was ranked #98 in Q magazine's "100 Greatest British Albums". In 2003, it was listed at #65 in the NME "100 Greatest Albums of All Time". In 2004, CMJ ranked it as #1 in their "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1982".

Rio became part of the Classic Albums series when released on DVD on 4 November 2008.

[edit] Singles

1. "My Own Way" (1981)
2. "Hungry Like the Wolf" (1982)
3. "Save a Prayer" (1982)
4. "Rio" (1982)

[edit] Chart positions

[edit] Covers and tributes

The Duran Duran Tribute Album, a 1997 collection of cover versions, included the following tracks from Rio:

• "Rio", by ska punk band Goldfinger
• "The Chauffeur", by The Deftones
• "Hungry Like the Wolf", by Reel Big Fish
• "Hungry Like the Wolf", by 13 Winters
• "Save a Prayer", by Eve's Plum
• "New Religion", by Jimmy Eat World

Other covers include:

• "The Chauffeur", by Tre Lux
• German happy hardcore band Dune recorded "Save a Prayer" with the London Session Orchestra for their 1998 cover album Forever and Ever
• American electronic pop musical project Sleepthief covered "The Chauffeur", sung by Kirsty Hawkshaw, on its 2006 debut album The Dawnseeker.
• Sneaker Pimps covered "The Chauffeur" live.

"The Chauffeur", by Louis Guidone

Alt-metal band Korn's vocalist Jonathan Davis performs "The Chauffeur" on his solo tour Alone, I Play Tour which began in November 2007. Davis has been vocal for years about his love for Duran Duran and cites "The Chauffeur" as his favourite Duran Duran song.

British dance act Shut Up And Dance's 1995 single "Save It 'Til the Mourning After" samples "Save a Prayer" whilst retaining its original chorus.

English band Arctic Monkeys makes a tribute to this song on the lyrics of their debut single "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor", saying on its pre-chorus Your name isn't Rio and I don't care for sand as opposite of the original songs chorus Her name is Rio and she dances on the sand. Also, in 2007, "Save a Prayer" was referenced in the lyrics of "Teddy Picker" from their album Favourite Worst Nightmare: "I don't want your prayer, save it for the morning after".

[edit] Personnel

Duran Duran are:

• Simon Le Bon - vocals
• Nick Rhodes - keyboards
• John Taylor - bass guitar
• Roger Taylor - drums
• Andy Taylor - guitar

Also credited:

• Colin Thurston - producer and engineer
• Renate - Technician
• Andy Hamilton - saxophone on "Rio"
• Malcolm Garrett, Assorted iMaGes, London - sleeve design
• Patrick Nagel - illustration
• Andy Earl - photography

[edit] Accolades

• #95 out of Pitchfork's Top 100 Albums of the 1980s.

[edit] References

• Versions of Rio
• Hold Back the Rain
• [1] (Front page news regarding Rio Re-Release)