Liberty

Liberty is the sixth studio album by Duran Duran, released by Capitol-EMI on 20 August 1990.

About the albumEdit

Although the album garnered a surprise #6 hit for the single "Serious" in Japan, the album was not very successful, and was the first album for which Duran Duran did not perform a supporting concert tour.

Liberty is the first Duran Duran album to feature songwriting credits outside the original five band members. Guitarist Warren Cuccurullo and drummer Sterling Campbell were made permanent band members and given songwriting credits, although Campbell would leave in early 1991, before the band began work on their subsequent hit The Wedding Album.

Writing and rehearsing for the album took place intermittently between May and July 1989; demo sessions took place in August and September, and final recording began on 9 October at Olympic Studios, with producer Chris Kimsey and engineer Chris Potter. Recording, production and overdubbing of the many keyboard and vocal layers dragged on until March 1990, and the result was an album that many fans and critics considered bland and overproduced.

In a 1998 interview with Goldmine magazine, bassist John Taylor admitted that he was struggling with his drug addictions during recording of the album. He said, "When we were in rehearsal, it seemed like we had a great album, but we weren't able to parlay it into a great album in the studio, whatever. I can just remember smoking hash oil, that's all I can really remember about making that album." ^[1]

Vocalist Simon Le Bon commented "We went into a barn in Sussex and started jamming away, and before we got finished, it was like, 'Right we've got the album, let's go and record it now.' And I don't think we got it right; I don't think we were paying enough attention. We were quite self-conscious at the time as well, the way things had been going, and it kind of made us stand outside of ourselves to do the album. But out of that came two of the best songs Duran's ever come up with, "Serious" and "My Antarctica", they're really, really beautiful songs. I don't think it's a bad album, but there's definitely weak spots on it, definitely. I mean, something like "Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over)", it just didn't have a proper chorus, great verse though. Just not paying enough attention, we just lost our concentration."^[1]

BootlegsEdit

A bootleg recording of the demo sessions for the album, titled Didn't Anybody Tell You? surfaced in 1999. It contained many unreleased songs, including "Bottleneck", "In Between Woman", "My Family" (played live 1989 at the Skanderbourg Festival), "Money On Your Side", "Worth Waiting For" and "Dream Nation".

When asked about the bootleg, John Taylor said, "I like coming across things that I've forgotten about. That I've forgotten that we recorded. That's what's really exciting about the Didn't Anybody Tell You? bootleg, because there's so many songs on there that never got finished. They just take me back to that moment. Actually, what I like about that album is that the Liberty album - when we were rehearsing it, when we were writing it was gonna be a great album. I really felt it was gonna be a great album. When we got in the studio I fell apart and the production just wasn't right. It turned out to be a very mediocre album, but at the demo stage, which is what that (bootleg) album is all about, I think there's a great album in there. Could have been great songs."^[2]

Track listingEdit

1. "Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over)" - 4:22
2. "Liberty" - 5:01
3. "Hothead" - 3:31
4. "Serious" - 4:21
5. "All Along The Water" - 3:50
6. "My Antarctica" - 5:01
7. "First Impression" - 5:28
8. "Read My Lips" - 4:30
9. "Can You Deal With It?" - 3:47
10. "Venice Drowning" - 5:13
11. "Downtown" - 5:23

Non-album tracksEdit

• "Bottleneck"
• "Dream Nation"
• "Hymn For The Preacher"
• "In Between Woman"
• "Juice"
• "Money on Your Side"
• "My Family"
• "Worth Waiting For"
• "Yo Bad Azizi"

SinglesEdit

1. "Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over)" (July 1990)
2. "Serious" (October 1990)

Bonus CD (Japanese market only)Edit

As with the previous release of Big Thing, Toshiba EMI would release Liberty in a two-disc set, with a 3" CD (CD3) of remixes:

1. "Yo Bad Azizi" (B-Side of "Serious")
2. "Throb" (a remix of "My Antarctica")
3. "Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over)" (Story Mix)

Personnel Edit

Duran Duran are:

• Simon Le Bon - vocals
• John Taylor - bass guitar
• Warren Cuccurullo - guitar
• Nick Rhodes - keyboards
• Sterling Campbell - drums

With:

• John Jones - programming and additional keyboards
• Tessa Niles - backing vocals
• Carol Kenyon - backing vocals
• Bernard Fowler - backing vocals
• Stan Harrison - saxophone
• Roddy Lorimer - trumpet
• Luis Jardim - percussion

Production:

• Engineered by Christopher Marc Potter
• Assistanat engineer: Michael Bulterworth
• Mastered by Ted Jensen
• Photography by Ellen von Unwerth
• Calligraphy by Ruth Rowland
• Designed at Icon London, Los Angeles

See alsoEdit

• Discography 3: Liberty
• Duran Duran discography

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Green, Jo-Anne. "Your Mission, Barbarella: Find Duran Duran." Goldmine, Volume 24 Issue 456 (January 16, 1998)
2. ↑ Interview with John Taylor, August 31, 2000. Trust The Process (Official John Taylor website).