(REACH UP FOR THE) SUNRISE

Duran Duran

Blimey, there's a name I've not heard in a while. For those who don't know, Duran Duran were massive in the eighties. Absolutely huge. They had a single go straight in at Number One in an era when going straight into the Top 30 first week out was a hell of an achievement, that's how big they were. Even Wham! never did that, although Jason Donovan managed it so that takes the gloss off things slightly. Still, they were big. With videos filmed all over the world (usually somewhere sunny and warm where mirrored sunglasses almost make sense) and frenzied fans having to be scraped off them with a squeegee, life was looking fantastic for a Band With The World At Their Feet. So two of them quit. As you do. Most bands would look back on what they'd achieved and say "We'll settle for that, thanks very much" and disappear for twenty years, only resurfacing for the Eighties Pop Stars Gone Down The Dumper tours that give you something to see while you're holidaying at Butlins. Not Duran Duran, oh no, they were going to keep going and, to be fair, they did. Some of their newer stuff was quality (All She Wants Is), some of it was shocking (Electric Barbarella), but they never stood still, they kept changing (music-wise, personnel-wise, choose one, it'll be the right answer), but their later stuff does have a slight air of "How much longer can we keep going?" to it. I suppose the best thing to do when you discover you're running out of ideas is to get the old gang back together and see what happens. If it works, great, it's a happy ending and everybody loves those. If it doesn't, well, their fans'll still be able to put New Moon On Monday on the record player and remember them as they were. Rather annoyingly, this works really well. Almost too well. If you imagine that Duran Duran never fragmented into Arcadia and the Power Station and stayed as the same five-piece they'd always been and simply carried on, this is exactly the sort of single they'd put out. There's nothing forced about it, no gimmicks (remember White Lines? Dear God), they're just playing a song and apparently having a lot of fun doing it. The spookiest thing is that Roger Taylor's drumming sounds exactly the same as the last time he played full-time (A View To A Kill, yes, it really was three Bonds ago), ie. like a car door being either shut or slammed as necessary, but somehow in time to the music. Now here's why I say it's rather annoying. Sunrise makes me wonder what Duran Duran could've done with this line up. Whatever it would've been, it'd beat the living daylights out of Ordinary World, that's for sure.

CAR WASH

Christina Aguilera and Missy Elliott

Christina Aguilera seems to like her disco classics. First she took on Lady Marmalade and won (the song was definitely the loser there, but to be fair it was four against one) and now she's taking on the Rose Royce classic with Missy Elliott who, lest we forget, wasn't exactly an innocent bystander when you take a closer look at the earlier song. Would you believe me if I told you this single's from a film as well? You would? Oh. Okay then. Generally, the remake stays fairly close to the original, but there are a few differences. Firstly, the bit at the start. The original sounded like everybody was clapping along, having a grand old time, but this time round, the claps are replaced by a sound that can only be described as somebody using a typewriter with absolutely no knowledge of the QWERTY layout. There are also references to the film it comes from ("Car Wash!" I hear you shout. Er... no, it's Shark Tale. Obviously.) and a lot more vocal work from the two leads, some of it helps the song and some of it screams "Let's see you try this at home". I'll leave them to it. This isn't a bad update, but I'm not sure what the point of it was. I mean, Shark Tale, Car Wash - who made that connection? I'd have chosen Bigmouth Strikes Again by the Smiths, but that's just me.