This coming week I have dedicated to highlighting something that a lot of bands love to do, side projects. Also as my title suggests I will be talking about artists that went solo from previously successful bands to become successful on their own, something that not every artist is able to do, depending on the talent and attitude of the artist going solo. While the projects I am going to talk about may not have had much commercial success if any, I still love them and I feel they deserve to be talked about.
On a personal note, this week is going to be one of my most stressful in a long time, I am planning to move to another state and so much drama has ensued it could make the writers of Days Of Our Lives salivate over the storyline. But moving past that, I think of this blog as my own little playground and sanctuary to be as happy as I can be by talking about the only subject that can make me feel better no matter what is going on in my life. Music truly is my passion, and no matter where I go in life, I know I can always put on a good song or play a much-loved album and I can feel connected to something that I know is special to more than just me.
So on this first day of side project love, I have chosen Arcadia, the Electronic/Pop side project of Duran Duran. Follow that link for a more in-depth biography, as I am more going on about how great they were instead of a life story. I’m just not cut out for that kind of writing for now at least.Lets do a super-quick recap of 1984 for Duran Duran. They have had a huge couple of years and by ’84 are finally taking a break from Duran. John Taylor and Andy Taylor have decided they want to make an album that is all about the rock and good times that “the biz” means to them. They went off and formed The Power Station with the late Robert Palmer and found success with their singles “Some Like It Hot” and the (not so well done in my opinion) cover of T. Rex’s “Get it On(Bang A Gong)”. The the other three members of Duran Duran, Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, and Roger Taylor grouped up to form Arcadia, an electronic/pop group that focused more on the artistic side of music and focusing on being more “aesthetically pleasing” as Nick Rhodes called it. While Simon Le Bon would later call it the most pretentious album from Duran Duran there were many critics who hailed it as the most brilliant.There were many guest appearances on the projects only album So Red The Rose, including Sting, Grace Jones, and Herbie Hancock.
I must say, I love this album so much I have it not only on my iPod, but on CD, vinyl, and at one point I even owned the cassette. I believe I also have the VHS that was released back in ’85 or ’86. That is how much I love what was ultimately Nick Rhodes’ baby. Anyone who listens to the album that calls themselves a fan of Duran Duran would have to agree. While Simon’s voice and lyrics are obviously an important part of the group, it is really more of Nick Rhodes showing us exactly what he can do with his synthesizers and drum machines. Now I know that Roger Taylor is also considered part of Arcadia, but if you see the videos you notice the utter lack of Roger Taylor in them. That is because he was mainly only involved in the recording aspect of the project. Taylor the drummer also joined up with the other Taylor’s of Duran Duran to help out on the Power Station’s album. Yes, there are many Taylor’s in Duran Duran. On a quick side note, lets discuss them. While none of them are related, try to keep them straight as to who is who. John Taylor, the bassist and the most good-looking of the Taylor three is this one:
It's definitely ok to stare.
Then you have Andy Taylor, the guitarist and, in my opinion, the most arrogant of the Taylor three, and Duran Duran in general:
Really, the most flattering picture I could find.
Then last but not least,not to be confused with the Roger Taylor of Queen, we have Roger Taylor, drummer and probably the shyest member of Duran Duran, although very good-looking in his own right:
Not to be confused with the guy from Queen.
So now that we have the Taylor’s sorted,and we got to see a couple of good-looking guys, I can go back to Arcadia. Their look, first of all, was much darker and more Gothic than their Duran Duran style, but I think if you ask anyone who was there (mainly women or gay men) they looked even hotter this way than they did as members of Duran Duran. I better not get hate mail for daring to mentioning gay men either, I’ve seen the fan fiction, don’t even try to go there! While we laugh at how cheesy and overdone they look now, you can’t help but agree that it worked with the album. Here is a good photo of Arcadia:
See? They aren't smiling, that's gothic...
The band, or mainly Nick Rhodes, derived the name from a Nicolas Poussin painting entitled Et in Arcadia ego or “The Arcadian Shepherds”.Now as for the music, it is very moody and very heavy on the synths but the album was so beautifully done it doesn’t matter really. Not to the hardcore fans at least. I’m sure I’m not the only one that wished the group had done more than one album, but then, I don’t know how much they could have improved on the sound, it was crafted so perfectly the next album would have sounded too forced and even more contrived than So Red The Rose can seem at times. I won’t put up each track, even though I am very tempted, I will only put up the two favorites of mine, which also happen to be the two with good videos to boot! Everyone wins! I will also be so kind as to put up a link to the iTunes page for the album, that way you can check out the album and maybe buy it. That would be pretty darn big of you, to take my advice and buy some good music! I’m rooting for ya!
So first up is “Election Day” or super arty video number one from super arty side project of some really arty (but brilliant) musicians. I know it seems like I’m bashing, but I really am not, since I have found I can also be annoyingly arty myself. It takes one to know one after all. So check out the video and try not to laugh at it too much. It is a perfect 80s video when you think about it. I wish I could find a better quality video but beggars can’t be choosers. This video is also an edited for time version. If you’d like to see it in all of its glory, go here and bask in the glow of the 1980s. If you don’t have the nine minutes required, then just check this out:
So have you recovered from that yet? I know most people today think that what you just watched is horrible, cheesy, or whatever derogatory term you’d normally use for a video of a bygone day, but I love the video. However, I don’t love that video quite as much as the next one, which is for “Goodbye Is Forever”, a miniature Tim Burton-esque video that makes Nick Rhodes look soooooo good. In case you haven’t all ready guessed, I am still just a teensy bit in love with Nick Rhodes. I think he is a genius and being good-looking was just a bonus for me. Yes, I know that he is twice my age but you have to remember I am usually fawning over the Nick Rhodes from 25 years ago, not the Nick Rhodes of today. The Nick Rhodes of today is someone I would kill to have teach me everything he knows about music because he is still a damn genius behind a keyboard. So now, here is my favorite of the Arcadia videos, “Goodbye Is Forever”. I think I must mention that nearly ever track on the album had a video made for it, just because these guys were so awesome like that, and I’m guessing music videos didn’t cost nearly as much as they do today to make. Just watching this video I’m sure you’ll be able to see why:
Low budget or just low tech? Either way, for all of its faults it is my favorite video of the Arcadia period. So, if you all ready knew of and loved Arcadia, I hope this rekindled some memories and if this is your first time reading about it, I hope I inspired you, at least a little, to go here and check them out some more for yourself. I’ll be back tomorrow with a post on Blaqk Audio, the electronic side project of AFI members Davey Havok and Jade Puget. Stay strong until then!
The Girl On The Wall 