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[Robin Robin]

From dd.com:

Mark Ronson was the first to debut 30 seconds of Duran Duran’s “Blame the Machine” on his East Village Radio show. Listen to the clip below!

Duran Duran – Blame the Machine (clip from Mark Ronson)

Courtesy http://www.eastvillageradio.com/

[ReflexOz]

..I know it's not fully finished (still sounds "tinny" and a bit "hollow")....but it SO reminds me of "electric barbarella".

[Minanda]

It does have an EB feeling but the lyrics are very interesting and I like that it feels like Duran.

Btw, I believe that we have 2 song titles now:
King of Nowhere and Blame the Machines.

[space1999]

Hmmm, Space has little to say other than BTM sounds alright. 

A bit light and catchy with distinct echoes of EB which for me isn't the greatest thing because I find EB to be much too simplistic and not a real favourite.  I like the title but again its like EB in that she was some kind of servant android and here again we have reference to machines.  Duran usually does a terrific job of NOT repeating themselves and I wouldn't want them to start here.

However, what I wonder most is that if THIS is the clip they are offering does this suggest that this is the BEST they have to offer out of their recording work with Ronson??  I hope not but we'll wait and see.

SPACE

[Minanda]

space~This is a reference to a different kind of machine if I understand the lyrics correctly.  This isn't about something that needs to be plugged in or use a battery.  It is about a system in society, which is a much deeper level than the lyrics to EB.

[Flaky Bandit]

It does have an EB feeling but the lyrics are very interesting and I like that it feels like Duran.

Btw, I believe that we have 2 song titles now:
King of Nowhere and Blame the Machines.

I just read a possible 3rd title.  "Safe"

[RhondaR]

I think that while it might sound a little similar EB...to categorize it with that song is a little bit premature.  We only heard the chorus...and probably not all of it.  Personally, I hear Sound of Thunder, maybe even a little of Faster than Light in the music.  In any case, it's most definitely a reach back to their roots. 

It's definitely tinny and hollow, but that's just because it hasn't been mixed yet.  The first versions I heard of Virus were like this as well, and that song turned out to be a lot fuller sounding than the "demo".  What I do like is that I can actually hear real guitar.  And drums!!  If I listen close, I can even hear John's bass.  Go figure! 

The lyrics are absolutely nothing like the ones found in Electric Barbarella. At least not the chorus!  I don't have any idea for certain what Simon meant when he wrote them - but my own take on the chorus is that it's all about letting someone down, and that it's not so much because that was what was meant to happen as much as it's how the whole business (machine) works.  I have my own notions as to what could have been meant - but honestly it could be anything from the music business to marriage.    That's the beauty of Simon's writing.  I'm looking forward to hearing the whole thing to see if my initial reaction(s) to the music and lyrics changes...or how it evolves.

All in all - I think it's a huge leap from RCM, and a great one at that.    It's nice to feel positive about the direction of the band after what felt like crossing the Sahara Desert!    It's funny - when Walt and I were getting married, we had to take marriage counseling classes (for church reasons).  In the class, the priest who was doing the ceremony warned us that marriage is a lot like crossing the Sahara Desert.  At first it feels great, then it's a loooonnnnnggggg hot dry spell with occasional mirages, and then eventually - you get to the good part.  It's getting through the desert that will be the hardest, and only the best make it through.  Perhaps being in a rock band is a lot like that!

[Robin Robin]

Rhonda, being in a band IS a lot like marriage, so I think you hit the nail on the head.

And being a fan to a band is even worse in some aspects, right?

But I am feeling optimistic now because I do hear this as a return to their roots and the first bits of the song I heard immediately took me back to the first album (Sound of Thunder - I didn't hear that until you said it, by the way, and now I'm like "YEAH!").

Finally, GUITAR. THERE'S GUITAR!!!!

So yes, I think with this new album... should it ever see the light of day... there is hope.

[space1999]

Good to read others positive thoughts, or hopeful at least!  

I always give the band the benefit of the doubt but like you say it can be very hard, this waiting, waiting, waiting is excrutiating especially when you know the band has completed stuff (or nearly completed) out there gathering dust in a vault somewhere.  

When I was read Andy talking about how the band were lent Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf's place in San Francisco for 3 weeks to work on recording Reportage I then checked out the few interviews on youtube and it got me excited like I was closer to feeling that album's vibe but at the same time it made me feel rather helpless and farther away than ever.  Apparently, he and Roger thought the music the band had done was great but the lyrics just weren't right.  Regardless of that I think I'd take an entire instrumental version of Reportage RIGHT NOW or just live with what they've got so far.  

Hell, if everything's gone so well with Ronson I'd love to know what he would think of the Reportage tracks.  He might just be the one to finally get those lyrics to mesh with that music.  A pipe dream I know but that's about all I've got right now.

I know I should be looking forward to what they've almost completed but more of me wants to close the book on their LOST album by finally being able to have, hold and listen to and let ME be the judge of how worthy or good it is.

SPACE