In 1979 Duran Duran featured Nick Rhodes (keyboards and tapes), John Taylor (guitar) and vocalist Stephen Duffy who mixed his F Scott Fitzgerald obsession into New Wave electronic songs propelled by a very primitive drum machine. The line-up changed after only four gigs and Stephen Duffy went on to hone his songwriting skills as a solo singer while Duran Duran discovered a new singer, Simon Le Bon, dreaming up pop classics such as Save A Prayer, Rio, Skin Trade and Ordinary World.
"Stephen's the John Charles of modern pop music (obscure football reference). Or possibly the Alex Chilton – we can't quite decide. Like John Charles he's the most gentlemanlike chap in his field but, like Alex Chilton, he's doomed to toil away with virtually no recognition until the day when everybody claims him as a major influence in their career" - Bob Stanley of Saint Etienne, 1993
Rhodes and Duffy met up again a couple of years ago and found themselves discussing the album they would have made as Duran Duran - a New Wave, electronic record that fused all the cutting-edge, pioneering influences from the ‘70s (Bowie, Kraftwerk, Iggy Pop and Talking Heads) with their love of great songs. Inspired by a tape of their early gigs, the duo locked themselves away in a studio and wrote a whole new album, Dark Circles. The result is a refreshingly modern sounding record, textured with analogue machines but lifted out of the retro ghetto through some timeless songwriting (the beautiful Barbarellas and instantly catchy Come Alive are amongst the highlights) and a cinematic, 21st Century production. Dark Circles is an album born out of youthful enthusiasm, fantastic chemistry and a romantic fascination with the futuristic possibilities of pop music.