Big Thing (Duran Duran album)

Big Thing is the fifth studio album by English new wave band Duran Duran. It was released on 17 October 1988 by EMI Records. The album reached number 15 on the UK Albums Chart and number 24 on the US Billboard 200.

Big Thing
Studio album by
Duran Duran
Released17 October 1988 (1988-10-17)[1]
Recorded1988
StudioDavout (Paris)
Genre
Length44:48
LabelEMI
Producer
Duran Duran chronology
Notorious
(1986)		 Big Thing
(1988)		 Decade
(1989)
Singles from Big Thing
  1. "I Don't Want Your Love"
    Released: September 1988
  2. "All She Wants Is"
    Released: December 1988
  3. "Do You Believe in Shame?"
    Released: 10 April 1989
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[3]
PopMatters[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[5]

A CD reissue (with one bonus track) was released in 1994. The album was reissued as a three-disc box set on 27 September 2010.[6]

Background

In 1988, the musical climate was changing, veering to a more dance-based groove. Duran Duran were known primarily as an early 1980s new wave and synth-pop act, and the band was sitting at a career crossroads; Big Thing was their stab at maintaining mainstream popularity. Turning to more synth- and bass-heavy grooves than their previous efforts, Big Thing was seen by many as the band's "house music" album.

To get the new music played without preconceived 'teeny bopper band' notions of Duran Duran, the band sent an edited three-minute version of album tracks "The Edge of America" and "Lake Shore Driving" to radio stations, known as "Official Bootleg: The LSD Edit". The promo was credited to the "Krush Brothers", which the band also used in a few surprise live dates. The album also contains two short pieces entitled "Interlude One" and "Flute Interlude" which were more experimental in nature than anything the band had done before. The band would repeat the use of these "interludes" on future albums.

A brief legal challenge surrounded the close resemblance of the melody of "Do You Believe in Shame?" to that of the Dale Hawkins classic "Suzie Q" (more famously covered by Creedence Clearwater Revival). It was judged that there was no intentional plagiarism in this case.

While the album and the first two singles did quite well in the charts, the third single "Do You Believe in Shame?" only reached No. 30 in the UK. A house version of "Drug" which had been recorded with producer Marshall Jefferson in April 1989 was tentatively slated as the fourth single. The album was eventually reissued with the original Daniel Abraham mix of "Drug" as a bonus track, previously released as a B-side to the "Do You Believe in Shame?" single.

Warren Cuccurullo

Guitarist Warren Cuccurullo had begun working with Duran Duran in the middle of the recording of the previous studio album Notorious (1986), after the acrimonious departure of former guitarist Andy Taylor. While he was still not a full band member, nor a true songwriting partner, Big Thing was the first full album with which Cuccurullo was involved. His contributions can be felt 6 tracks of the record including a crazed guitar solo on album closer "Lake Shore Driving".

Contrary to popular belief, Chester Kamen plays guitar on "I Don't Want Your Love" (although it is Cuccurullo who appears in the video).

At the end of the global Electric Theatre Tour promoting Big Thing in 1989, Warren Cuccurullo became a full-time member of the band along with drummer Sterling Campbell. Campbell would stay for one more studio album, 1990's Liberty, while Cuccurullo would remain with the band until 2001.

Dedication

For the first time in their career the band members decided to write personal dedication notes on the album sleeve thus thanking Alex Sadkin who had been killed in a car crash in late 1987, Andy Warhol, who had died in early 1987 and David Miles, a childhood friend of Le Bon's who died of an illegal drug cigarette during the album's creation.

Singles
  1. "I Don't Want Your Love" (September 1988) #14 UK, #4 US
  2. "All She Wants Is" (December 1988) #9 UK, #22 US
  3. "Do You Believe in Shame?" (April 1989) #30 UK, #72 US

Promotional singles
  1. "Official Bootleg: LSD Edit" (as The Krush Brothers)
  2. "Big Thing" (UK and Mexico only)
  3. "Too Late Marlene" (Brazil only)

Track listing

1988 original release

All songs written and arranged by Duran Duran

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Big Thing"3:41
2."I Don't Want Your Love"4:06
3."All She Wants Is"4:34
4."Too Late Marlene"5:08
5."Drug (It's Just a State of Mind)"4:36
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."Do You Believe in Shame?"4:23
7."Palomino"5:19
8."Interlude One"0:32
9."Land"6:12
10."Flute Interlude"0:32
11."The Edge of America"2:37
12."Lake Shore Driving"3:03
Bonus track on 2006 CD reissue
No.TitleLength
13."Drug (It's Just a State of Mind)" (Daniel Abraham mix)4:20

As neither of the UK CDs show the track listings the difference between them can be identified by the catalogue numbers. These are:

  • 0777 7 909582 7 (UK: CDDDB 33) Original 12 track CD
  • 0777 7 898342 2 (UK: CDPRG 1007) 1994 reissue with bonus track

2010 reissue
CD one
No.TitleLength
1."Big Thing (Nocymb)"3:41
2."I Don't Want Your Love"4:06
3."All She Wants Is"4:34
4."Too Late Marlene"5:08
5."Drug (It's Just a State of Mind)*"4:18
6."Do You Believe in Shame?"4:23
7."Palomino"5:19
8."Interlude One"0:32
9."Land"6:12
10."Flute Interlude"0:32
11."The Edge of America"2:37
12."Lake Shore Driving"3:03
  • "Drug" as included here is actually the Daniel Abraham mix included on previous releases, which is how the song was originally meant to be included on the album. The version which appeared on the original album, remixed by Joe Dworniak and Duncan Bridgeman, is included on disc two, labelled "remix".
CD two: Singles and B-sides
No.TitleLength
1."I Don't Want Your Love" (7" mix)3:47
2."All She Wants Is" (45 mix)4:36
3."I Believe/All I Need to Know" (full version)6:21
4."The Krush Brothers LSD Edit"3:30
5."God (London)"1:40
6."This Is How a Road Gets Made"0:47
7."Palomino" (edit)3:30
8."Drug (It's Just a State of Mind)" (remix)4:36
9."Big Thing" (7" mix)3:53
Mixes
No.TitleLength
10."I Don't Want Your Love" (Big mix)7:24
11."All She Wants Is" (US master mix)7:19
12."Big Thing" (12" mix)6:40
13."All She Wants Is" (Eurohouse mix)7:34
  • Tracks 3, 9 and 12 are previously unreleased.
DVD: Big Thing Live – Palatrussardi, Milan, Italy, 12 December 1988
No.TitleLength
1."Introduction/God"1:57
2."Big Thing"4:10
3."I Don't Want Your Love"4:48
4."Hungry Like the Wolf"4:28
5."Do You Believe in Shame?"4:39
6."All She Wants Is/Planet Earth"5:47
7."This Is How a Road Gets Made/Winter Marches On"4:20
8."Palomino"5:47
9."Too Late Marlene"5:52
10."Girls on Film"3:43
11."Notorious"4:54
12."Skin Trade"5:58
13."Is There Something I Should Know?"4:56
14."The Wild Boys/Drug"8:02
15."Band Introduction/Save a Prayer"7:48
16."The Reflex"4:03
17."Rio"3:41
18."The Edge of America"9:42
The Videos
No.TitleLength
19."I Don't Want Your Love" 
20."All She Wants Is" 
21."Do You Believe in Shame?" 

Japanese bonus disc

Toshiba EMI also released Big Thing in a two-disc set, which featured not only the complete album, but a five-song live CD, Previously released as Duran Goes Dutch (US promo EP, 1987):

  1. "Notorious" (live)
  2. "Vertigo (Do the Demolition)" (live)
  3. "New Religion" (live)
  4. "Hungry Like the Wolf" (live)
  5. "American Science" (live)

Personnel

Duran Duran

Additional musicians

Technical

Charts

Certifications
Certifications for Big Thing
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[21] Silver 60,000^
United States (RIAA)[22] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. "BPI".
  2. AllMusic review
  3. Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  4. Bergstrom, John (21 October 2010). "Duran Duran: Notorious / Big Thing". PopMatters. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  5. Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Duran Duran". The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  6. "Big Thing [2-CD/DVD] – Duran Duran". AllMusic. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  7. "Australiancharts.com – Duran Duran – Big Thing". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  8. "RPM100 Albums" (PDF). RPM. Vol. 49, no. 8. 10 December 1988. p. 11. ISSN 0033-7064 – via World Radio History.
  9. Lwin, Nanda (1999). Top 40 Hits: The Essential Chart Guide. Music Data Canada. ISBN 1-896594-13-1.
  10. "Dutchcharts.nl – Duran Duran – Big Thing" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  11. "European Top 100 Albums" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 5, no. 47. 19 November 1988. p. 26. OCLC 29800226 – via World Radio History.
  12. "Offiziellecharts.de – Duran Duran – Big Thing" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  13. "Classifiche". Musica e dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 29 May 2022. Select "Album" in the "Tipo" field, type "Duran Duran" in the "Artista" field and press "cerca".
  14. デュラン・デュランのアルバム売り上げランキング [Duran Duran's album sales ranking] (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on 1 August 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  15. "Charts.nz – Duran Duran – Big Thing". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  16. "Swedishcharts.com – Duran Duran – Big Thing". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  17. "Swisscharts.com – Duran Duran – Big Thing". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  18. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  19. "Duran Duran Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  20. "Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1989". Billboard. Archived from the original on 21 September 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  21. "British album certifications – Duran Duran – Big Thing". British Phonographic Industry. 1 November 1988. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  22. "American album certifications – Duran Duran – Big Thing". Recording Industry Association of America. 20 December 1988. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.