Twenty years since their pop music debut,
Duran Duran issued another greatest-hits collection. As if 1989's
Decade weren't stellar enough, this select package was much more solid.
Greatest showcased the band's early days of glam rock décor and new romanticism to the alluring sophistication
Duran Duran exuded throughout the '90s. The typical synth-powered pop hits are included -- "Girls on Film," "Rio," "A View to a Kill" -- as well as the signature ballads -- "Save a Prayer" -- but it might also receive criticism due to its chronological disarray. Still, that gives no reason to fret, for other goodies can be found throughout. The much-neglected "New Moon on Monday" is featured, as well as the band's mature eclecticism of such songs from the self-titled
Wedding Album -- "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone." The band's experimentation with new millennium electronica found on "Electric Barbarella" again refocuses on
Simon LeBon as the center of the band. A continuity blatantly obvious on
Greatest and the strong commercialism that progressed throughout the band's healthy evolvement is not denied. Those chart-smashing singles from the 1980s made them a force to be reckoned with and an arena favorite. The songs are nearly ageless and they get their due here. It's a cheeky production and a definitive depiction of one of rock's biggest pop bands. ~ MacKenzie Wilson