Word: medazzaland
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...first track, which is the title track, sounds like Art of Noise meets the laughter from Josh Wink's house record "Don't Laugh," meets, well, Duran Duran. It is a slow and "trippy" number, with LeBon's muted voice welcoming the listener to Medazzaland, whatever Medazzaland is. This is not the Duran Duran of our youth; it is, instead, a slowed down electronic journey to an indeterminate place. Although it doesn't get us gyrating in the aisles, it'll keep you listening, if only to question, what caper the boys have gotten themselves involved...
...Medazzaland also features Duran Duran's noir contribution to the soundtrack of the movie The Saint, "Out of My Mind." Like the majority of this album, this track is slower that Duran Duran standbys. In fact, as Medazzaland progresses, we are brought deeper and deeper into an uncomprehensible world. The last three numbers on the album are almost depressing, with LeBon sounding more like a narrator in a post-modern after-school special that a jet-fueled pop star. "So Long Suicide," "Michael You've Got a Lot ot Answer For" and the questionably titled "Undergoing Treatment" seem to delve...
...epic theater" in the musical world. They have always given us the visual and aural ecstasy that we require, while sacrificing the drama and the meaning (although songs such as "The Reflex" have been known to mean a lot to a lot of people). This aesthetic is upheld in Medazzaland...
...reason Duran Duran fails to tap into today's music market, and the reason that Medazzaland wont be creeping into the top-10 anytime soon, is that their music isn't really about anything. It does not speak about problems facing today's youth or give voice to female angst. It is purely about fun. If you recall, Duran Duran was always about fun--"Girls on Film" anyone? In a world fueled by skepticism and the desire to attach both cultural and critical meaning to anything and everything, it is too easy to ask what in god's name Medazzaland...
...remember that this is Duran Duran, and at on time you, too, bought Seven and the Ragged Tiger (what!) and inanely chanted the lyrics to "The Reflex?" And what do they mean? Medazzaland may not be a wonderful album, but it brings back the element of carefree fun and musical freedom not "to mean" or "to change" that is so lacking in today's Billboard charts (expect for Aqua's "Barbie Girl"). Duran Duran exists because we have always needed Duran Duran to exist, to take us away from the omnipresent ideal of music as a form of self-expression...