Arena (Duran Duran album)

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Arena
File:Duran Duran album - Arena.png
Live album by
Duran Duran
Released12 November 1984 (1984-11-12)
Recorded"Around the world 1984"
Genre
Length47:54
LabelParlophone
Producer
Duran Duran chronology
Seven and the Ragged Tiger
(1983) 		Arena
(1984) 		Notorious
(1986)
Singles from Arena
  1. "The Wild Boys"
    Released: October 1984
  2. "Save a Prayer"
    Released: January 1985 (US only)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[2]
Rolling Stone[3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[4]
Smash Hits7/10[5]

Arena is a live album by English new wave band Duran Duran, released on 12 November 1984 by Parlophone. In 2004, the album was reissued on CD in remastered form with two bonus tracks.

Background

To cap off the band's highly successful 1983–1984 "Sing Blue Silver" World Tour, EMI released a live album, which according to the sleeve was "recorded around the world 1984".

The album featured most of the band's big hits in a live environment, as well as some album tracks from Rio (1982) and Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983), and a new studio track "The Wild Boys", which was produced by Nile Rodgers, who had previously remixed the single "The Reflex", and had been a member of the disco/funk group Chic.

"The Wild Boys" single was issued with six separate covers - one featuring each individual band member and one of the band collectively.

The album peaked at number six in the UK (24 November) and number four in the US (1 December).

The album was eventually re-issued on 1 June 2004 and included two bonus tracks "Girls on Film" and "Rio". It had also been reissued in 1999 in the Europe as a budget release by Dutch EMI affiliate Disky.

Arena would be the only full-length live Duran Duran release until the 2003 Encore Series of official bootleg recordings from shows in Japan and the West Coast of the US.

Further events

Capitalising on the band's success, EMI turned the album's release into a multimedia event. The concert film Arena (An Absurd Notion), released on long form videotape and broadcast on MTV, was quickly followed by The Making of Arena. These videos featured Duran Duran performing live in Oakland, California between 12 and 15 April 1984. Milo O'Shea reprised his role as the evil Dr. Durand Durand from the movie Barbarella (1968).

The Arena video also featured the extended video for "The Wild Boys", directed by Russell Mulcahy. It was meant to be a teaser for a full-length feature film of the same name, based on the 1971 novel The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead by William S. Burroughs. The film was never made.

Also released were a board game called Into the Arena, a series of collectible cards, the video tour documentary Sing Blue Silver, and a book about the tour featuring photography by Denis O'Regan, also called Sing Blue Silver. Both the Sing Blue Silver documentary and Arena (An Absurd Notion) were reissued on DVD in 2004; the Arena DVD features The Making of Arena as an extra.

A differently edited version of Arena (An Absurd Notion) called As The Lights Go Down, essentially just the music with the "plot elements" cut out, was released for broadcast only.

Other live material

Two further live cuts from the 1984 world tour were released as B-sides to singles in 1984: "New Religion (Live in LA)" on the North American single for "The Reflex" and the live "Cracks in the Pavement (1984)" on "The Wild Boys".

"New Religion" was recorded 9 February at The Forum, Los Angeles, and "Cracks in the Pavement" was recorded at 5 March 1984 show at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. This was the day after the concert when the video for "The Reflex" was filmed.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Duran Duran.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Is There Something I Should Know?"4:34
2."Hungry Like the Wolf"4:01
3."New Religion"5:37
4."Save a Prayer"6:12
5."The Wild Boys"4:18
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."The Seventh Stranger"5:05
7."The Chauffeur"5:23
8."Union of the Snake"4:09
9."Planet Earth"4:31
10."Careless Memories"4:07
2004 remastered CD bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
11."Girls on Film"5:59
12."Rio"5:55

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Arena.[6]

Charts

Certifications

Certifications for Arena
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[30] 2× Platinum 200,000^
Germany (BVMI)[31] Gold 250,000^
Netherlands (NVPI)[32] Gold 50,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[33] Platinum 15,000^
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[34] Gold 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[35] Platinum 300,000^
United States (RIAA)[36] 2× Platinum 2,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ "Arena - Duran Duran". AllMusic.
  2. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8.
  3. ^ Sheffield, Rob (24 June 2004). "Duran Duran: Arena : Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 4 November 2007. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  4. ^ Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Duran Duran". The Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  5. ^ "Rimmer, Dave (22 November 1984). "Album Reviews". Smash Hits. Vol. 6, no. 24. p. 25. ISSN 0260-3004.
  6. ^ Arena (liner notes). Duran Duran. Parlophone. 1984. DD2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  7. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 97. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  8. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Duran Duran – Arena" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  9. ^ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 9630". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  10. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Duran Duran – Arena" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  11. ^ "European Top 100 Albums" (PDF). Eurotipsheet. Vol. 2, no. 4. 28 January 1985. p. 9. OCLC 29800226 – via World Radio History.
  12. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  13. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Duran Duran – Arena" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  14. ^ "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".
  15. ^ "Charts.nz – Duran Duran – Arena". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  16. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Duran Duran – Arena". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  17. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Duran Duran – Arena". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  18. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Duran Duran – Arena". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  19. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  20. ^ "Duran Duran Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  21. ^ "Top 100 Albums of 1984". RPM. Vol. 41, no. 17. 5 January 1985. p. 8. ISSN 0033-7064 – via Library and Archives Canada.
  22. ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Album 1984" (in Dutch). Dutch Charts. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  23. ^ "Top 100 Albums (January 3–December 29, 1984)" (PDF). Music Week. 26 January 1985. p. 42. ISSN 0265-1548 – via World Radio History.
  24. ^ "RPM's Top 100 Albums of 1985". RPM. Vol. 43, no. 16. 28 December 1985. p. 14. ISSN 0033-7064 – via Library and Archives Canada.
  25. ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Album 1985" (in Dutch). Dutch Charts. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  26. ^ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts – 1985" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  27. ^ "Top Selling Albums of 1985". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  28. ^ "Top 100 Albums (January 5–December 28, 1985)" (PDF). Music Week. 18 January 1986. p. 11. ISSN 0265-1548 – via World Radio History.
  29. ^ "Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1985". Billboard. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  30. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Duran Duran – Arena". Music Canada. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  31. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Duran Duran; 'Arena')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  32. ^ "Dutch album certifications – Duran Duran – Arena" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved 4 August 2018. Enter Arena in the "Artiest of titel" box.
  33. ^ "New Zealand album certifications – Duran Duran – Arena". Recorded Music NZ. 27 January 1985. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  34. ^ Salaverrie, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (PDF) (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Madrid: Fundación Autor/SGAE. p. 918. ISBN 84-8048-639-2. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  35. ^ "British album certifications – Duran Duran – Arena". British Phonographic Industry. 16 March 1985. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  36. ^ "American album certifications – Duran Duran – Arena". Recording Industry Association of America. 5 February 1985. Retrieved 30 July 2018.

External Links

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