Ek Tha Tiger Mp3 Songs
Jule Kue
Seven and the Ragged Tiger is the third studio album by the English rock band Duran Duran, released on 21 November 1983 through EMI and Capitol Records. Co-produced by Alex Sadkin, Ian Little and the band, recording sessions took place in France, the Caribbean and Australia between April and October 1983 following Duran Duran's decision to record outside the UK as tax exiles. Unlike their previous two studio albums, the sessions were marred by a lack of productivity and tensions rose between the band members over its direction.
Wanting a change in direction from their previous album Rio, Seven and the Ragged Tiger is a synth-pop and dance-driven record, with emphasis on synthesiser-based textures. The lyrics are ambiguous and cover a variety of topics; lead vocalist Simon Le Bon described the album as "an adventure story about a little commando team".[1] The title refers to the five band members and their two managers; the "ragged tiger" means success. The cover artwork was shot at the State Library of New South Wales and designed by Malcolm Garrett.
The album received poor critical reviews but was a commercial success, becoming the band's first and only UK number one album. It also charted at number eight in the US, eventually going double platinum. It yielded three singles: "Union of the Snake", "New Moon on Monday" and a remix of "The Reflex" by Nile Rodgers, a UK and US number one. Duran Duran supported the album with a worldwide concert tour that yielded several concert films and a live album. It was the last studio album with the original lineup until 2004's Astronaut. In later decades, Seven and the Ragged Tiger has received mixed reactions, with critics finding weaker songwriting compared to their first two records. It was reissued by EMI in 2010.
By 1983, Duran Duran had established themselves as one of the most successful bands in the world.[2][3] They were negatively received by the press and their musical peers but enjoyed commercial success following the release of Rio (1982): the non-album single "Is There Something I Should Know?" spent three weeks at number one in the United Kingdom in March 1983.[4][5] Capitol Records also reissued the band's 1981 self-titled debut album in the United States with an updated sleeve photo and replacing "To the Shore" with the new single to capitalise on its success.[5] Duran Duran underwent an exhaustive press tour and live performances for Rio from March to April before recording commenced on their third studio album.[6]
At the decision of their managers, Paul and Michael Berrow,[7] Duran Duran opted to spend a year away from the UK as tax exiles to avoid paying the high tax rates successful British musicians were required to pay.[4][8] To record their third studio album, the band moved into a three-story chteau in Valbonne, France on the Cte d'Azur in April 1983, utilising the 24-track RAK Mobile recording truck rented from RAK Studios in North London.[2][9][7] According to author Stephen Davis, the idea was for work to ensue amidst the lavender-scented hills above the city.[8] This attracted tabloid criticism. In an interview with The Times in 1995, bassist John Taylor stated:[4]
We were recording in the south of France and pretending we were the Rolling Stones when we were only making our third record. We'd just barely moved out of our parents' homes. We didn't know anything about tax years but our managers did and that's why we were there. And that really began a negative roll of publicity.
Duran Duran escaped some of the large media hype surrounding them, which their photographer Denis O'Regan attributed to the chteau's relaxed atmosphere.[4] The band had ended their partnership with Colin Thurston, the producer of their first two albums,[7] so Ian Little, the co-producer of "Is There Something I Should Know?", was brought in to produce the sessions.[2] At the chteau, the instruments were set up in a large empty room upstairs and wired to the recording equipment outside, forcing the musicians to travel back and forth in between takes to verify it was taping properly.[8] The group worked on demos and ideas for three months.[2][10] Like their previous albums, the rhythm tracks were recorded first, with lyrics written and taped at a later date.[9]
The sessions commenced slowly due to a lack of new material; John said that all their material had been used up for the first two albums.[4] The musicians were burned out, so creativity was low.[11] Little later verified that "nothing had been written in advance, so the biggest starting point they'd ever have would be another song".[2] Workdays did not start until 4 p.m. due to the antics of the band members, particularly John, and only lasted a couple of hours.[4][8] The musicians briefly went to Cannes to visit the music video set of Elton John's "I'm Still Standing", directed by Duran Duran's own video director Russell Mulcahy.[9][8] On several occasions, the band members individually flew back to the UK for other commitments.[8] Reflecting in his 2008 memoir, guitarist Andy Taylor stated that "it was the start of the megadamage" due to the acceleration of his and John's cocaine addictions.[9]
Throughout the recording days, Duran Duran primarily wrote through jam sessions, receiving feedback from Little on which parts were worth developing further. The producer gave the band a songwriting method he had learned working with Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry and Phil Manzanera, wherein he would create a groove using a programmed drum with effects on top. Little explained: "Bryan would then vamp on the keyboard and produce what he called a 'moody synth' sound, which was like a pad sound with plenty of movement and character. That would enable him to get a lot of feeling out of a couple of chords, and Duran Duran did the same thing."[2] Using the method, the group yielded what author Steve Malins called several "embryonic ideas", a demo of "Union of the Snake" and an unreleased track titled "Seven and the Ragged Tiger", parts of which evolved into "The Seventh Stranger".[4] According to John, sketches of the tracks "Of Crime and Passion", "(I'm Looking For) Cracks in the Pavement", "I Take the Dice" and "Spidermouse", which became "New Moon on Monday", were devised during their time in France.[7]
As a means to increase concentration amid tabloid scrutiny and paparazzi bombardment, Duran Duran relocated to George Martin's AIR Studios on the Caribbean island of Montserrat to resume recording.[4][9][12] In his memoir, John says the group viewed a BBC documentary chronicling the recording of the Police's Synchronicity (1983) at AIR and felt it would be a good fit for Duran Duran.[7] EMI believed Little's inexperience as a producer was slowing down progress and brought in Alex Sadkin to replace Little. Sadkin, the mixer of "Is There Something I Should Know?", felt Little was important to the band's writing process and insisted he stay. Little later said he contributed several ideas despite not receiving any writing credits on the finished album.[2]
Duran Duran spent five to six weeks recording in Montserrat, engineered by Peter Wade-Schwier.[2][11] Tracks produced at AIR included "The Reflex" and "Union of the Snake" by mid-June 1983,[13] as well as the chorus of "New Moon on Monday".[11] Chic backing vocalists Michelle Cobbs and B. J. Nelson were flown in from New York City to provide backing vocals for "The Reflex".[2][14] The group encountered both personal and technical problems at AIR, such as tape machines that failed to run at the correct speeds;[4][13] the production crew were passed off as "whiny and unprofessional" when they complained to the local studio engineers.[14] The band's massive success led to rising tensions between the members.[4][8] Additionally, keyboardist Nick Rhodes collapsed one day and had to be airlifted to a hospital in Miami, Florida after suffering from paroxysmal tachycardia, or an abnormally fast heartbeat.[4][9][11] With a deadline of a Christmas release,[2] Andy remembered the band members being worried that the album would not be delivered on time.[9]
On 20 July 1983, Duran Duran briefly halted the sessions to play at the Prince's Trust concert with Dire Straits at the Dominion Theatre in London, with Prince Charles and Princess Diana in attendance.[a] Having not performed live in several months, Duran Duran were under-rehearsed, leading to a poor performance amidst technical problems, but spoke briefly with the royal couple afterwards. A photograph taken of Diana with singer Simon Le Bon, John and Andy made headlines the following day.[b][4][9][11] Three days later, the band played a charity concert at Aston Villa's football stadium, Villa Park, in Birmingham before returning to Montserrat.[c][4][14]
Upon their return to Montserrat, Steve Sutherland of Melody Maker visited the sessions to check on progress. According to Malins, the band played him eight new songs "in various states of disarray".[4] Sutherland predicted "Union of the Snake" would be the first single, while opining that "['The Reflex'] is sharper and more brutal than anything they've recorded before".[14] The writer was informed by Sadkin that the album was far from completion amidst the studio's technical problems.[14] Sadkin had a hard time producing the record overall and later said he was surprised at how little material the band had.[11]
With tensions rising in Montserrat, Duran Duran changed recording locations again, settling in Sydney, Australia at the end of August 1983 as they felt their relationship with the country was special following their previous tours and commercial success there. Throughout September, the band recorded and mixed the rest of the album, now called Seven and the Ragged Tiger, at Studios 301. The studio was reportedly inferior to AIR, but superior to the mobile studio in France; the producers found technical problems could be resolved more easily.[d][4][15][16] Phil Thornalley, Sadkin's personal engineer, assumed the role for these sessions.[2]
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