Rio This makes me think of an early episode of Only Fools and Horses when Rodney tries to impress a girl by turning up with this album under his arm. It also feels like the band my older sister would have been into, had I actually had sister 8 or 9 years older than me. Rio is an undeniably fantastic bit of pop music, and Duran Duran in a nutshell: great chorus, great melody, brilliantly self-assured, with an irresistible 80s pop-funk-disco-rock-synth sheen and terrible, naff lyrics. Hungry Like the Wolf is similar, brilliantly catchy, a great chorus and ‘I smell like I sound’. I’ve always really liked Save a Prayer too, with its swaying rhythm and wistful melody. The rest of it is uniformly above average synth pop in that same vein, full of memorable hooks, riffs, synths and choruses, without, New Religion’s 80s cop thriller soundtrack atmosphere aside, quite reaching the heights of those singles. Lonely in Your Nightmare has a great little earworm of a chorus, Hold Back the Rain has a pleasingly thumpy rhythm, Last Chance on the Stairway has that excellently melodic bass, and The Chaffeur has a great woozy off kilter The Normal style experimental synth vibe. The rhythm section really is excellent, probably the thing that separates them from some of their contemporaries, there’s some great melodic bass and synth bass and that great 80s drum sound too. You can hear Bowie (again), Chic Roxy Music - if you are going for this type of synth-pop-funk sound and style you probably couldn’t choose better influences. Full of hooks and memorable melodies, where the choruses and style outweigh the substance, but it doesn’t matter, it’s such a fun listen that it’s an easy 4. 🐺🐺🐺🐺 Playlist submission: Rio