Doing a 180: Duran Duran, Seven and the Ragged Tiger and Big Thing

Rhino has made it a point to reissue classic albums on 180-gram vinyl on a regular basis. These are the latest to get that treatment. You're welcome.

Duran Duran, Seven and the Ragged Tiger: It might've been the last full-length gasp of Duran Duran's original Fab Five lineup during the '80s, but when Seven and the Ragged Tiger was released, the band were one of the hottest things on the pop charts on both sides of the Atlantic. The staying power of their singles has proven remarkable, as evidenced by the tracks released from this album, including “New Moon on Monday,” “Union of the Snake,” and “The Reflex.” Rio may be the album that critics hold up as the best of the band's '80s output, but there are a lot of Durannies who swear by Seven and the Ragged Tiger, and that's fair enough: as you can see from the songs cited above, there's plenty of quality material contained within its grooves.

Duran Duran, Big Thing: With 1986's Notorious having proven to the world at large that they were quite capable of delivering strong material as a three-piece, Duran Duran - or duranduran, if you remember how the band's name was being written circa 1988 - returned two years later with a new studio album and two more top-40 hits in the US: “I Don't Want Your Love,” which hit #4, and “All She Wants Is,” which hit #22. The absence of Nile Rodgers' production is decidedly evident, but the band's fans nonetheless took it to #15 in the UK and #24 in America.