Rio is the second studio album by the English pop rock band Duran Duran, released on 10May 1982 through EMI. Produced by Colin Thurston, the band wrote and demoed most of the material before recording the album at AIR Studios in London from January to March 1982. The band utilised more experimentation compared to their debut album, from vibraphone and marimba to the sound of a cigarette being lit and cracking ice cubes. Andy Hamilton played a saxophone solo on the title track "Rio".
A new wave, synth-pop, pop rock and dance-rock album with musical elements such as disco and funk, Rio is mostly composed of fast, upbeat numbers, with some slower synthesiser-based ballads. Lead vocalist Simon Le Bon's lyrics cover topics from chasing one's dreams to pursuing a love interest. Bassist John Taylor conceived the title, which the band felt represented the optimistic and exotic tone of the album. The cover artwork, painted by Patrick Nagel and designed by Malcolm Garrett to resemble 1950s cigar packaging, is considered one of the greatest of all time.
Duran Duran shot music videos for many of the album's tracks, all of which helped spearhead the 1980s MTV revolution. Accompanied by three worldwide hit singles, Rio peaked at number two in the United Kingdom and remained in the chart for 110 weeks. Initially unsuccessful in the United States, the album was remixed by Capitol Records to better match American radio at the time; this version spent 129 weeks on the Billboard albums chart, reaching number six. The band toured the US and Europe throughout the latter half of 1982.
Rio initially received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, who commended the melodies but disparaged the lyrics. Retrospective reviewers consider Rio timeless and the band's best work, praising its instrumentation and band performances. With the album, Duran Duran were forerunners in the Second British Invasion of the 1980s, helping ensure the success of other English artists throughout the decade. It has since made appearances on best-of lists and has been reissued several times.
Background and development Duran Duran released their self-titled debut album in June 1981. Aided by the album's highly successful third single "Girls on Film", the album peaked at number three in the UK and remained in the charts for over two years. With the album, Duran Duran had established themselves as one of the biggest new pop groups of 1981. Around July, they began writing songs for their second studio album, spending time at their resident nightclub the Rum Runner in Birmingham like their debut. The band's label, EMI Records, doubled their budget for the new record. Feeling pressure in England, the band briefly withdrew to a secluded château in France to continue writing. Keyboardist Nick Rhodes later stated:
On 28 August 1981, Duran Duran recorded demos of several songs that would appear on their next album, including "Last Chance on the Stairway", "My Own Way", "New Religion" and "Like an Angel", at the basement studio of EMI's Manchester Square building. According to bassist John Taylor, the demo of "Last Chance on the Stairway" was identical to the final album version, while "My Own Way" and "New Religion" both had different arrangements. This version of "My Own Way" was dance-inspired and featured bursts of electric guitar, a different bassline and pattering percussion. Dissatisfied with this version, the band rerecorded the song during the official sessions. An early version of "The Chauffeur" was also taped with German sound engineer Renate Blauel.
Both "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Save a Prayer" were the result of collaborations between Rhodes and guitarist Andy Taylor; Rhodes began on synthesiser, which Taylor fashioned into guitar riffs. The latter commented, "When we wrote 'Hungry', I knew we had the album right." The band taped demos of "Save a Prayer" and "Lonely in Your Nightmare" at engineer Bob Lamb's home studio in Birmingham. The band used this material for reference during the proper sessions, particularly for the sequenced-based tracks "Save a Prayer" and "The Chauffeur".
Duran Duran continued promotional appearances and live performances throughout September and October 1981, including their first American tour. EMI wanted a new single, so the band returned to England and taped a new version of "My Own Way", boasting disco and American R&B-influenced production, with "Like an Angel" as the B-side. Released on 16 November 1981 in England only, the single spent 11 weeks on the chart, hitting number 14. Rhodes disliked the single-only release: "It was the only time we actually sat down and said, 'Ok, we've got to write a hit single now'." The band underwent the Careless Memories tour in December, featuring 17 sold-out dates, before taking a holiday break.
Recording The recording sessions for Rio commenced in January 1982 at London's AIR Studios and lasted six to eight weeks. The members rented apartments in close vicinity to the studio during the duration of the sessions. Colin Thurston returned from the debut as producer and engineer. The band were excited to record at AIR, having previously demoed "Girls on Film" there in July 1980. Founded by former Beatles producer George Martin, the studio boasted high-tech equipment that Rhodes, in particular, was eager to experiment with. The keyboardist devoted time learning production techniques with Thurston and was purportedly the first to arrive and last to leave every day.
According to John Taylor, all of the songs, except for "The Chauffeur", were fully arranged before recording began; "Rio" had been played during multiple sound checks. Recording followed the same template as the debut: the bass, drums and synthesiser parts were recorded first, followed by guitar, keyboard overdubs and vocals. The band recalled recording going by relatively easily. Drummer Roger Taylor recorded his parts quickly and returned to Birmingham with his girlfriend, while John Taylor and Andy Taylor dwelled at the Embassy Club on Old Bond Street throughout the sessions. At AIR, Paul and Linda McCartney, who were recording the former's Tug of War LP in the adjacent studio, stopped by on occasion to say good night, a gesture Rhodes described as "very surreal"; John also listened back to a mix of the finished Rio album with Paul.
Having defined the majority of the arrangements before recording began, the band sharpened their individual performances and experimented with different sounds. John Taylor played fretless bass on "Lonely in Your Nightmare", while lead vocalist Simon Le Bon added vibraphone and marimba to "New Religion" and "Last Chance on the Stairway", respectively. Rhodes added the sound of a cigarette being lit and clinking glasses to the latter, while "Hungry Like the Wolf" opens with a giggle from his then-girlfriend Cheryl. With Thurston, Roger Taylor melded accents from his Simmons' electronic drum kit to multiple tracks, hooking up the electronic tom-toms to his acoustic set. He said in 2021: "I'd play an acoustic drum kit and just lay the Simmons over the top. [...] And I'm glad that we did that....it was great to have something modern coming through as part of the kit, but it didn't completely dominate the sound."
Saxophonist Andy Hamilton played the solo on "Rio". Hamilton had previously contributed to the "night version" of "Planet Earth" and performed with Duran Duran on their 1981 European tour dates. He mostly improvised his part, basing most of the solo on two chords. Rhodes oversaw Hamilton's part, which he later described as "more of an integral melody within the song rather than a solo", leading it to be played the same way during concert performances. The track's opening was created when Rhodes dropped metal rods onto the strings of the studio's grand piano and flipped the tape over, reversing the sound.
"The Chauffeur" was created on the spot in the studio. During downtime, Rhodes retreated to an auxiliary studio room with Blauel, their tape operator, and crafted a track using keyboards, synthesisers, the sound of an ice cube cracking and a conversation about nature for extra effects. Le Bon accompanied him and brought lyrics inspired by a 1979 visit to a kibbutz in Israel, further adding a melody on an ocarina. The final track features no contributions from the three Taylors. An acoustic version was recorded without Rhodes, which appeared as a B-side to "Rio". The keyboardist later quipped, "I guess that was my punishment for have created an entirely electronic track."
Mixing The band were contracted to finish mixing the album by the end of March 1982 and were due to fly to Sri Lanka to film music videos before their tour of Australia commenced in mid-April. With the record still unfinished, Le Bon, John Taylor and Roger Taylor flew to Sri Lanka while Rhodes and Andy Taylor stayed in London with Thurston to make some last-minute tweaks; according to biographer Steve Malins, the trio worked for 48 hours straight. Once completed, Rhodes and Andy flew to Sri Lanka, the former listening to and analysing Rio the entire ride.
Music and lyrics
Musically, Rio is a new wave, synth-pop, pop rock and disco-rock album, that contains elements of dance, post-punk, rock, disco, funk and gothic rock. According to author Stephen Davis, EMI wanted the band to change direction from their debut, desiring more of a rock-edged dance groove, telling Thurston: "Think Led Zeppelin and Talking Heads having a baby and calling it Duran Duran." The band's influences at the time included Roxy Music, David Bowie, Japan, pre-Dare Human League and 1970s UK guitar rock. AllMusic's Donald Guarisco retrospectively compared the title track's instrumental to the Roxy Music releases Flesh and Blood (1980) and Avalon (1982), even associating Hamilton's saxophone solo to Andy Mackay's contributions to Roxy Music. Rhodes later described the album's sound as "elegant punk".
Of the album's nine tracks, the first seven ("Rio" to "Last Chance on the Stairway") are faster and more upbeat numbers, while the last two ("Save a Prayer" and "The Chauffeur") are slower and atmospheric synthesiser-based ballads. In Ultimate Classic Rock, writer Annie Zaleski described the rhythm section of John Taylor and Roger Taylor as "formidable" and "locked into grooves with nimble precision", with Rhodes's synthesisers adding "artsy textures" and Andy Taylor's "blazing guitar acrobatics" bringing "ferocity and heft" to the tracks; Malins highlights "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "New Religion" as showcasing Andy's guitar. The album's production is sparser than that of the debut, although Rhodes felt its bouts of studio experimentation made Rio definitively theirs: "It sounds like us – I don't think it sounds like anybody else."
Le Bon turned to his experiences on their first American tour for inspiration in writing the lyrics. In a nod to artists such as Joy Division and the Doors' Jim Morrison, the lyrics of Rio touch on topics from chasing one's dreams and finding one's place in the world, to pursuing a love interest and providing solace to a friend—mainly using dark and poetic words. The title track paints a picture of a girl with a "cherry ice cream smile" that is "too lovely to resist"; "Save a Prayer" concerns a couple's love affair that ends too soon; and "The Chauffeur" conveys images of restless driving and attractive women. Malins says that Le Bon's lyrics are sometimes full of the "most obtuse tongue-twisters", with "New Religion" being presented as "a dialogue between the ego and the alter ego", but he does find the line "no time to worry cause we're on the roam again" in "Hold Back the Rain" perfectly encapsulates the album's "high spirits". Guarisco argued that Le Bon's "stream-of-consciousness" lyrics on tracks like "Rio" and "The Chauffeur" primarily add to the tracks' personalities rather than mean anything "in the literal sense".
Title and packaging