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Arcadia (band)
Encyclopedia
Arcadia were the pop
group
formed in 1985
by Simon Le Bon
, Nick Rhodes
and Roger Taylor
of Duran Duran
, during a break in that band's schedule. However, Roger Taylor appeared in only a few band photographs and in none of the music videos, and stated he was only to be involved in the recording side of the project (he also had minor involvement in The Power Station, the other Duran Duran splinter group). The name of the band was reportedly inspired by the Nicolas Poussin
painting Et in Arcadia ego
(also known as "The Arcadian Shepherds").
. It peaked at Number 30 in the UK and Number 23 in the US, and featured the UK/US top 10 single
"Election Day," as well as "The Flame," "The Promise," and "Goodbye Is Forever". Simon Le Bon described So Red the Rose as "the most pretentious album ever made," while Allmusic called it "the best album Duran Duran never made". Musicians who contributed to the album included guitarists David Gilmour
(Pink Floyd
) and Carlos Alomar
, pianist Herbie Hancock
, Sting (who provided backing vocals on "The Promise"), Grace Jones
(who provided the brief but dramatic spoken-word interlude on "Election Day"), bass player Mark Egan
of the Pat Metheny Group
(whose very distinctive fretless sound can be recognised in "The Promise", "El Diablo" and "Lady Ice") and David Van Tieghem, a percussionist from New York.
The band also realised music videos directed by Roger Christian
, Marcelo Anciano, Russell Mulcahy
and Dean Chamberlain
, and recorded the single "Say the Word" for the Playing for Keeps
movie soundtrack.
EMI re-released the album as a three disc box set in the UK and in the US. This remastered collected all permutations and remixes of tracks released by the band. The third disc comprised the video collection on DVD, but it does not include the video for "Say the Word". The remastered reissue of the album charted for a week in UK at #186 in October 2010.
' look of black tuxedos, vintage formal wear, and bow ties. The three also dyed their hair black, as seen when they performed (as Duran Duran, with Andy and John Taylor) at the 1985 Live Aid
concert in Philadelphia. Although by the time the video for their single "The Flame
" was made in early 1986, Nick Rhodes had changed his hair colour to golden blond and Simon Le Bon returned to his regular highlighted hair style —this subsequent change of hairstyle anticipated the promotion of the forthcoming Duran Duran album, Notorious, released later that same year.
to record their next album Notorious. During the tour to support Notorious, Duran Duran played the Arcadia single "Election Day" as well as "Some Like it Hot" from the Power Station record. Drummer Roger Taylor retired from the music business for 15 years after the release of the Arcadia album, but returned to rejoin the original Duran Duran line-up in 2001.
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
group
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
formed in 1985
1985 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1985.-January–March:*January 1 - The newest music video channel, VH-1, debuts on American cable. It is aimed at an older demographic than its sister station, MTV...
by Simon Le Bon
Simon Le Bon
Simon John Charles Le Bon is an English musician, best known as the lead singer, lyricist and musician of the band Duran Duran and its offshoot, Arcadia.-Early life:...
, Nick Rhodes
Nick Rhodes
Nick Rhodes is an English musician, is best known as the keyboardist of the pop rock band Duran Duran...
and Roger Taylor
Roger Andrew Taylor
Roger Andrew Taylor is an English double grammy award winning musician who is best known as the drummer of British rock band Duran Duran from their inception until 1985, and again from 2001 onwards, the band selling in excess of 80 million records worldwide in the process.-Early life:Taylor began...
of Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
, during a break in that band's schedule. However, Roger Taylor appeared in only a few band photographs and in none of the music videos, and stated he was only to be involved in the recording side of the project (he also had minor involvement in The Power Station, the other Duran Duran splinter group). The name of the band was reportedly inspired by the Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin was a French painter in the classical style. His work predominantly features clarity, logic, and order, and favors line over color. His work serves as an alternative to the dominant Baroque style of the 17th century...
painting Et in Arcadia ego
Et in Arcadia ego
"Et in Arcadia ego" is a Latin phrase that most famously appears as the title of two paintings by Nicolas Poussin . They are pastoral paintings depicting idealized shepherds from classical antiquity, clustering around an austere tomb...
(also known as "The Arcadian Shepherds").
So Red the Rose (1985)
The group recorded just one album, the platinum-selling So Red the RoseSo Red the Rose
So Red the Rose is the platinum-selling album by the Duran Duran-spinoff group Arcadia, which was released in 1985 — the only album the band ever released...
. It peaked at Number 30 in the UK and Number 23 in the US, and featured the UK/US top 10 single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"Election Day," as well as "The Flame," "The Promise," and "Goodbye Is Forever". Simon Le Bon described So Red the Rose as "the most pretentious album ever made," while Allmusic called it "the best album Duran Duran never made". Musicians who contributed to the album included guitarists David Gilmour
David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour, CBE, D.M. is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of...
(Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
) and Carlos Alomar
Carlos Alomar
Carlos Alomar is an American guitarist, composer and arranger best known for his work with David Bowie, having played on more Bowie albums than any other musician...
, pianist Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, Sting (who provided backing vocals on "The Promise"), Grace Jones
Grace Jones
Grace Jones is a Jamaican-American singer, model and actress.Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and...
(who provided the brief but dramatic spoken-word interlude on "Election Day"), bass player Mark Egan
Mark Egan
Mark Egan is an American jazz bass guitarist and trumpeter, arguably best known for his membership in the Pat Metheny Group from 1977 to 1980, and the Gil Evans Orchestra...
of the Pat Metheny Group
Pat Metheny Group
The Pat Metheny Group is a jazz group founded in 1977. The core members of the group are guitarist and bandleader Pat Metheny, composer, keyboardist and pianist Lyle Mays , and bassist and producer Steve Rodby...
(whose very distinctive fretless sound can be recognised in "The Promise", "El Diablo" and "Lady Ice") and David Van Tieghem, a percussionist from New York.
The band also realised music videos directed by Roger Christian
Roger Christian (filmmaker)
-External links:*...
, Marcelo Anciano, Russell Mulcahy
Russell Mulcahy
Russell Mulcahy is an Australian film director. His work is easily recognized by his use of fast cuts, tracking shots and use of glowing lights.- Music videos :...
and Dean Chamberlain
Dean Chamberlain
Dean Chamberlain is a photographer who specializes in unique lighting effects and extended exposure times. Famous models for his pictures sit for up to five hours as he leaves the camera shutter open and "paints" the space around them with carried and projected lights of various colors and shapes,...
, and recorded the single "Say the Word" for the Playing for Keeps
Playing for Keeps (film)
Playing for Keeps is a 1986 comedy film directed and written by brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein. It stars Daniel Jordano, Matthew Penn and Leon W. Grant as a trio of inner-city teenagers attempting to strike it rich by turning a hotel into a rock 'n' roll resort...
movie soundtrack.
EMI re-released the album as a three disc box set in the UK and in the US. This remastered collected all permutations and remixes of tracks released by the band. The third disc comprised the video collection on DVD, but it does not include the video for "Say the Word". The remastered reissue of the album charted for a week in UK at #186 in October 2010.
Band changes
Arcadia continued the Duran Duran tradition of a slick image, tasteful fashions and hair-dos. For the Arcadia incarnation of their ever-changing band aesthetic, Le Bon, Rhodes, and Roger Taylor donned an upmarket 'gothicGothic fashion
Gothic fashion is a clothing style worn by members of the Goth subculture; a dark, sometimes morbid, eroticized fashion and style of dress. Typical Gothic fashion includes dyed black hair, black lips and black clothes. Both male and female goths wear dark eyeliner and dark fingernails. Styles are...
' look of black tuxedos, vintage formal wear, and bow ties. The three also dyed their hair black, as seen when they performed (as Duran Duran, with Andy and John Taylor) at the 1985 Live Aid
Live Aid
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
concert in Philadelphia. Although by the time the video for their single "The Flame
The Flame (Arcadia song)
"The Flame" is the fourth single released by the Duran Duran off-shoot band, Arcadia. It was released by Parlophone Records in 1986 and was the group's third UK single. It reached number 58 in the UK Singles Chart.-Music video:...
" was made in early 1986, Nick Rhodes had changed his hair colour to golden blond and Simon Le Bon returned to his regular highlighted hair style —this subsequent change of hairstyle anticipated the promotion of the forthcoming Duran Duran album, Notorious, released later that same year.
Other appearances
The group did a variety of promotional appearances on television, but never toured, and dissolved a year later in 1986 when Duran Duran re-formed with Le Bon, Rhodes, and bassist John TaylorNigel John Taylor
John Taylor is an English musician who is best known as the bass guitarist and co-founder of pop rock band Duran Duran....
to record their next album Notorious. During the tour to support Notorious, Duran Duran played the Arcadia single "Election Day" as well as "Some Like it Hot" from the Power Station record. Drummer Roger Taylor retired from the music business for 15 years after the release of the Arcadia album, but returned to rejoin the original Duran Duran line-up in 2001.
Studio album
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications Music recording sales certification Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,... (sales threshold) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
UK UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
SWE Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... |
NZ |
CAN Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
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| 1985 | So Red the Rose So Red the Rose So Red the Rose is the platinum-selling album by the Duran Duran-spinoff group Arcadia, which was released in 1985 — the only album the band ever released...
|
23 | 30 | 48 | 22 | 14 |
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States... : Platinum Canadian Recording Industry Association Music Canada is a Toronto-based, non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, artists, manufacture, production, promotion and distribution of music in Canada... : 2× Platinum |
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
US Dance | UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
NZ | NOR VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... |
NL MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
SWI Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
IRE Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
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| 1985 | "Election Day Election Day (song) "Election Day" was the first single released by the Duran Duran off-shoot band, Arcadia. It was released by Parlophone Records in October 1985 and subsequently hit the top ten on both sides of the Atlantic, peaking at #6 in the US and #7 in the UK, but was the most successful in Ireland, peaking at... " |
6 | 29 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 18 | 5 | So Red the Rose | ||||
| 1986 | "Goodbye Is Forever Goodbye Is Forever (song) "Goodbye Is Forever" was the second single released by the Duran Duran off-shoot band, Arcadia. It was released by Capitol Records in January 1986 in many regions around the world except the UK... " |
33 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "The Promise The Promise (Arcadia song) The Promise was the third single released by the Duran Duran offshoot band Arcadia. It was released by Parlophone Records in 1986 as the group's second UK single. It peaked at number 37 on the UK Singles Chart.-B-sides, bonus tracks and remixes:... " |
— | — | 37 | — | — | — | — | 24 | ||||||
| "The Flame The Flame (Arcadia song) "The Flame" is the fourth single released by the Duran Duran off-shoot band, Arcadia. It was released by Parlophone Records in 1986 and was the group's third UK single. It reached number 58 in the UK Singles Chart.-Music video:... " |
— | — | 58 | — | — | 38 | — | 29 | ||||||
| "Say the Word Say the Word (Arcadia song) Say the Word was the fifth and final single released by the Duran Duran off-shoot band, Arcadia. Recorded for the soundtrack of Playing for Keeps, it was released as a single in the US by Atlantic Records.-Music video:... " |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Playing for Keeps Playing for Keeps (film) Playing for Keeps is a 1986 comedy film directed and written by brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein. It stars Daniel Jordano, Matthew Penn and Leon W. Grant as a trio of inner-city teenagers attempting to strike it rich by turning a hotel into a rock 'n' roll resort... (soundtrack) |
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| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||||||
Video albums
| Year | Title | Distributor |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Arcadia | Picture Music International (MVP 9911382) |
| The Videos | Castle Communications Castle Communications Castle Communications was a British independent record label founded in 1983 by Terry Shand, Cliff Dane and Jon Beecher. The company was acquired by the American music distributor Alliance Entertainment in 1994 and in 2000 it was absorbed into Sanctuary Records Group... (CMV 1054) |
Music videos
| Year | Title | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | "Election Day Election Day (song) "Election Day" was the first single released by the Duran Duran off-shoot band, Arcadia. It was released by Parlophone Records in October 1985 and subsequently hit the top ten on both sides of the Atlantic, peaking at #6 in the US and #7 in the UK, but was the most successful in Ireland, peaking at... " |
Roger Christian Roger Christian (filmmaker) -External links:*... |
| "The Promise The Promise (Arcadia song) The Promise was the third single released by the Duran Duran offshoot band Arcadia. It was released by Parlophone Records in 1986 as the group's second UK single. It peaked at number 37 on the UK Singles Chart.-B-sides, bonus tracks and remixes:... " |
Marcelo Anciano | |
| 1986 | "Goodbye Is Forever Goodbye Is Forever (song) "Goodbye Is Forever" was the second single released by the Duran Duran off-shoot band, Arcadia. It was released by Capitol Records in January 1986 in many regions around the world except the UK... " |
|
| "The Flame The Flame (Arcadia song) "The Flame" is the fourth single released by the Duran Duran off-shoot band, Arcadia. It was released by Parlophone Records in 1986 and was the group's third UK single. It reached number 58 in the UK Singles Chart.-Music video:... " |
Russell Mulcahy Russell Mulcahy Russell Mulcahy is an Australian film director. His work is easily recognized by his use of fast cuts, tracking shots and use of glowing lights.- Music videos :... |
|
| "Say the Word Say the Word (Arcadia song) Say the Word was the fifth and final single released by the Duran Duran off-shoot band, Arcadia. Recorded for the soundtrack of Playing for Keeps, it was released as a single in the US by Atlantic Records.-Music video:... " (theme from Playing for Keeps Playing for Keeps (film) Playing for Keeps is a 1986 comedy film directed and written by brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein. It stars Daniel Jordano, Matthew Penn and Leon W. Grant as a trio of inner-city teenagers attempting to strike it rich by turning a hotel into a rock 'n' roll resort... ) |
||
| "Missing" (originally unreleased) | Dean Chamberlain Dean Chamberlain Dean Chamberlain is a photographer who specializes in unique lighting effects and extended exposure times. Famous models for his pictures sit for up to five hours as he leaves the camera shutter open and "paints" the space around them with carried and projected lights of various colors and shapes,... |
External links
- So Red The Rose Arcadia archive and fansite.
- So Red The Rose Arcadia fansite.