The Wild Boys" single was issued with six separate covers in the UK - one featuring each individual band member and one of the band collectively. Popular though they may have been in their prime, but they were pretty formulaic in the early 80s, and hearing any random Duran Duran song was hardly different than hearing any other. And as far as the American charts went, that was mostly that (although I will always maintain that “Electric Barbarella” from Medazzaland may just be their finest song ever, and for a fleeting moment recaptured that early 80s magic in a way no band has since). But one fantastic live album that isn’t included in the list – and to be honest probably shouldn’t be – is Duran Duran’s Arena.

Simon Le Not Bono’s vocals were a lot less stilted and staid on this release compared to his vocals on the studio versions – his vocals have more life, they feel more natural and organic, I can actually hardly stand to hear the studio versions in comparison as far as the vocals go. I also just read this one, “ The Greatest Prog Guitarists: An Essential Top 25 Countdown” (and slots 1-10 really should have been Robert Fripp) . Union of the Snake" • " New Moon on Monday" • " The Reflex" • " The Wild Boys" • " A View to a Kill" • " Notorious" • " Skin Trade" • " Meet El Presidente" • " I Don't Want Your Love" • " All She Wants Is" • " Do You Believe in Shame?I bet even he couldn’t tell you what a single song on the album is about, none of them are about anything really, they are just a bunch of random lines the band thought sounded cool.

I mean let’s be honest, if you have “Hungry Like the Wolf”, you really have a good chunk of the truly essential Duran Duran songs you need. I can live without “The Reflex”, I can live without “New Moon on Monday”, but the few Duran Duran songs I can’t live without are all here (except “Rio”, but the 2004 remastered version with the bonus tracks fixed that): “Hungry Like the Wolf” and “Save a Prayer” and “The Seventh Stranger” and “The Chauffeur”, and then a bunch of the kind of interchangeable songs where it hardly matters which songs they picked. They brought a color and vibrancy to the Top 40 with their keyboard textures that had been presaged by David Bowie on Low and Heroes, one that pop radio wasn’t quite ready for in 1977 and 1978 but was well primed for by the 80s. Sure, Arena is no Live at Leeds or Made in Japan or anything, but I can think of a couple of albums they could drop from that list and at least get Arena in at number 50 or maybe even 49. So unlike a lot of live albums up to that point, you aren’t really missing anything in the live versions compared to their studio counterparts, the band thoughtfully made sure to include all the bleeps and bloops and unexpected sound effects that were always popping out of nowhere on Duran Duran records, and they even included that marvelous pan flute solo at the end of “The Chauffeur”.And what, you may be wondering, is the appeal of what was probably intended to be little more than the kind of contractually obligated live release most bands are forced to put out by the record company after a few studio albums? He almost has me caring that “the union of the snake is on the climb” with the amount of passion he puts into singing about it. The album featured most of the band's big hits in a live environment, as well as some album tracks from Rio ( 1982) and Seven and the Ragged Tiger ( 1983), and a new studio track " The Wild Boys" produced by Nile Rodgers, who had previously remixed the single " The Reflex".

The guy had an enormous amount of talent to be able to take such lyrical gobbledygook and sing about it like his heart was breaking. Burning the Ground" • " Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over)" • " Serious" • " Ordinary World" • " Come Undone" • " Too Much Information" • " Perfect Day" • " White Lines" • " Out of My Mind" • " Electric Barbarella" • " Someone Else Not Me" • " (Reach Up for The) Sunrise" • " What Happens Tomorrow" • " Nice" • " Falling Down • " All You Need Is Now • " Girl Panic! Rio may be an 80s touchstone, after all, but truth is, when I am I the mood for some Double Duran, I will reach for Arena every time. The Arena video also featured the extended video for " The Wild Boys", as directed by Russell Mulcahy. Both the Sing Blue Silver documentary and the Arena film were reissued on DVD in 2004; the Arena DVD features The Making of Arena as an extra.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Some people think that means it lacks the atmosphere of a live album, but I beg to differ, it just means I don’t have to hear a bunch of idiots whistling while I am listening to the music. Arena deserves a special place among your collection of live albums, be they the 50 greatest ever or not. So when I see a link for an article on “ The 50 Greatest Live Albums Ever”, do I really have time to read about 50 live albums that may or may not be deserving of the appellation of “greatest ever”? The Union of the Snake” sounds like it’s a secret society that is about as threatening as the Mickey Mouse Club, but that’s one hell of a monster melody in the chorus.

Personally, I like the track list far better than the greatest hits compilation Decade they released, well, at the end of the decade.Once I knew she’d slipped in, I used my legitimate ticket to get in and we joined some really nice people on the lawn who kind enough to let a couple of latecomers crowd in.