Record Review - 1 July 29 2000

There are few sadder sights in the entertainment world than watching one-time teen idol pop stars gracelessly grow old. But Duran Duran has somehow avoided the VH-1 “Where Are They Now” bullet by never quite going away. Two decades after they ruled MTV with then-innovative/now-dated videos and catchy ditties, not to mention pouty good looks, the band soldiers into the new millennium with only singer Simon Le Bon and keyboardist Nick Rhodes remaining (although less photogenic guitarist Warren Cuccurullo has been a member for the past decade).

The band’s first release in three years updates their sound into a cushy, semi-psychedelic glam style, not entirely removed from their hits, but a far cry from the hyperactive “Rio” or “Girls on Film.” In fact, the album’s opener and first single “Someone Else Not Me,” is a beautiful, melodically lilting ballad brimming with lush string synths and featuring Simon Le Bon’s least affected singing ever. Nothing else matches that highlight (a Spanish version closes the album), yet even though they modernize themselves admirably, Duran-squared seem more like a limp Oasis with the plodding “Lady Xanax” and “The Sun Doesn’t Shine Forever,” a snoozy tune as wimpy as its clichéd title suggests.

When they do occasionally rock out, as on “Last Day on Earth,” it seems there’s some spunk left in the old boys yet. But while there’s nothing embarrassing about the appropriately titled Pop Trash — a minor feat in itself — there’s little that calls the listener back for another look.

Thankfully Duran Duran isn’t trying to pass themselves off as the pretty boys they used to be, and to their credit, they’ve aged remarkably well. But one solid new song does not sustain a post-teenybopper career, making Pop Trash a commendable, inoffensive but dispensable effort.

Duran Duran plays Chastain Park Amphitheater, Tues., Aug. 1.