Thank You (Duran Duran album)

Thank You is the eighth studio album by English new wave band Duran Duran. It was released on 4 April 1995 by Parlophone. Consisting of cover versions, the album performed moderately on the charts, reaching number 12 on the UK Albums Chart and number 19 on the US Billboard 200, but received negative reviews from critics.

Thank You
Studio album by Duran Duran
Released	4 April 1995 (1995-04-04)
Recorded	1992–1994
Genre	Alternative rock pop rock
Length	54:26
Label	Parlophone
Producer	Duran Duran John Jones
Duran Duran chronology
Duran Duran (1993) Thank You (1995) Medazzaland (1997)
Singles from Thank You
"Perfect Day" Released: 25 March 1995 "White Lines" Released: 1 July 1995 "Lay Lady Lay" Released: 1995 (Italy and Brazil only)

The title track, ("Thank You", originally by Led Zeppelin) originally appeared in an edited form (5:06) on the soundtrack to the 1994 film With Honors. A still shorter edit (4:32) later appeared on Encomium: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin, a month before the full version was included on this album.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[2]
Entertainment Weekly	C[3]
NME	48/10[4]
Rolling Stone	[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[6]
Select	[7]
Spin	2/10[8]

The two singles from the album were covers of Grandmaster Melle Mel's "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)" and Lou Reed's "Perfect Day". "Lay Lady Lay" was a single in Italy and in Spain.

J. D. Considine of Rolling Stone said "[S]ome of the ideas at play here are stunningly wrongheaded, like the easy-listening arrangement given Elvis Costello's "Watching the Detectives" or the version of Zeppelin's "Thank You" that sounds like the band is covering Chris DeBurgh. But it takes a certain demented genius to recognize Iggy Pop's "Success" as the Gary Glitter tune it was meant to be or to redo "911 Is a Joke" so it sounds more like Beck than like Public Enemy."[5]

The album was declared the worst album of all time by Q magazine.[9]

"Perfect Day" was the first single from Thank You and became a moderate hit, peaking at number 28 on the British singles chart. In the U.S. the song narrowly failed to crack the Billboard Hot 100, only reaching as high as #101 from 24 June to 8 July 1995. The B-side of the single was a version of The Velvet Underground's song "Femme Fatale", previously available in 1993, on Duran Duran's The Wedding Album.[10]

Lou Reed said on the electronic press kit that accompanied the album that Duran Duran's version of "Perfect Day" was "The best cover ever completed of one of my own songs".[11]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Original artist	Length
1.	"White Lines"	Melvin Glover; Sylvia Robinson	Melle Mel	5:31
2.	"I Wanna Take You Higher"	Sylvester Stewart	Sly and the Family Stone	5:06
3.	"Perfect Day"	Lou Reed	Lou Reed	3:51
4.	"Watching the Detectives"	Elvis Costello	Elvis Costello	4:48
5.	"Lay Lady Lay"	Bob Dylan	Bob Dylan	3:53
6.	"911 Is a Joke"	William Jonathan Drayton Jr.; Keith Shocklee; Eric Sadler	Public Enemy	3:59
7.	"Success"	David Bowie; Ricky Gardiner	Iggy Pop	4:05
8.	"Crystal Ship"	Jim Morrison	The Doors	2:52
9.	"Ball of Confusion"	Norman Whitfield; Barrett Strong	The Temptations	3:46
10.	"Thank You"	Jimmy Page; Robert Plant	Led Zeppelin	6:36
11.	"Drive By"	Simon Le Bon; Warren Cuccurullo; Nick Rhodes; John Taylor	Duran Duran	5:34
12.	"I Wanna Take You Higher Again"	Sylvester Stewart	Sly and the Family Stone	4:25
Total length:				54:26

Bonus tracks on Japanese release

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Original artist	Length
13.	"Diamond Dogs"	David Bowie	David Bowie	6:10
14.	"Femme Fatale"	Lou Reed	The Velvet Underground and Nico	4:22
Total length:				64:58

Perfect Day UK Single Disc 1

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Original artist	Length
1.	"The Needle and the Damage Done"	Neil Young	Neil Young	2:06

Personnel

Duran Duran

• Warren Cuccurullo – guitar, production
• Simon Le Bon – vocals, production
• Nick Rhodes – keyboards, production
• John Taylor – bass guitar, production

Additional musicians

• Roger Taylor – drums on "Perfect Day" and "Watching the Detectives"
• Steve Ferrone – drums on "White Lines" and "Crystal Ship"
• Tony Thompson – drums on "I Wanna Take You Higher"
• Anthony J. Resta – drums on "White Lines", "Lay Lady Lay", "911 Is a Joke", "Ball of Confusion" and "I Wanna Take You Higher Again"
• Terry Bozzio – drums on "Success", "Thank You" and "Drive By"
• Abe Laboriel Jr. – drums on "Lay Lady Lay" and "I Wanna Take You Higher Again"
• John Jones - additional keyboards, guitars and vocals
• Jonathan Elias – Moog synthesizer on "Crystal Ship"
• Bruce Dukov – violin
• Henry Ferber – violin strings
• Ron Folsom – violin strings
• Armen Garabedian – violin strings
• Berj Garabedian – violin strings
• Michelle Kikuchi-Richards – violin strings
• Joy Lyle – violin strings
• Maria Newman – violin strings
• Pamela Goldsmith – viola
• Scott Haupert – viola
• Suzi Katayama – cello
• Lee Oskar – harmonica on "Watching the Detectives" and "I Wanna Take You Higher"
• Flo & Eddie – background vocals on "Success"
• Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five – background vocals on "White Lines" and "I Wanna Take You Higher"
• Grandmaster Melle Mel – background vocals, rapping on "White Lines"
• Curtis King – background vocals on "I Wanna Take You Higher"
• Lamya – background vocals on "White Lines" and "I Wanna Take You Higher" and "Drive By"
• Maxanne Lewis – background vocals on "Ball of Confusion"
• Tessa Niles – background vocals on "Perfect Day" and "Watching the Detectives"

Technical

• John Jones – producing, audio engineering, mixing, programming
• Anthoy J. Resta – production, engineering, mixing, programming
• Steve Churchyard – engineering
• Avril McCintosh – engineering
• Ken Scott – engineering
• Tony Taverner – engineering
• Jason Corsaro – mixing
• David Richards – mixing
• Tim Palmer – mixing
• Bob St. John – mixing, production
• Mark Tinley – programming
• Tim Young – mastering

Charts

Chart (1995)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[12]	63
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[13]	25
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[14]	34
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[15]	16
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[16]	15
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[17]	34
European Albums (Music & Media)[18]	36
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19]	50
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[20]	30
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[21]	27
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[22]	44
UK Albums (OCC)[23]	12
Italian Albums (FIMI)[24]	17
US Billboard 200[25]	19

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[26]	Gold	50,000^^
United States (RIAA)[27]	Gold	500,000^^
^^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Thank You – Duran Duran". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
2. Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8.
3. "Thank You Review". Entertainment Weekly.
4. "21 1990s Albums NME Has Given 10/10 - NME". NME. 10 March 2014.
5. "RollingStone.com: Thank You : Duran Duran : Review". Archived from the original on 30 November 2005.
6. Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Duran Duran". The Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
7. Morris, Mark (4 April 1995). "Duran Duran: Thank You". Select. p. 93. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
8. Hannaham, James (May 1995). "Duran Duran: Thank You: Capitol". Spin. p. 96. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
9. "The worst album in the world... ever!". The Independent. 26 March 2006. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
10. "Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the '90s, Vol. 23". Popdose.com. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
11. Thank You EPK, 1995.
12. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
13. "Austriancharts.at – Duran Duran – Thank You" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
14. "Ultratop.be – Duran Duran – Thank You" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
15. "Ultratop.be – Duran Duran – Thank You" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
16. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 9143". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
17. "Dutchcharts.nl – Duran Duran – Thank You" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
18. "European Top 100 Albums" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 12 no. 15. 15 April 1995. p. 29. OCLC 29800226. Retrieved 18 January 2019 – via American Radio History.
19. "Offiziellecharts.de – Duran Duran – Thank You" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
20. "Top 40 album DVD és válogatáslemez-lista – 1995. 18. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
21. デュラン・デュランのアルバム売り上げランキング [Duran Duran's album sales ranking] (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on 1 August 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
22. "Swisscharts.com – Duran Duran – Thank You". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
23. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
24. "Italiancharts.com – Duran Duran – Thank You". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
25. "Duran Duran Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
26. "Canadian album certifications – Duran Duran – Thank You". Music Canada. 24 April 1995. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
27. "American album certifications – Duran Duran – Thank You". Recording Industry Association of America. 14 June 1995. Retrieved 18 January 2019. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH.