Seven and the Ragged Tiger is the third studio album by the English pop rock band Duran Duran, released on 21 November 1983 through EMI and Capitol Records. Co-produced by Alex Sadkin, Ian Little and the band, recording sessions took place in France, the Caribbean and Australia between April and October 1983 following Duran Duran's decision to record outside the UK as tax exiles. Unlike their previous two studio albums, the sessions were marred by a lack of productivity and tensions rose between the band members over its direction.
Wanting a change in direction from their previous studio album Rio, Seven and the Ragged Tiger is a new wave and synth-pop record, with emphasis on synthesiser-based textures. The lyrics are ambiguous and cover a variety of topics; lead vocalist Simon Le Bon described the album as "an adventure story about a little commando team". They were negatively received by the press and their musical peers but enjoyed commercial success following the release of Rio (1982): the non-album single "Is There Something I Should Know?" spent three weeks at number one in the United Kingdom in March 1983. Capitol Records also reissued the band's 1981 self-titled debut album in the United States with an updated sleeve photo and replacing "To the Shore" with the new single to capitalise on its success. Duran Duran underwent an exhaustive press tour and live performances for Rio from March to April before recording commenced on their third studio album.
Recording history
French sessions
At the decision of their managers, Paul and Michael Berrow, Duran Duran opted to spend a year away from the UK as tax exiles to avoid paying the high tax rates successful British musicians were required to pay. To start writing their third studio album, the band moved into a three-story château in Valbonne, France on the Côte d'Azur in April 1983, utilising the 24-track RAK Mobile recording truck rented from RAK Studios in North London. Like their previous albums, the rhythm tracks were recorded first, with lyrics written and taped at a later date.
The sessions commenced slowly due to a lack of new material; John Taylor said that all their material had been used up for the first two albums. The musicians were burned out, so creativity was low. Little later verified that "nothing had been written in advance, so the biggest starting point they'd ever have would be another song". In his memoir, John Taylor says the group viewed a BBC documentary chronicling the recording of the Police's Synchronicity (1983) at AIR and felt it would be a good fit for Duran Duran. EMI believed Little's inexperience as a producer was slowing down progress and brought in Alex Sadkin to replace Little. Sadkin, the mixer of "Is There Something I Should Know?", felt Little was important to the band's writing process and insisted he stay. Little later said he contributed several ideas despite not receiving any writing credits on the finished album.
The group encountered both personal and technical problems at AIR, such as tape machines that failed to run at the correct speeds; the production crew were passed off as "whiny and unprofessional" when they complained to the local studio engineers. The band's massive success led to rising tensions between the members. Additionally, keyboardist Nick Rhodes collapsed one day and had to be airlifted to a hospital in Miami, Florida after suffering from paroxysmal tachycardia, or an abnormally fast heartbeat. With a deadline of a Christmas release, Over the next two months, the band overdubbed and mixed the album, now called Seven and the Ragged Tiger, at Studios 301. The studio was reportedly inferior to AIR, but superior to the mobile studio in France; the producers found technical problems could be resolved more easily. Phil Thornalley, Sadkin's personal engineer, assumed the role for these sessions. Richard Buskin of Sound on Sound observed more of a "synth-dance sound", "New Moon on Monday" and "Union of the Snake" showcase the band's influences: the former echoes Roxy Music, while the latter was based on the bass drum pattern for David Bowie's "Let's Dance" (1983). and "New Moon on Monday" presents a character's attempt to flatter a shy potential lover. Davis says the lyrics took influence from Le Bon's relationship uncertainties and "romantic ambivalences" with his then-girlfriend.
Title and packaging
The album's title was devised by Le Bon and taken from the unreleased track of the same name. The "seven" refers to the five band members and their two managers, while the "ragged tiger" is success: "Seven people running after success. It's ambition. That's what it's about." Rhodes disliked the title, stating in 1983: "It seems to me like the name of a kids' book, not so much the Famous Five, more sort of piratey." According to Malins, the keyboardist still refers to the LP simply as "the third album".
thumb|upright=1.1|alt=The exterior of an older building|The cover photograph was taken at the [[State Library of New South Wales|State Library of New South Wales (pictured in 2011).]]
The album cover was shot at the State Library of New South Wales during a photoshoot with the photographer Rebecca Blake. Sleeve designer Malcolm Garrett was flown in from the UK, as well as a live Bengal tiger from Melbourne to be pictured on both the album cover and upcoming tour programme. Surrounded by crew members, local journalists, TV cameramen and fans, Duran Duran were dressed in all-black attire: Rhodes donned a "black lizard suit", John Taylor and Roger Taylor in "evening dress", while Le Bon and Andy Taylor wore suede and leather; John Taylor later quipped in his memoir that "we all looked like successful young men". The shoot reportedly cost upwards of £65,000 ().
According to Paul Berrow, the plan was to shoot a promo in Kashmir involving the tiger but Andy Taylor and Rhodes vetoed the idea. Another idea involving the use of smoke bombs was scrapped when the tiger was spooked by them. Garrett's final sleeve design solely features the tiger's eye and a small portion of its fur. Against the caramel-coloured artwork are various logos, including the band's new DD logo, a crescent moon, a triple-X glyph and a Chinese-style antique map depicting snowy mountains and rivers; Davis says this represents the trips Duran Duran ventured on during their upcoming tour. Malins finds the map suggests secrets that are waiting to be unfolded, offering a visual representation of Le Bon's "soul-searching on the album through [the] admittedly ambiguous lyrics".
Release and singles
The music video for "Union of the Snake", featuring the band members in a cave with serpent-like dancers and Le Bon as leather-wearing road warrior, was sent to MTV by Capitol a full week before the single was set to release to radio, drawing pushback from radio stations who found the move unfair. shortly after the band commenced a worldwide tour. It entered the UK Albums Chart at number one, becoming the band's first album to top the chart, although sales fell off more quickly than EMI had expected. When it debuted on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, both Rio and the reissued Duran Duran were still high on the chart. It reached number eight and within months achieved platinum status with sales of one million units, eventually going double platinum. Its ambitious video, directed by Mulcahy's colleague Brian Grant, contained images of a medieval French town and was shot during a two-day shoot in Paris before the tour resumed in Japan. Hated by the band members, the video received heavy airplay on MTV. The single itself stalled at number nine in the UK and number ten in the US. With both singles performing below the label's expectations, EMI executives grew concerned that Sadkin lacked the skill to produce a successful single for Duran Duran.
thumb|right|upright=0.75|alt=Nile Rodgers in 1999|[[Nile Rodgers (pictured in 1999) remixed "The Reflex" for release as a single.]]
While in Australia on tour, John Taylor heard a prerelease copy of the INXS single "Original Sin", produced by Chic member Nile Rodgers and engineered by Jason Corsaro, and felt a remix of "The Reflex" would perform well as a single. For the remix, Rodgers made the song more dance-oriented, adding looping vocals, additional percussion, increased the tempo and cut the runtime.
| rev2 = Smash Hits
| rev2Score = 8/10
| rev3 = The Village Voice
| rev3Score = C+
Reviews for Seven and the Ragged Tiger were predominantly negative upon its release. Critics cited poor lyrics and found the group utilised their musical influences in unoriginal ways.
Seven and the Ragged Tiger was Duran Duran's final studio album with the original five-piece line-up until 2004's Astronaut. Writing in 2009, Pitchfork Tom Ewing referred to Seven as a disappointment compared to Rio.
In his biography of the band, Malins contends that the album's primary flaw is a "lack of punch and power", and its "frenzied, chaotic bluster" lacks the effectiveness of Rio. In his book Please Please Tell Me Now, Davis opines that good lyrics were "hard-earned" as Le Bon's "beatnik muse" had vanished. In his memoir, John Taylor stated the whole band were not satisfied with the album musically. The bassist felt Seven was anticlimactic after Rio, writing: "Seven and the Ragged Tiger is a beautifully textured record, but it didn't hit you viscerally in the way the earlier albums had."
EMI re-released Seven and the Ragged Tiger in 2010 in two configurations: a two-disc digipak and a three-disc box set, featuring two CDs and one DVD, which included the first official release of the As the Lights Go Down video.
Track listing
Personnel
Credits adapted from AllMusic:
Duran Duran
- Simon Le Bon – lead vocals
- Andy Taylor – guitar
- John Taylor – bass
- Roger Taylor – drums
- Nick Rhodes – keyboards
Additional musicians
- Andy Hamilton – soprano and tenor saxophone
- Rafael de Jesus – percussion
- Mark Kennedy – percussion
- Michelle Cobbs – backing vocals on "Union of the Snake" and "The Reflex"
- B. J. Nelson – backing vocals on "Union of the Snake" and "The Reflex"
Production
- Alex Sadkin – producer
- Ian Little – associate producer
- Duran Duran – associate producers
- Phil Thornalley – recording and mixing engineer
- Peter Wade-Schwier – recording engineer
- Jim Taig – tape operator
- Malcolm Garrett – graphic design
- Keith Breeden – illustration
Charts
Weekly charts
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Weekly chart performance for Seven and the Ragged Tiger
! scope="col"|Chart (1983–1984)
! scope="col"|Peak<br/>position
|-
! scope="row"|Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)
|2
|-
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"|European Albums (Eurotipsheet)
|8
|-
! scope="row"|Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)
|3
|-
|-
! scope="row"|Italian Albums (Musica e dischi)
|12
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"|UK Albums Chart
| 1
|-
! scope="row"|US Billboard Top LPs & Tape
| 8
|}
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2024 weekly chart performance for Seven and the Ragged Tiger
! scope="col"|Chart (2024)
! scope="col"|Peak<br/>position
|-
! scope="row"| Hungarian Physical Albums (MAHASZ)
| 11
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+1983 year-end chart performance for Seven and the Ragged Tiger
! scope="col"|Chart (1983)
! scope="col"|Position
|-
! scope="row"|Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)
|86
|-
! scope="row"|UK Albums (Gallup)
|24
|}
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+1984 year-end chart performance for Seven and the Ragged Tiger
! scope="col"|Chart (1984)
! scope="col"|Position
|-
! scope="row"|Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)
|15
|-
! scope="row"|Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)
|7
|-
! scope="row"|German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)
|37
|-
! scope="row"|New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)
|18
|-
! scope="row"|UK Albums (Gallup)
|53
|-
! scope="row"|US Billboard Top LPs & Tape
|10
|}