Il progetto Power Station si concretizza nel febbraio 1985 con la pubblicazione del primo singolo “Some like it hot” e l’apparizione all’interno della trasmissione TV americana “Saturday Night Live”. Questa rimarrà l’unica esibizione live dei Power Station con Robert Palmer alla voce.

The Power Station project had its first highlight in February 1985 with the release of the first single "Some like it hot" and the appearance during the American TV show "Saturday Night Live". This was the only live show of the Power Station with Robert Palmer as singer.
L'album "The Power Station 33 1/3" viene pubblicato in tutto il mondo a marzo.

"The Power Station 33 1/3" album was released worldwide on March.


Contemporaneamente i Duran Duran, con John Barry, scrivono il brano “A view to a kill”, che diventerà la colonna sonora del film omonimo (“007 Bersaglio Mobile” nella versione italiana).
At the same time, Duran Duran, in collaboration with John Barry, wrote the song "A view to to kill" to be used as sound track of the James Bond movie.
Click the links to download three different DEMO VERSIONS of

A View To A Kill (Demo 1) - AView To A Kill (Demo 2) -A View To A Kill (Demo3)

From John Barry's Biography:
“John Barry's title-song collaboration with Duran Duran was his most successful to date. A View To A Kill became a chart-topper in America and reached number two in Britain. The music, for what turned out to be Roger Moore's last outing as 007, was recorded as usual at C.T.S. Studios in Wembley, London. Sessions took place in March and April 1985, although Duran Duran had already taped their contributions separately in America. When Barry arrived at C.T.S. for the first session, his prime purpose was to add the backing of the full orchestra, thus turning the vocal / band accompaniment into the finished article. This was achieved by recording the orchestra conventionally, before certain sections were isolated.
John Taylor, of Duran Duran, a keen Bond / Barry fan, had originally suggested to Cubby Broccoli that the group would be ideal to write and sing the theme song for 'A View To A Kill', without actually expecting the call. When it arrived it filled them with utter dread. Lead singer Simon Le Bon took up the story as follows: "John Barry didn't really come up with any of the basic musical ideas. He heard what we came up with and he put them into an order. And that's why it happened so quickly because he was able to separate the good ideas from the bad ones, and he arranged them. He has a great way of working brilliant chord arrangements. He was working with us as virtually a sixth member of the group not really getting on our backs at all. He gets half a writing credit but all he really did was to make sure that he was able to use what we wrote later on in the film, to add orchestration and so on. He just wanted to make sure that what we did didn't make him wince."

Il singolo “A view to a kill” viene pubblicato in tutto il mondo nel mese di maggio e raggiunge la prima posizione nelle classifiche USA e la seconda nelle classifiche UK.
 In May, the single "A view to a kill" was worldwide released and reached # 1 in US and # 2 in UK charts.


Simon, Nick e Roger, non coinvolti nel progetto Power Station, danno vita agli “Arcadia”, nome ispirato dalla citazione del poeta latino Virgilio “Et in arcadia ego” e non, come a volte erroneamente riportato, dal dipinto di Nicolas Poussin “Les Bergeres d’Arcadie”.

Nella primavera del 1985 i tre registrano l’album “So Red The Rose” agli Studio De La Grande Armée a Parigi con il produttore Alex Sadkin.
Tra le collaborazioni illustri al disco ricordiamo: Sting, Grace Jones, Dave Gilmour, Herbie Hancock.
Simon, Nick and Roger, not involved in the Power Station project, formed the group "Arcadia", name taken from the phrase by the latin poet Virgilio "Et in arcadia ego" and not, as many times wrongly told, from the painting of Nicolas Poussin "Les Bergeres d'Arcadie".

During the spring of 1985, Arcadia recorded the album "So Red The Rose" at the Studio De La Grande Armée in Paris, production of Alex Sadkin. Sting, Grace Jones, Dave Gilmour, Herbie Hancock, are only few of the celebs who gave their “contribution” to the album.


Nel frattempo, i Power Station sono in sala prove per l’imminente tour.
A 10 giorni dall’inizio del tour americano, il 20 giugno, Robert Palmer la sua decisione di abbandonare il progetto.
Michael Des Barres viene scelto per sostituirlo.		 In the meantime, the Power Station were rehearsing to be ready for the forthcoming tour.
10 days before the beginning of US tour, on the 20th of june, Robert Palmer announced his decision to quit the band.
Michael Des Barres was chosen in order to take his place.

Click the links to download Power Station's:

SOME LIKE IT HOT
HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF

live in Los Angeles


I Duran Duran al completo vengono invitati da Bob Geldof a partecipare alla kermesse di beneficienza per la raccolta di fondi a favore dell’Etiopia, Live Aid, in programma per il 13 luglio 1985.
Seppur con delle iniziali incertezze, la band accetta di partecipare e, allo Stadio JFK di Philadelphia, suonano “A view to a kill”, “Union of the Snake”, “Save a Prayer” e “The Reflex”.
Quella del Live Aid sarà l’ultima apparizione dal vivo dei Duran Duran nella formazione originale (fino alla reunion).
John ed Andy partecipano al Live Aid anche con i Power Station, suonando "Murderess" e "Get It On".
Sotto, una carrellata di immagini dell'evento.


Bob Geldof asked Duran Duran to take part at the charity show (to collect the money to fight the starving in Ethiopia) - Live Aid - on July 13th, 1985.
From the stage of the JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, they played: "A view to a kill", "Union of the Snake", "Save a Prayer" and "The Reflex".
The one at the Live Aid was the last show of the band with the original line-up (until the
reunion).
John and Andy played the Live Aid as the Power Station too; they played "Murderess" and "Get It On".
Below, some shots of the show.


Il 10 agosto ha inizio la regata Fastnet Yatch Race alla quale Simon partecipa con la sua barca, il Drum of England.
Dopo solo un giorno, un grave incidente accorre alla imbarcazione e al suo equipaggio: la barca si capovolge a 3 miglia dalle coste di Falmouth e Simon, con altri 5 membri dell’equipaggio, rischia la propria vita rimanendo intrappolato per oltre 20 minuti all’interno del Drum.

On August 10th, Simon - on his boat, the Drum of England - took part at the Fastnet Yatch Race.
After only 1 day, the boat lost its keel and capsized 3 miles off the Falmouth coast.
Simon and 5 members of the crew cheated death being huddled below deck for 20 minutes.


Gli Arcadia pubblicano in ottobre il loro primo singolo “Election Day” il cui video è stato girato a Parigi con la regia di Roger Christian.

  Arcadia released in October their first single "Election Day" whose video has been recorded under the direction of Roger Christian.

L'album degli Arcadia, So Red The Rose, viene pubblicato in tutto il mondo nel mese di Novembre.
The Arcadia album, So Red The Rose, was released worldwide in November.


La fine del 1985 è ricca di avvenimenti The end of 1985 was full of events

John Taylor annuncia il suo fidanzamento con la top model danese Renée Simonsen.

John Taylor engaged with Danish supermodel Renée Simonsen.



Il 27 dicembre Simon sposa con rito civile al municipio di Oxford, la modella Yasmin Parvenah.

On December 27th Simon married model Yasmin Parvenah at the registry office in Oxford.		 Ed infine Roger Taylor, a causa di un forte esaurimento nervoso, sceglie di lasciare i Duran Duran e di trasferirsi con la famiglia, nella sua tenuta nel Gloucestershire.

Roger Taylor, because of a strong nervous exhaustion, quit the band and moved, with his family, to a farm in the Gloucestershire.

Torna alla Gallery - Back To Gallery