Red Carpet Massacre

1	The Valley 4:57
2	Red Carpet Massacre 3:16
3	Nite-Runner 3:58
4	Falling Down 5:41
5	Box Full O' Honey 3:10
6	Skin Divers 4:23
7	Tempted 4:24
8	Tricked Out 2:46
9	Zoom in 3:27
10	She's Too Much 5:14
11	Dirty Great Monster 3:36
12	Last Man Standing 4:00

Barnes & Noble

The big news about Duran Duran's 12th album and second disc since the original lineup reunited in 2001 is that three of Red Carpet Massacre's tracks were produced by Timbaland, with input from Justin Timberlake. The collaboration makes perfect sense; given the band's long history with funk auteur Nile Rodgers of Chic, it's easy to see Tim Mosley as a smart dance-music successor. Those three tracks are outstanding -- "Nite-Runner," "Skin Divers," and "Zoom In" capture musically the glamour, menace, and camp that Simon, Nick, and the Taylors have projected in over three decades of photo shoots. "Nite Runner" in particular sounds like a Timberlake outtake, with some mumbling from Timbaland to give it a clubbier edge. The focus of these tracks seems to have bled over into the rest of the sessions, resulting in a collection of strong songs true to the band's balancing act of aggressive rock and sinuous funk. Guitarist Dominic Brown, who replaced Andy Taylor after the original axe-man quit the band for the second time, gets plenty of opportunity to blaze on the title track and an instrumental, while the more heavily processed numbers belong to the metronomic drumming of Roger Taylor and Rhodes's seemingly timeless New Wave keyboard squiggles. The album's single, "Falling Down," produced by Timberlake, is a mid-tempo ballad with clobbering drums that seems to zero in on the band's success with the melancholy "Ordinary World," but the long money is on those club tracks. Twenty years after their biggest U.S. hits, Duran Duran have indeed come back hungry -- like the wolf. Mark Schwartz

All Music Guide

While Duran Duran have worked steadily since their 1993 comeback, The Wedding Album, they haven't always sounded as stylish and creatively tuned-in as they do on 2007's Red Carpet Massacre. Perhaps it's because there hasn't always been a definitive sound for the band to catch onto in the way that adult alternative informed the mature aesthetic of The Wedding Album. Interestingly, rather than go for the sound of more obvious neo-new wave bands like the Killers, Red Carpet Massacre finds the original lineup of vocalist Simon LeBon, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, bassist John Taylor, and drummer Roger Taylor -- guitarist Andy Taylor left prior to recording -- hooking up with modern dance-pop producers Danjahandz and Timbaland for a sound that at once returns the band to its edgy, club-oriented roots while also updating its sound to fit in on the radio next to such contemporary Timbaland-helmed acts as Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado. In fact, Timberlake even co-wrote and produced the very "FutureSex/LoveSounds"-ish ballad "Falling Down." These are darkly atmospheric, pulsating tracks that make the most of Duran Duran's longstanding knack for moody, somewhat cheeky dance-rock. To theses ends, dark disco cuts like "Nite-Runner" and "Skin Divers," with their dominatrix whip beats, high-pitched choruses, and obligatory Timbaland raps, are both deliciously hedonistic and crisply appointed electro-soul numbers. Similarly, tracks like the synth-driven title cut and the angular and oddly funky "Zoom In" come as close as the band has been in years to re-creating its own glamorous and neon-coated '80s aesthetic. Matt Collar

Rolling Stone

Duran Duran throw-ing down with Timbaland? Creamed jeans are made of this!...he gives the Fab Five a sleek funk track on "Nite-Runner," which could have been a leftover from FutureSex/LoveSounds. Rob Sheffield

Boston Globe

Timbaland and Danja's icy-cool electro beats mesh perfectly with the longstanding Duran dance-floor/bedroom sensibility on tracks like the risqué "Skin Divers" and the funky noir of "Nite Runner." Sarah Rodman