Duran Duran To Re-Release ‘The Wedding Album’ And ‘Thank You’

After achieving massive global success in the 1980s, Duran Duran hit a bump on the road at the start of the 1990s. Their first album for that decade, 1990’s Liberty, was not a commercial success and only reached number 46 on the Billboard chart. It initially appeared that the British group’s career was in a major holding pattern amid the popularity of hip-hop and grunge.

But Duran Duran later proved the doubters wrong with the release of their 1993 self-titled album, whose success gave them a much-needed lift thanks to the hit singles “Ordinary World” and “Come Undone.” Over 30 years later, that record and the 1995 follow-up Thank You will be reissued on vinyl for the first time since their original release as 2-LP sets on April 10 (The albums will also be available as single CDs housed in paper sleeves).

According to a press release issued on Thursday, the new edition of Duran Duran contains an embossed sleeve and a 12-inch art card, while Thank You is featured in a gatefold sleeve and contains a fold-out poster. The latest reissues are a continuation of an archival program that began last summer with the re-release of the band’s first five albums on vinyl and CD.

Duran Duran — which is commonly referred to as The Wedding Album due to its cover art featuring the wedding photos of the band members’ parents — found the group stylistically diverging from the synthpop sound of their early ‘80s output, incorporating hard rock (“Too Much Information”), funk (“None of the Above,” “Love Voodoo”) and, on one track, Brazilian music (“Breath After Breath,” a collaboration with the singer Milton Nascimento). The success of the now-iconic ballad “Ordinary World” and the seductive “Come Undone” propelled The Wedding Album to number seven on Billboard.

“The Wedding Album is one of the most important Duran Duran albums, at least from my perspective,” bassist John Taylor said in 2013 for the record’s 20th anniversary. “It was the album that gave us two massive hits, outside of the Eighties!… The success of this album gave us tremendous confidence, and the idea that we still had vitality and something to offer the world, after having had a few years of banging our heads against the wall, trying for re-invention.”

Two years after Duran Duran, the band released their first-ever covers album, Thank You—a collection of classic songs and deep cuts by various artists including Public Enemy (“911 Is a Joke”); Elvis Costello (“Watching the Detectives”); Iggy Pop (“Success”); Sly and the Family Stone (“I Wanna Take You Higher”); Bob Dylan (“Lay Lady Lay”); Led Zeppelin (“Thank You”); and the Doors (“Crystal Ship”). Thank You’s singles consisted of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” (which featured a guest appearance by original Duran Duran drummer Roger Taylor) and Grandmaster Melle Mel’s hard-hitting “White Lines (Don’t Do it),” which continues to be a part of Duran Duran’s live setlist.

“The idea of how Thank You was received in 1995 only makes me want to do more covers, not less,” keyboardist Nick Rhodes told Classic Pop magazine last year. “It’s weathered the test of time quite well, that album.

Along with Duran Duran and Thank You, another Duran Duran-related project will also hit the shelves in vinyl form, particularly for Record Store Day on April 18 — Power Mad: Live At The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA 8/21/85, a 3-LP set by the Power Station, the supergropup featuring Duran Duran members John Taylor and Andy, Chic’s Tony Thompson and veteran singer Michael Des Barres. Previously released as part of the recently reissued deluxe version of the 1985 Power Station album, this collection of live performances will be available as a standalone vinyl set for the first time.

In other Duran Duran news, the band will be playing some spring and summer tour dates this year in the U.S. and Europe, including a residency at Fontainebleau Las Vegas.