Rio (album) - Remixes and Reissues

Remixes and Reissues

Meanwhile, the band had worked with producer David Kershenbaum to create some new dance mixes for their twelve-inch club singles. In September, EMI collected the remixes and released them on an EP called Carnival. It included the songs "Rio", "Hold Back The Rain", "My Own Way", "Hungry Like The Wolf", and "New Religion", and was released in North America, Spain, the Netherlands, Japan and Taiwan.

Following the success of the Kershenbaum remixes, Capitol changed its marketing strategy on Duran Duran in the U.S. from a New Romantic band (something that was a British phenomenon) to a dance band. Frustrated with their lack of success in the U.S., the band capitalized on the moment and pressed Capitol to allow them to issue a remixed and remastered version of the Rio album in North America. The company agreed, and brought Kershenbaum back to remix more songs from the album.

On 1 November 1982, the "Rio" single was released worldwide. It peaked at #9 in the UK in December 1982.

Capitol re-released the Rio album in the U.S., with Kershenbaum's new remixes on side one in November 1982. Differences in the songs on this second pressing (matrix #ST-1-12211-Z13-REI #1) are:

• Kershenbaum U.S. album remix of "Rio"
• Kershenbaum "Carnival remix" of "My Own Way" - drastically different from the original
• Kershenbaum U.S. album remix of "Lonely In Your Nightmare"
• Kershenbaum U.S. album remix of "Hungry Like the Wolf" (later used on the American 7" single re-release)
• Kershenbaum U.S. album remix of "Hold Back the Rain"

As the album began to take off, Capitol rushed a third pressing of the Rio album into stores, identical to the second, except that the Kershenbaum album remix of "Hungry Like the Wolf" was replaced with longer Kershenbaum "Night Version". The third pressing (matrix #ST-1-12211-Z16 #2) is much more common than the second.

These remixed "Night Versions" of "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Hold Back the Rain" were later released on CD on the Night Versions: The Essential Duran Duran compilation in 1998, and "My Own Way" was released in the 2003 Singles Box Set 1981-1985.

On 3 December 1982, the Kershenbaum album remix was used for the "Hungry Like the Wolf" single. This was released in the US some six months after its initial UK release. The single included both the album version and the Carnival remix. It peaked at #3 in the US on 26 March 1983.

Part of the continued success of the album was due to the very popular videos, in heavy rotation on MTV. The video album Duran Duran was released (on VHS, Betamax, and laserdisc) to coincide with the North American re-issue of the "Rio" single on 11 March 1983, four months after its original release. This single included the Kershenbaum 7" remix of "Rio" and peaked at #14 in US on 14 May 1983.

The first pressing of 30,000 copies of the Japanese version of the LP (Toshiba/EMI EMS-91037) came with a colour poster. There is a notation on the OBI that mentions this. Later issues of the album have the notation on the OBI removed and contain only a lyric insert with a bio in Japanese and some photos.

The CD releases of the "Rio" album include an alternate version of "Hold Back the Rain" with added lyrics previously only available on the Night Version 12" remixes. The 2009 EMI Re-release restored the official UK version of the song, in which the lyrics are omitted. The lines in question are as follows:

People tell me I haven't change at all / But I don't feel the same /And I bet you've had that feeling, too / You can't laugh all the time / So what if the words ain't rhyming? / Did you think that it's just a game? / I probably didn't even say that right / And I really don't give a damn