Reportage is the provisional title of an album that the British band Duran Duran wrote and recorded as successor to their 2004 album Astronaut.

According to former band guitarist Andy Taylor, early stages were done with producer Youth ^[1], plus further sessions with producer Michael Patterson ^[2]. After working at Andre Agassi's mansion in San Francisco ^[3], and London, the album was completed by May 2006, and contained 14 tracks.

While supposed to have a 'return-to-the-band-roots' spirit, and an harsh feeling, with songs inspired by the Iraq war, Duran Duran's label thought the album needed more, and so Timbaland, who had met the band on a pair of occasions, was brought in to help "for a couple of singles".

Patterson would recall the pressure, commenting: "I can't understand why a certain established UK band would ever want to be on a label when they can sell more the first week on their own than most bands can in a year", on his MySpace page. Meanwhile, rumors spreaded around some fan boards and websites that Andy Taylor was feeling uncomfortable about the new scenario.

In September 2006, Timbaland joined the band at Manhattan Center Studios in New York for some writing and recording sessions witnessed by Rolling stone magazine, but Andy Taylor didn't attend. After a month of speculations the band officialised the second split ^[4].

Later, Andy Taylor wrote in his autobiography that the old rivalries between himself, Simon LeBon and Nick Rhodes that began anew during the making of Astronaut had worsened, and that "the album needed more work". Duran Duran eventually decided to scrap the whole result following the acrimonious departure of their guitarist and take their sound in a different direction ^[5].

The band kept only three songs written with Timbaland and went on to record an entirely new album titled Red Carpet Massacre, released November 19, 2007 to mixed reviews and very poor sales, and peaking at #44 on the UK album chart, compared to the #3 position of Astronaut.

Duran Duran stood by their work going on tour, but concurrently ascertaining bad support coming from the label. As a result, the band finally broke ties with Sony and Epic Records ^[6].

Although bassist John Taylor calls it "our lost masterpiece", Reportage was never released, and its songs were not even performed. No recordings are known to have leaked, and despite of great interest from the fans and some hopeful press declarations by band members, an official release has been since considered to be extremely unlikely.

[edit] Known song titles

• Criminals in the Capital
• Under the Wire ^[7]
• Traumatised ^[8]
• Judy, Where Are You?
• 48 Hours Later ^[9]
• Transcendal Mental ^[10]
• Nobody

All tracks written by Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor, Roger Taylor and Andy Taylor.

[edit] References

1. ^ Andy Taylor exclusive interview
2. ^ "Forget Rio: Duran Duran Head to NOLA" Rolling Stone, May 9, 2006
3. ^ YouTube video: Simon Le Bon in the studio, September 2005
4. ^ Duran Duran: "A message to our fans"
5. ^ MSNBC.com: Timbaland gives Duran Duran a new sound
6. ^ Duran Duran: "A(nother) blog from Simon
7. ^ Duran Duran new album "Gloss" Corriere dello sport stadio, June 1, 2006
8. ^ Duran Duran new album "Gloss" Corriere dello sport stadio, June 1, 2006
9. ^ Billboard.com: Duran Duran Grooves With Timbaland, Timberlake
10. ^ Billboard.com: Duran Duran Grooves With Timbaland, Timberlake