So Red the Rose

So Red the Rose is the only studio album by the Duran Duran-spinoff group Arcadia, released on 18 November 1985 by Parlophone. It included the singles "Election Day", "Goodbye Is Forever" and "The Flame". The album peaked at #23 on the Billboard 200 in January 1986 and at #30 on the UK Albums charts in December 1985.

For the 1935 film, see So Red the Rose (film).

So Red the Rose
Studio album by
Arcadia
Released18 November 1985
12 April 2010 (boxset)
RecordedApril–June 1985
StudioStudio de la Grande Armée (Paris)
Genre
Length43:36
Label
Producer
Singles from So Red the Rose
  1. "Election Day"
    Released: October 1985
  2. "Goodbye Is Forever"
    Released: January 1986 (U.S.)
  3. "The Promise"
    Released: January 1986 (UK)
  4. "The Flame"
    Released: July 1986
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
BBC(2010 special edition, average) link

There were many musical guests on the album, including David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, Herbie Hancock, Grace Jones, and Sting (who provided backing vocals on "The Promise").

The album's artwork featured painted ink drawings by fashion illustrator Tony Viramontes[2] of fashion model Violeta Sanchez as well as an innovative "light space" photograph of the band by Dean Chamberlain, who also directed the video for the song "Missing."[3] Nick Rhodes said of the model Sanchez on the album cover, "She had an elegance to her, an old style classic beauty".[2]

Box sets

As part of EMI's massive Duran Duran reissue plans, a jewel case 3 disc (2CD, 1 DVD) boxset of So Red the Rose was released 12 April 2010. It included the entire album, single mixes, the B-sides "She's Moody and Grey, She's Mean and She's Restless" and "Flame Game (Yo Homeboy Mix)", four versions of non-album track "Say the Word" (a track from the soundtrack of Playing for Keeps), and an instrumental mix of "The Promise". The DVD contains the original 1987 video release Arcadia.

But in 2008 a previously existing, more complete LIMITED EDITION for Japan fan club (23-track digitally) was remastered into 6 CD single set, comprising all the singles ever released for the Arcadia project ('So Red the Rose' album LP), also including 'Say the Word'. The packaging is a 'so red the velvet', faithfully replicating the original single sleeve artwork, plus 8-page fold-out picture booklet of lyrics and biography.

Encrypted messages

Some versions of the album and related singles contained a numeric code in their artwork, this code allocated even numbers to letters, beginning with 16=A, and continuing to 52=S, and then wrapping around to 02=T up to 14=Z. 00 represents either a space or a mid-word capitalization (being used before the "B" in Le Bon). The numbers on the front cover of the U.S. CD release decode to spell TAYLOR RHODES LE BON (the surnames of the three members of the group). The circular image on the back of the CD insert spells SO RED THE ROSE both forward and backward, while the three letters in the center are T R L (Taylor/Rhodes/Le Bon)

Track listing

1985 original release

All songs written by Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor, except where noted.

  1. "Election Day" – 5:29
  2. "Keep Me in the Dark" – 4:31
  3. "Goodbye Is Forever" – 3:49
  4. "The Flame" – 4:23
  5. "Missing" – 3:40 (Le Bon, Rhodes)
  6. "Rose Arcana" – 0:51 (Le Bon, Rhodes)
  7. "The Promise" – 7:30
  8. "El Diablo" – 6:05
  9. "Lady Ice" – 7:32 (Le Bon, Rhodes)

CD1
  1. "Election Day" – 5:29
  2. "Keep Me in the Dark" – 4:31
  3. "Goodbye Is Forever" – 3:49
  4. "The Flame" – 4:23
  5. "Missing" – 3:40 (Le Bon, Rhodes)
  6. "Rose Arcana" – 0:51 (Le Bon, Rhodes)
  7. "The Promise" – 7:30
  8. "El Diablo" – 6:05
  9. "Lady Ice" – 7:32 (Le Bon, Rhodes)
  10. "Say the Word" (7" edit) – 4:30 (Le Bon, Rhodes)
  11. "Election Day" (single version) – 4:31
  12. "Goodbye Is Forever" (single mix) – 4:17
  13. "The Promise" (7" mix) – 4:46
  14. "The Flame" (7" remix) – 4:06
  15. "Say the Word" – 5:08
  16. "She's Moody and Grey She's Mean and Restless" – 4:29

CD2
  1. "Election Day" (Consensus mix) – 8:39
  2. "Goodbye Is Forever" (12" extended mix) – 6:45
  3. "The Promise" (instrumental) – 5:44
  4. "Rose Arcana" – 5:33
  5. "The Flame" (extended remix) – 7:17
  6. "Say the Word" (extended vocal remix) – 6:33
  7. "Election Day" (Cryptic cut) – 9:09
  8. "The Promise" (12" mix) – 7:06
  9. "Goodbye Is Forever" (dub mix) – 5:15
  10. "Say the Word" (extended instrumental remix) – 5:48
  11. "Election Day" (early rough mix) – 9:04
  12. "Flame Game" (Yo Homeboy mix) – 2:51

DVD
  1. "Introduction"
  2. "Filming Election Day"
  3. "Election Day"
  4. "Filming The Promise"
  5. "The Promise"
  6. "Filming Goodbye Is Forever"
  7. "Goodbye Is Forever"
  8. "Filming The Flame"
  9. "The Flame"
  10. "Filming Missing"
  11. "Missing"
  12. "Credits"

Personnel

Arcadia

Additional musicians

Production
  • Produced by Alex Sadkin & Arcadia
  • Recorded by Larry Alexander; assisted by Phillippe Lafont
  • Engineered by Larry Alexander
  • Mixed by Larry Alexander, Phil Burnett, Nick Delre, Billy Miranda & Ron Saint-Germain
  • Mastered by Bob Ludwig
  • Album cover illustration by Tony Viramontes[2]

References
  1. So Red the Rose at AllMusic
  2. Rhys-Morgan, Dean. Bold, Beautiful and Damned: The World of 1980's Fashion Illustrator Tony Viramontes, London: Lawrence King Publishing Ltd., 2013 ISBN 978-1-78067-3073, p.34
  3. "Daily Dose Pick: Dean Chamberlain". Flavorwire. 12 August 2009. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
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