| "The Flame" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Arcadia | ||||
| from the album So Red the Rose | ||||
| B-side | "Flame Game" (Yo Homeboy mix) | |||
| Released | ||||
| Recorded | Studio de la Grande Armée (Paris) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length |
| |||
| Label | Parlophone | |||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | Alex Sadkin | |||
| Arcadia singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music video | ||||
| "The Flame" on YouTube | ||||
"The Flame" is the fourth single released by the Duran Duran offshoot band, Arcadia. It was released by Parlophone in 1986 and was the group's third UK single. It reached number 58 in the UK Singles Chart. [3]
The campy, slapstick video was made in the retro style of an Edwardian-era drawing room murder mystery, à la Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock. The storyline revolved around a series of comic disasters that befall an awkward, nerdish character (played by Simon Le Bon) and his girlfriend while visiting a haunted house. Nick Rhodes plays the debonair host of the dinner party at the house, and he frequently uses Le Bon as his comic stooge for a number of macabre and mildly sadistic visual gags. Various unsavory bits of business ensue with revolving walls, trapdoors and mysterious assassins hidden behind paintings and within exotic taxidermied animals. The slapstick comic interplay between Rhodes and Le Bon is faintly reminiscent of Abbott and Costello.
At one point, John Taylor (at the time a member of the Power Station, the other Duran Duran side project) comes out of the closet with a contract for the band to sign. This is an especially pointed inside joke, as it was around this time that the three remaining Duran Duran members were preparing to write and record their next album, Notorious , while in legal negotiations with their now-estranged guitarist Andy Taylor.
The video's treatment is said to have been written by Rhodes and the various near-fatal pratfalls that occur to Le Bon's character was intended as punishment for his decision to enter the Fastnet yachting race that almost cost him his life in August 1985.
In fact, Le Bon was in the middle of the South American leg of the 1986 Whitbread Round the World Race yacht race when he had to fly to Spain in April to shoot the video. He then flew straight back to rejoin his team in Uruguay.
The video was directed by longtime collaborator Russell Mulcahy.
All officially released remixes of "The Flame"—the single remix, extended remix and the "Yo Homeboy" mix—were done by Nile Rodgers.
| Chart (1986) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles (OCC) [3] | 58 |
Arcadia
Technical
Duran Duran are an English band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor. With the addition of bassist Simon Colley and drummer Roger Taylor the following year, the band went through numerous personnel changes before May 1980, when they settled on their most famous line-up by adding guitarist Andy Taylor and lead vocalist Simon Le Bon.
Arcadia were a British pop group formed in 1985 by Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, and Roger Taylor of Duran Duran as a side project during a break in the band's schedule. The project was active only during 1985 and 1986 and for just one album, So Red the Rose, which was certified Platinum in the United States and included the singles "Election Day", "Goodbye Is Forever", "The Flame", and "The Promise". Drummer Roger Taylor appeared in only a few band photographs and one music video, and stated he was to be involved only in the recording side of the project.
Nick Rhodes is an English keyboardist and producer, best known as a founding member and the keyboardist of the band Duran Duran. He is also informally monikered as "the Controller", after being introduced as such on stage by bandmate Simon Le Bon during the Astronaut album world tours of 2004–2005.
Simon John Charles Le Bon is a British singer. He is best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the new wave band Duran Duran and its offshoot Arcadia. Le Bon has received three Ivor Novello Awards from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, including the award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.
Duran Duran is the debut studio album by English rock band Duran Duran, released on 15 June 1981 through EMI. Produced by Colin Thurston, it was recorded in London and Oxfordshire between December 1980 and January 1981. The instrumental tracks were recorded quickly, but vocalist Simon Le Bon initially struggled to sing in the studio, leading to discussions about replacing him before EMI employee Dave Ambrose intervened.
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.
"Notorious" is a song by English rock band Duran Duran. Released internationally by EMI on 20 October 1986, "Notorious" was the first single issued from Duran Duran's fourth studio album of the same name, and the first released by Duran Duran as a trio as Roger Taylor and Andy Taylor had both left the band by the time it was released.
"Skin Trade" is a song by English rock band Duran Duran, released on 31 January 1987 as the second single from their fourth studio album, Notorious (1986). A seductive ballad with traces of R&B, the song showcases a new sound for Duran Duran with lead vocalist Simon Le Bon singing in a Prince-like falsetto, and with a powerful brass section, courtesy of the Borneo Horns.
"Do You Believe in Shame?" is a song by English rock band Duran Duran, released on 10 April 1989 as the third and final single from their fifth studio album, Big Thing (1988).
"Planet Earth" is the debut single by English new wave band Duran Duran, released on 2 February 1981.
"My Own Way" is the fourth single by English new wave band Duran Duran, originally released on 16 November 1981.
"Rio" is the seventh single by English rock band Duran Duran. It was first released as a single in Australia, in August 1982, followed by a UK release on 1 November 1982.
"The Wild Boys" is the twelfth single by English new wave band Duran Duran, released on 26 October 1984 in the United Kingdom.
"Ordinary World" is a song by English rock band Duran Duran, released in December 1992 as the first single from their self-titled album (1993), commonly known as the Wedding Album. The ballad reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Top 40/Mainstream chart, the Canadian RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart, and the Italian Singles Chart. It also peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 2 in Iceland and Sweden, and No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart.
"New Moon on Monday" is the tenth single by English new wave band Duran Duran, released on 23 January 1984 in the United Kingdom.
"Electric Barbarella" is the 29th single by English rock band Duran Duran, and the first official single from the album Medazzaland. In 1997, the single and album were released only in the United States; "Electric Barbarella" was not issued as a single in the UK until January 1999 on the back of the late 1998 release of the compilation album Greatest.
"Election Day" is the first single released by Duran Duran offshoot band, Arcadia.
"Goodbye Is Forever" is the second single released by the Duran Duran offshoot band, Arcadia. The song achieved success only in the United States, peaking at number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in March, 1986. It also was released by Capitol Records in January 1986 in many regions around the world except the UK.
"The Promise" is the third single released by the Duran Duran offshoot band Arcadia. It was released by Parlophone in 1986 as the group's second UK single. It peaked at number 37 on the UK Singles Chart.
"Say the Word" is the fifth and final single released by the Duran Duran offshoot band, Arcadia. Recorded for the soundtrack of Playing for Keeps, it was released as a single in the US by Atlantic Records.