"The Promise" | ||||
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Single by Arcadia | ||||
from the album So Red the Rose | ||||
B-side | "Rose Arcana" (extended) | |||
Released | 1986 | |||
Recorded | Studio de la Grande Armée (Paris) | |||
Length |
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Label | Parlophone | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Alex Sadkin | |||
Arcadia singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"The Promise" on YouTube |
"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.
The track features an uncredited backing vocal by Sting. Sometime during the band's stay in Paris to record So Red the Rose , they went to see a Sting concert there, and decided it would be interesting to have him come over and sing on the album, mainly because they liked the combination of Sting's and lead singer Simon Le Bon's voices on the "Do They Know It's Christmas?" single by Band Aid, and wanted to see what would result from putting them together again. Sting was very amicable about the whole idea, and it turned out to be one of the band's favourite moments on the record. [1]
The single mix for "The Promise" was heavily edited down from the album's hefty 7:28 to a leaner, more radio-friendly 4:45. In fact, even Alex Sadkin and Ron Saint Germain's "extended remix" clocked in at only 7:05, almost 25 seconds shy of the album cut.
The B-side to the single was an extended mix of the album track "Rose Arcana".
Arcadia
Additional musicians
Technical
Novembre covered "The Promise" as a bonus track on their 2006 album Materia.
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.
Simon John Charles Le Bon is an English 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.
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.
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"Is There Something I Should Know?" is the eighth single by English new wave band Duran Duran, released on 14 March 1983.
"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.
"Serious" is a song by English rock band Duran Duran. It was released on 5 November 1990 as the second single from their sixth studio album, Liberty (1990), reaching number three in Italy and number 48 in the United Kingdom.
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"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 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.
"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.