So Red the Rose

Template:Infobox Album So Red The Rose is the platinum-selling 1985 album by the Duran Duran spinoff group Arcadia — the only album the band ever released. It included the singles "Election Day", "Goodbye Is Forever" and "The Flame".

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

The album's artwork illustrations are by Tony Viramontes and features painted ink drawings inspired by the sketches of Jean Cocteau as well as an innovative "light space" photograph of the band by Dean Chamberlain, who also directed the video for the song, "Missing".

Box Sets

As part of EMI's massive Duran Duran reissue plans, a jewel case 3 disc Arcadia: So Red the Rose (2 CD Set and DVD) boxset 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 specially commissioned for the soundtrack of Playing For Keeps), and an unreleased instrumental mix of "The Promise". The DVD contains the original 1987 video release The Making of Arcadia.

In 2008 a previous more complete limited edition for Japan fan club (23-track digitally) was remastered into 6 CD single set (Arcadia - The Singles Box 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, though versions in some countries simply used randomized numbers which did not decipher to anything intelligible. The code was a simple substitution cyper, numbering the letters of the alphabet (for example, A=1, B=2, C=3, etc.).

Track listing

1. "Election Day"
2. "Keep Me in the Dark"
3. "Goodbye Is Forever"
4. "The Flame"
5. "Missing"
6. "Rose Arcana"
7. "The Promise"
8. "El Diablo"
9. "Lady Ice"

Singles

1. "Election Day" (October 85)
2. "Goodbye Is Forever" (January 86)
3. "The Promise" (1986)
4. "The Flame" (July 1986)

Personnel

Arcadia are:

• Simon Le Bon, vocals
• Nick Rhodes, keyboards
• Roger Taylor, drums

With:

• Grace Jones, backing vocals (tracks: 1, 4)
• Sting, backing vocals (track: 7)
• Herbie Hancock, keyboards (track: 7)

Additional musicians:

• Guitars: Carlos Alomar, David Gilmour
• Saxophone: Andy Mackay
• Bass: Mark Egan
• Drums, Percussion: David Van Tieghem, Raphael Dejesus, Steve Jordan
• Drum Programming: Wendel Jr.
• Harp: Jean-Claude Dubois
• Violin: Masami Tsuchiya, Pierre Defay

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
• Artwork (illustrations) by Tony Viramontes
• Artwork (sleeve) by - David + Malcolm at Assorted iMaGes