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Ian Little - Baptism Of Fire: A Year Living And Working With Duran Duran [BOOK]
Ian Little, a young musical novice, lucked into minding Roxy Music’s studio while the band were on the road. By the time they returned, he had a record contract and was promoted to production assistant for their swansong Avalon. And that’s just the beginning. Duran Duran had ambitions to become the biggest band in the world, and chose Ian to produce the album that made it happen. Travel with Ian and the band to Sri Lanka, the south of France, New York, Monserrat and Sydney, to create Seven And The Ragged Tiger, one of the defining albums of the 1980s. This remarkable book, with a foreword by Hazel O’Connor, tells the story of a meteoric rise, making a massive hit album under pressure (encountering Bowie, Dylan, McCartney and other legends along the way), a too-much-too-soon spiral into addiction and homelessness in the years that followed, the fight to get life back on track, and the spiritual growth along the way.
240 pages, Hardcover
Published August 9, 2024
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September 23, 2023
As a fan of Duran Duran since 1981, Ian's involvement with the band on Is There Something I Should Know? and Seven and the Ragged Tiger is well known to me.
However, what I never knew about him were his beginnings in the industry and his involvement with Roxy Music. To learn the craft of production from the likes of Bryan Ferry, Phil Manzanera, Andy MacKay et al is a glorious start.
Obviously the main chunk of the book retells the year spent working on the Duran Duran single and subsequent album and goes into the process he and the band used firstly in France and then at Air Studios and Studio 301 in Sydney.
The insights certainly paint a fresh light on an album that is now 40 years old and on listening again to the album you can hear things in the mix that were previously missed.
Sadly for Ian, the band have downplayed his involvement on the record which is a shame, as it was a pivotal to the album even being recorded.
So, who is this book for? Well, if you are a Duranie then it's worth reading for the above (bear in mind there is no salacious gossip or revelations about the band). It is also worth a read if you are a fan of music in general.
However, what I never knew about him were his beginnings in the industry and his involvement with Roxy Music. To learn the craft of production from the likes of Bryan Ferry, Phil Manzanera, Andy MacKay et al is a glorious start.
Obviously the main chunk of the book retells the year spent working on the Duran Duran single and subsequent album and goes into the process he and the band used firstly in France and then at Air Studios and Studio 301 in Sydney.
The insights certainly paint a fresh light on an album that is now 40 years old and on listening again to the album you can hear things in the mix that were previously missed.
Sadly for Ian, the band have downplayed his involvement on the record which is a shame, as it was a pivotal to the album even being recorded.
So, who is this book for? Well, if you are a Duranie then it's worth reading for the above (bear in mind there is no salacious gossip or revelations about the band). It is also worth a read if you are a fan of music in general.
Displaying 1 of 1 review