him I didn't use any, it was just the sound of the drums
in the room. And he just looked at me. We just put the
drums in Abbey Road and it was basically a recording
of the sound of the room, of the drums in the room.
And that made me so proud. To have used samples
would have been cheating, which I guess was my
naivety again, meaning I was being purist and making
it much harder for myself, but I was just trying to get
this bigger than life, but natural sound; the sound I
could hear in the room." [57]
August 31
Simon is the best man at the wedding of Bob Geldof
and Paula Yates in Faversham, Kent in England; John is
also attending. [58]
September 18 and 19
Air Studios, London
Andy finally records his parts at Air Studios. No one
was around today as it was Nile Rodgers birthday
[19th] and the band were having a party for him. [59]
Andy: "...when I arrived at the studio there was no one
there apart from a French sound engineer."
Daniel Abraham: "Andy came to, I think, Air Studios"
reflects the engineer. "He was in for maybe two days;
he came in, played guitar on a few tracks; was very in
and out. His time was pretty short; he came in, set up,
listened to the tracks, did some guitar and that was it.
I think there was the expectation that he would
possible come back and do some more later. But that
never happened." [60]
September 25
Simon is one of the guests at a London party for the
band Cameo. [61]
John flies to New York. [62]
 
 

Early October
Skyline Studios, New York [63]
Finishing off the album: recording additional vocals,
guitars and the Borneo Horns. Also mixing and
mastering the album. Daniel Abraham: "We were in
New York and we had a horn session booked. So the
Borneo Horns turn up..." [64]
October 4 till 6
Video shoot for the single 'Notorious' in a warehouse in
Chelsea (Manhattan), New York with Peter Kagan and
Paula Greif. [65]
October 11
Andy Taylor has officially quit Duran Duran. [66]
There are still unconfirmed rumours that Andy was also
in New York, helping out Simon, Nick and John over
there. Whilst the band may expected Andy to come
back and play on more, he clearly states that the last
Duran things, prior to the reunion, were in London in
September: "I plugged in my guitar, played a few
tracks with the engineer in order to honour my
contractual obligations and then left to phone my
lawyer. It was over." [67]
October 20 (UK) and 27 (USA)
The single 'Notorious' gets released! [68] [69]
This was already announced on October 8th in
'Smash Hits' issue number 205. [70]
October 23
The video for 'Notorious' is world premiered on MTV.
October 25
Simon is still working (writing lyrics and recording
vocals) at Skyline Studios in New York. [71]