Talk:Seven and the Ragged Tiger

This review is transcluded from Talk:Seven and the Ragged Tiger/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Thebiguglyalien (talk · contribs) 03:22, 3 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I'll post a review for this some time in the next few days. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 03:22, 3 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

zmbro I've reviewed the article. Pretty good all around, just a handful of minor issues and some questions about the wording.

I think the changes (or the justifications where changes were not made) are sufficient. I made a few edits to change one more backlash to pushback, to add Template:Inflation, and to change "they attracted tabloid criticism" to "this attracted tabloid criticism". With that, I think this is a Good Article. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 17:01, 5 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Well-written

I've made a few minor copyedits for grammar.

Lead:

• It might be worth listing the album's singles in the lead.

• Added

• scathing critical reviews – Informal

• Fixed

Background:

• By the start of 1983, Duran Duran had established themselves as one of the biggest bands in the world. – Even if this is supported by sources, there's probably a less WP:PEACOCK-ish way to word this. I'm also not sure if "by the start of" is the right phrase here (though it could be).

• By 1983; how about "one of the most successful"?

• They received hate from the press and their musical peers – "Received hate" is informal and seems gossipy.

• How about "were negatively received by"?

• Duran Duran underwent an exhaustive press tour and live performances from March to April – It's unclear what the press tour and live performances entailed. Was it promotional work for the album that hadn't been recorded yet?

• Clarified (for Rio)

Recording history:

• They almost immediately attracted tabloid criticism. – "almost immediately" seems informal, and it's unclear what tabloid criticism this is referring to

• To my understanding, since they were one of the biggest bands in the world at that time, the press were on them a lot, covering almost everything they did. They went to France to record to escape some of the media attention and to avoid paying high UK taxes. Here I've basically paraphrased Malins' book fairly similarly. What do you think would be the best way to resolve this? – zmbro _{(talk) (cont)} 15:36, 5 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• The sessions began timidly – Is timidly the right word?

• Changed to "The sessions commenced slowly due to a lack of new material"

• creativity was at an all-time low seems informal.

• Shortened to just 'was low'

• EMI, believing Little's inexperience as a producer was slowing down progress – This whole sentence runs on and might be better suited as two sentences.

• Fixed

• The group's time at AIR proved irritating – Who found it irritating? Right now it's stated as an objective fact.

• Fixed

• passed off as whiny and unprofessional – Informal. If this is an exact quote, it should be quoted. Otherwise, a more formal description of the reaction is appropriate.

• It is a direct quote that's my bad; added quote marks

• due to inflated egos and the presence of girlfriends – It's unclear how these things caused tensions or who believes that the band members had "inflated egos".

• How about we remove this bit entirely? I think it works fine without it.

• What is a Duran Duran supporter in this context? Different wording might be better

• Removed entirely

• contributed percussion – Is this grammatically correct? I'd think it would be something like "contributed to the band's percussion", but I'm not familiar with music jargon.

• Yep that's how I've seen it worded on other articles

• received backlash from John and Andy – "backlash" usually suggests criticism from a broad group

• How about "pushback"? – zmbro _{(talk) (cont)} 22:54, 4 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Music and lyrics

• boasts an echo of Roxy Music is a little too dramatic.

• Shortened to echoed

• the dark side of fame the band were experiencing – should band be singular or plural?

• In British English bands are referred to as plural

• a lavish photoshoot – "lavish" might not be necessary.

• Removed

• The shoot reportedly cost upwards of £65,000 – Would this benefit from a template to adjust for inflation?

• I actually did not know there was one and do not know how to do that. – zmbro _{(talk) (cont)} 22:54, 4 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Release and singles:

• a Mad Max-type road warrior – Was this specifically intended to invoke Mad Max? If so, it should say so. If not, a more direct description might be preferable.

• Adjusted to "leather-wearing road warrior"; that's how Malins describes it as least – zmbro _{(talk) (cont)} 15:36, 5 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• a great single for Duran Duran – Would "successful" or similar be more appropriate than "great"?

• Fixed

• It initially received backlash from EMI and Capitol – "backlash" doesn't fit here

• "pushback"? – zmbro _{(talk) (cont)} 22:54, 4 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Critical reception:

• In an extremely negative review – Informal

• Removed

Tour:

• The short Japanese leg of seven dates – This phrasing is confusing

• Changed to "A short seven-date leg of Japan"

• presence of girlfriends led to increased tensions – Again, it's not clear what this means in this case

• Removed

Legacy:

• five-piece lineup – Is this a standard term?

• Yep as far as I know

• boasting two CDs and one DVD – Informal

• Changed to featuring

• EMI refused to recall the reissue because complaints about its sound quality were "by far in the minority". – If this is EMI's opinion, then it should be attributed.

• Fixed

Verifiable with no original research

All sources appear to be reliable. As I often do with music articles, I'll suggest limiting the use of direct quotes to when the specific wording is critical to the reader's understanding, especially in the "reception" section.

Sources by the band's members are not independent and should be attributed for anything beyond basic statements of fact. This isn't much of a problem throughout the article, but there are a few instances where one of them appears to speak on behalf of the entire band or for other people. This is more of a gray area on whether attribution is needed, so I'll leave it to your judgement:

• the band members were worried the album would not be delivered on time
• Duran Duran were Diana's favourite band, while Dire Straits were Charles's favourite
• The band expressed distaste for the video
• The band as a whole were not satisfied with the album musically
• It initially received backlash from EMI and Capitol, who felt it was "too black" for Duran Duran.

• All fixed.

Spot checks:

• Henke (1984) – Both quotes are present in the source.
• Buskin (2004) – Checked all 15 uses. All good except:
  • had established themselves as one of the biggest bands in the world – I already recommended changing this above, but note that it's close paraphrasing (WP:CLOP).

• Is it better now or should I rephrase more? – zmbro _{(talk) (cont)} 15:36, 5 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• • a 24-track mobile studio that was rented from North London's RAK Studios – CLOP

• Fixed

• Davis (2021) — Checked the following uses:
  • p. 181 – Both good.
  • pp 204–213 – Checked all four uses. All good except the source doesn't appear to mention "Original Sin".

• I recall that's covered by John Taylor's memoir

• Zaleski (2018) – Checked all four uses:
  • spent three months working out demos and ideas. – CLOP

• Fixed

• • Does this support that it had a simultaneous worldwide release?

• It does not. I now can't recall where I got that from. Reworded simply.

Broad in its coverage

The article does not go off topic at any point.

The background section doesn't have much background about this specific album. The coverage of their recent activities prior to this is relevant, but the article jumps immediately from their previous releases to the beginning of recording with only minimal detail of what happened in between. Was there any planning or pre-recording activity related to this album?

• There really wasn't. After Rio was this huge success they basically did press and toured constantly and barely did any writing or recording, hence "The sessions commenced slowly due to a lack of new material". – zmbro _{(talk) (cont)} 15:36, 5 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Neutral

Some peacock language is listed under criterion one, otherwise all good.

Stable

No recent disputes.

Illustrated

The album cover has a valid non-free use rationale. One public domain image, and WP:AGF that all of the other images were uploaded by the creators. All images have helpful captions.