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Duran Duran, "Red Carpet Massacre" (Epic) 3 Stars.

They'll be celebrating their 30th anniversary next year and Duran Duran are doing it in style.

With a two-week run on Broadway and a well-received performance at "Live Earth," the British band is picking up where it left off following the two-million selling 2004 reunion album "Astronaut."

"Red Carpet Massacre," emerges as the troupe's best album in ages, and with help from hotshot producers Timbaland and Nate "Danja" Hills, they've stayed true to their dance-fueled, electronic-loving roots while locking into some thoroughly modern themes.

Bigtime Duran Duran fan Justin Timberlake is also on board as a co-writer and musical contributor, and two of his tracks, the foreboding and funky "Nite-Runner," and the lighter, guitar groove of the motorcycle crash saga "Falling Down," are two standouts. So too is Simon Le Bon's melodically lovely "She's Too Much," and the sax-roaring "Dirty Great Monster."

All in all, consider this a solid return to form. After selling 70 million records, Duran Duran still has plenty to say.

Courtesy Newhouse News Syndicated