Thanks to Slicing Up Eyeballs, I was reminded that it was exactly 25 years ago today that Duran Duran issued Notorious.

Released on November 18, 1986, it was the band’s fourth studio album and the first since 1983’s Seven And The Ragged Tiger. Notorious should have marked a reunion for the synthpop quintet, who were coming off of the previous year’s side projects, The Power Station and Arcadia, but instead Duran Duran was down to a trio, following the departures of guitarist Andy Taylor and drummer Roger Taylor.

Roger’s absence meant Duran Duran was exponentially less sexy on the face of things, though the music on Notorious was decidedly more so, since Chic’s Nile Rodgers brought the funk as producer. He’d previously remixed “The Reflex” for its single release and produced the follow-up “The Wild Boys,” the sole studio track on Duran Duran’s 1984 live album, Arena. (Rodgers’ Chic bandmates, Bernard Edwards and Tony Thompson, were part of The Power Station with Andy Taylor, John Taylor, and Robert Palmer. Sandwiched between Rodgers’ work for Duran Duran, Edwards produced “A View To A Kill,” the band’s James Bond theme song in 1985.)

“Notorious,” the album’s title track, debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 1, 1986, and ultimately peaked at #2 in January 1987. Not only was I enraptured by the song’s slinky sound (especially the brass bits, courtesy of the Borneo Horns), I absolutely loved the look of the single. From the typographic blending of “Duran Duran” with “Notorious” on the sleeve to the repetition of the devil-with-horn graphic as the A-side’s label, sans copy, the release’s artwork remains one of the band’s best efforts, as does the song itself:

Last year, Notorious was reissued as a deluxe edition, featuring the remastered original album, a bunch of remixes, live takes, and a DVD of music videos and performances from Duran Duran’s Strange Behaviour tour.

And though 25 years have passed, Duran Duran can still turn out great tunes and fantastic videos, as evidenced by last week’s debut of “Girl Panic.”. With the studio help of Mark Ronson, that’s why they’ve done it again.

Purchase Duran Duran – “Notorious” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.