It’s time for another isolated track video. This time we’ll listen to the isolated keyboards and vocals from Duran Duran’s big 1982 hit “Hungry Like The Wolf.” The song launched the band into superstardom more for the music video than anything else, but like most hits, it’s quite useful to listen inside the song to hear what’s going on.

In this post we’ll just concentrate on the keys. For more on the isolated vocals, check out this post.

1. The keyboard part mostly consists of an arpeggiated synth, which has been successfully used as a key song element from as far back as The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” (check out this post to hear the isolated track) to today. This not only fills a sonic space in the mix, but also adds motion to the song, effectively doing the same job as percussion.

2. Keyboard pads (a Roland Jupiter 8) are added on the choruses. Take notice to the synth swell on the last “Hungry like the wolf” lyric at the end of each chorus.

3. Both the synth and vocal have a nice short delayed reverb that provides the major ambience and glue to the track.

4. Listen through to the end to hear the ending (or lack of one) that never made the final record.