After the departure of original guitarist Andy Taylor in 2006, the band decided to start over with a new batch of songs that became 2007's Red Carpet Massacre.
In Andy Taylor's 2008 autobiography, Wild Boy: My Life in Duran Duran, he revealed that the band had originally been offered the opportunity to record their next album "aboard a [$450 million] superyacht owned by Paul Allen... but sadly the plan fell through at the last minute due to the boat becoming unavailable.
[2] They moved the recording sessions to London in October, where they continued working on the album until April 2006 with Michael Patterson as engineer and co-producer.
[3] In March, drummer Roger Taylor commented that "the record will be in some ways a homage to our roots as a band, more direct and a return to our dance and new wave origins.
"[4] Bassist John Taylor discussed the circumstances behind Reportage during a 2007 XM Radio Artist Confidential Session: "We'd been on the road with the reunion tour for a couple of years and we were feeling pretty confident.
"[5] Following sessions at London's Sphere Studios, they submitted a rough mix of the album to their record label Sony Music in May 2006, but it was rejected for not having an obvious lead single.
They both joined the band along with Nate "Danja" Hills at Manhattan Center Studios in New York City for writing and recording sessions, but Andy didn't appear.
A December 2006 Billboard article claimed that "the as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2004's Astronaut would also feature the reggae-tinged '48 Hours Later' and 'Transcendental Mental,' which [Nick] Rhodes says takes aim at 'new-age frauds.
Asked if the disparate sounds of [the Timbaland tracks] compared to the album's more guitar-driven songs may be jarring to the listener, Rhodes says, 'With [those cuts], you can tell there was another hand in them for sure.
'"[11] After parting ways with their guitarist the band soon decided to abandon all of the Reportage songs, cancel the Youth sessions, and further explore their new musical direction with Dom Brown on guitar and Danja producing and co-writing.
[15] In a 2011 interview for the release of their album All You Need Is Now, Rhodes and John commented on the Reportage / Red Carpet Massacre days.
There's one track on there called 'Criminals in the Capital', about our dueling leaders on both sides of the Atlantic... there was one song about a fighter pilot in the [Iraq] war.
"[17] Singer Simon Le Bon said of the album in 2011: "I would be failing in my duty if I didn't get at least the song '48 Hours Later', which is sublime.
It's a noisy one, quite aggressive in places, and Mike Patterson our engineer/co-producer is working several knobs at once so that Simon sounds just the right mixture of nasty and cool.
"[19] Additionally, the song titles 'Naomi Tonight' and 'You Ain't Foolin' No One' were revealed by music industry insiders on the Velvet Rope message board.
All of these song titles can be confirmed as originating from the Reportage sessions based on their ASCAP songwriting credits and assigned Work ID number sequences.
According to Rhodes, the group hopes to release it someday: "We want it to come out one day, it's a really interesting record... more of an edgy, indie rock album, obviously going back to our earlier roots.
Simon Le Bon recently mentioned in a BBC radio show that he guest presented the band's plans in 2025 which involved a European Tour and working on the unreleased 2006 reportage album which was currently unfinished.