So Red the Rose is the only studio album by the Duran Duran-spinoff English group Arcadia, released on 18 November 1985 by Parlophone. It included the singles "Election Day", "The Promise", "Goodbye Is Forever" and "The Flame". The album peaked at number 23 on the Billboard 200 in January 1986 and at number 30 on the UK Albums Chart in December 1985.
Musical guests on the album include David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, Herbie Hancock, Grace Jones, and Sting (who provided backing vocals on "The Promise").
The album's artwork featured painted ink drawings by fashion illustrator Tony Viramontes of fashion model Violeta Sanchez as well as an innovative "light space" photograph of the band by Dean Chamberlain, who also directed the video for the song "Missing". Nick Rhodes said of the model Sanchez on the album cover, "She had an elegance to her, an old style classic beauty."
As part of EMI's massive Duran Duran reissue plans, a jewel case 3 disc (2CD, 1 DVD) box set of So Red the Rose was released on 12 April 2010. It included the entire album, single mixes, the B-sides "She's Moody and Grey, She's Mean and She's Restless" and "Flame Game" (Yo Homeboy mix), four versions of non-album track "Say the Word" (a track from the soundtrack of Playing for Keeps), and an instrumental mix of "The Promise". The DVD contains the original 1987 video release Arcadia.
Simon Le Bon – vocals Nick Rhodes – keyboards Roger Taylor – drums
Mark Egan – bass Masami Tsuchiya – guitar Carlos Alomar, David Gilmour – additional guitar Sting – additional vocals on "The Promise" Grace Jones – additional vocals on "Election Day" Herbie Hancock – additional keyboards on "The Promise" Andy Mackay – saxophone Steve Jordan – additional drums on "Lady Ice" David Van Tieghem, Manu Katché, Rafael De Jesus – additional percussion Wendel Jr. (Percussion Replacement System) – drum programming Jean-Claude Dubois – harp Masami Tsuchiya, Pierre Defay – violin
