Roxy Music - "Country Life" (1974)

This was the fourth album by the band, and a record ranked high (often highest) in their catalog, by fans as well as critics. In addition, it's the LP with the most daring cover, it was censored in several countries, where it was sold either covered by wrapping paper or with the models simply eliminated. My wife doesn't allow me to leave the album out in the open, so it's also censored in our home. I think it's an OK album, but the longer time that passed from Brian Eno quitting the band (after the second album), the less interesting I think Roxy Music became. Artistic ambitions were changed for more straight on glam rock. Many fans were happy, but not everyone.

The censored cover

The biggest hit from the album was All I Want Is You, which is found on side A. Personally, I think this side is a bit boring. The highlight in my world is Out Of The Blue, where the diligent use of the flanger effect makes it sound like Hawkwind is backing Bryan Ferry. Overall, many songs are quite loud and messy, and since I've always preferred the band's quieter and calmer creations, the first side of the record doesn't really fit me.

Side B I find more interesting, which opens with the quieter and darker Bitter Sweet, which suddenly here and there breaks off into German influenced cabaret music. The women on the cover are Constanze Karoll and Eveline Grunwald, who Ferry met in Portugal. He persuaded them that in addition to decorating the cover, also translate parts of the text into German in Bitter Sweet. The album continues with Triptych, which instead of German cabaret music has almost medieval influences. These songs' more odd appearances make them the most interesting songs on the album. The album closes with an ode to Jerry Hall, who would be on the cover of the band's next album, Siren. The song is named Prairie Rose, and to be a love song containing steel guitar, it's really great.

Although Country Life is loved by many, I don't agree 100% with these voices. Much of the band's experimental tendencies have been toned down, and the music is often less complex and less challenging compared to previous albums. The B-side, however, saves the LP thanks to its more interesting creations, so overall it is still a pretty good album.


Tracklist

Side A
1. The Thrill of It All 6:24
2. Three and Nine 4:04
3. All I Want Is You 2:53
4. Out of the Blue 4:46
5. If It Takes All Night 3:12

Side B
1. Bitter-Sweet 4:50
2. Triptych 3:09
3. Casanova 3:27
4. A Really Good Time 3:45
5. Prairie Rose 5:12

Roxy Music - "Siren" (1975)

Alright, so here we have a Roxy Music album with one of Bryan Ferry's girls on the cover, as it should be. Girlfriend-to-be, in any case. It's Jerry Hall we see as a mermaid. The legend tells that Ferry offered her to wash off all the blue color on her body at his home after the photo shoot. Once at his home he seduced her, and they became a couple. According to the legend. Jerry Hall left Ferry a few years later for Mick Jagger.

Many hold Siren as one of Roxy Music's best albums, if not the best. One of the reasons was, of course, that there are really good songs on it, but also that all tendencies towards art and avantgarde were more or less extinguished. Instead, it's fast-paced glam pop / rock without experimental ingredients or suggestively dark songs. Some people of course thought this was a bit sad, a crowd that perhaps were drawn to the band just because of the experimental side. I belong to the latter kind of people. Siren is a good album, but I appreciate the previous albums more. They are more interesting to listen to.

Jerry Hall and Bryan Ferry

The big hit from Siren was Love Is The Drug, which reached a 2nd place in England, and became one of the band's most famous and appreciated songs. The second hit was Both Ends Burning, reaching a 25th place in England. Siren is the kind of record that gets spots on lists like 500 best albums made, Best albums 1975, etc. If I sound somewhat negative, it's because I compare Siren with the band's earlier works, compared with a lot of other music from the same time, or other time spans for that matter, it's a pretty good album. That Ferry writes good songs was been known since before. So, uptempo glam rock without avantgarde tendencies, a loss according to me, a good thing according to others.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Love Is The Drug 4:11
2. End of the Line 5:14
3. Sentimental Fool 6:14
4. Whirlwind 3:38

Side B
1. She Sells 3:39
2. Could It Happen To Me? 3:36
3. Both Ends Burning 5:16
4. Nightingale 4:11
5. Just Another High 6:31

Roxy Music (1972)

I received Roxy Music's eponymous debut album as a Christmas gift from my mother a few years ago, apparently it wasn't easy to find it in my then-hometown of Uppsala (Sweden). It's a German release from 1977, according to my online Sherlock Holmes investigation (nah, discogs of course, it was easy). It's a gatefold, and the band's first bassist Graham Simpson is featured on photo, and the single Virginia Plains, released shortly after the album, has not been added to the album. On the American original release, the bassist Rik Kenton was instead found on photo, he played bass on Virginia Plains, a song that had been added to the US albums. Graham Simpson had at that time left the band, and as I understand it, Roxy Music hasn't had a steady bassist since then.

It's a good album, a debut to respect. It was produced by Peter Sinfield, who just had left King Crimson where he had been the lyricist. In several articles, I have read that the musicians at this time weren't particularly skilled, except for the drummer Paul Thompson, but I can't say I've noticed anything bad. It is an eclectic mix of rock'n'roll, glam and avantgarde. Brian Eno was a member of the band in the first years, and he was the most important part of the band's openness towards art and avantgarde. And personally, that's what I like best. So the loud opening song Re-Make / Re-Model, which lots of people like, I think is so so. Instead, I'm drawn towards calmer songs like Ladytron, 2HB or the seven-minute Sea Breezes. These are not difficult songs, not at all, instead they are beautiful songs with a slightly different sound, often thanks to Eno's electronic magic. The singer Bryan Ferry has written all the songs, and he is a talented song writer.

I believe side A is easiest to embrace instantly. Side B contains somewhat more difficult songs, and you'll need a little more time to get to know them. It's not Roxy Music's best album, but a really good debut that is definitely worth having in the collection. It can be mentioned that the woman on the cover for once wasn't Brian Ferry's girlfriend at the moment, she is the model Kari-Ann Muller, who later married Mick Jagger's brother Chris Jagger.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Re-Make / Re-Model 5:14
2. Ladytron 4:26
3. If There Is Something 6:34
4. 2HB 4:30

Side B
1. The Bob (Medley) 5:48
2. Chance Meeting 3:08
3. Would You Believe? 3:53
4. Sea Breezes 7:03
5. Bitters End 2:03

Roxy Music – ”Stranded” (1973)

Roxy Music’s third album and the first without Brian Eno. This was one of 2013 Christmas presents for my mother, who had been hunting in the town’s stores for used LPs. This must surely have been a funnier Christmas gift hunting than the usual on Wal-Mart, H & M or the local book shop. I am happy to receive more Christmas gifts like this.

Despite Roxy Music's legendary status, the band is a relatively unexplored area for me. But it feels great that there is still unknown territory even within rockn’ roll’s more well-known areas. On the album cover you’ve got Bryan Ferry's then girlfriend Marilyn Cole, who was also the Playmate of the Year 1973. Ferry had a habit of putting his girlfriends on the band's album covers. Although it’s relatively daring it’s still innocent compared to the cover on the subsequent Country Life, which my wife doesn’t allow lying around when we get visitors at home.

 

There are many who believe that this is Roxy Music's best album, one of these is actually Brian Eno. Personally, I also think it's a very good album. You’ve got a mix between some fast paced numbers, such as the classic opening track Street Life, and quieter pieces like Psalmor the beautiful A Song For Europe. Many of the tracks must be described as almost epical, with its various twists and parts. Epic glam and art rock. The great Mother Of Pearl is an example of this, which after a loud and messy intro takes a completely different turn. Also Amazon takes a somewhat unexpected turn into a more dreamy path after some initial minutes with a completely different sound.

 

Rolling Stone magazine wrote at the time:

 

Roxy Music has been unable to cross the Atlantic so far, but that should change with this album. Stranded is one of the most exciting and entertaining British LPs of the Seventies.

A really great album without any real weak tracks, according to me. Bryan Ferry, the main songwriter, confirms his expertise and talent as a composer. Perhaps it’s the absence of Brian Eno that makes Stranded lacking a little of the previous album For Your Pleasure’s more strange and difficult pieces. If this is positive or negative is a matter of taste, personally I think both albums are great.

 

 

Tracklist

Side A

1. Street Life 3:27
2. Just Like You 3:34
3. Amazona 4:12
4. Psalm 8:04

Side B

1. Serenade 2:55
2. A Song For Europe 4:44
3. Mother Of Pearl 6:53
4. Sunset 6:00

Roxy Music - "For Your Pleasure" (1973)

Roxy Music is one of those bands that I think I know so well. I mean, everyone knows about Roxy Music. That Bryan Ferry sings in the band is common knowledge, that Brian Eno was a member for some time is also an interesting fact that you don't have to be a music expert to know. Their album covers with (sometimes lightly dressed) ladies are also public domain. But when push comes to shove, I don't really know much about how they actually sound. In my youth, I bought their album Avalon on CD, but have never really liked it, and therefore not listened to it a lot. I have a Greatest Hits collection on CD focusing on their early years, but since the emphasis is on (in my opnion) pretty rowdy songs, it hasn't been played a lot on the stereo. So I realize that I in reality don't know much about the band. They have been something like the principal in my elementary school, everyone knew who he was and had great respect for him, even some fear, we knew what he looked like and where his office was, but no one had ever talked to him and hadn't really an idea of how or who he was. Maybe he was really nice? Only the thugs knew, but I was not of them.

I bought this album a few months ago, it was Roxy Music's second album and the last Brian Eno took part in, before he started his successful solo career as a musician and producer. It's a very good album, surprisingly good actually considering my half-reluctant attitude of the reasons mentioned above. Yes, I would even say it's a fantastic album which, in this moment, I'm ready to give a spot on my top-10 list. In any case the top-15.

It starts out with the somewhat rowdy rock number Do The Strand. I mentioned earlier that I usually don't like their more noisy songs, but this opening track works really well. Another highlight on the A-side is the closing track, the beautiful and strange In Every Dream Home A Heartache, an ode to an inflatable doll. A dark song that breathes tragedy and isolation while, at the same time, somewhere there's lurking some sort of humor - "I blew up your body, but you blew my mind." Isn't a song dedicated to an inflatable doll humor in itself?

The B-side starts with the album's longest track, a piece that leans heavily toward art-rock, The Bogus Man, a dark and hypnotic creation that clocks in at just over nine minutes. Maybe a few minutes too long, if I must complain on something.
The B-side's, and thus the album's, closing track is this record's climax. The title track is a fantastic song that made me realize that Bryan Ferry is a song and text writer that not many can compete with. The other songs on this album provides enough information to prove this, the title track is more of the final confirmation of this. A beautiful first third, and then an end with an extended instrumental passage that one suspects Brian Eno being the creator of. A perfect farewell from him.

Other non-mentioned songs on the album are also really good creations, if I should mention some weaker spots it's the more noisy Editions of You, and the track Grey Lagoons on the B-side is also of a little lesser quality.
The woman on the cover was Bryan Ferry's girlfriend at the time, they used to be on the band's album covers.

Apparently, the reason for Brian Eno's exit from the band were artistic conflicts with Bryan Ferry. While Eno wanted to develop the group further into an art-rock direction, working more with sound collage, sound layers and textures, Ferry wanted to see a movement toward more traditional rockn'roll. These diverse interests can be heard on For Your Pleasure, as many songs contain both, making it an exciting and interesting album. A record I really recommend.

Should I finally resort to some gossip, I have read (online course) that Bryan Ferry's current wife is one of his son's former girlfriends. It feels a bit strange and many questions arise. One can for example consider how this affects the father-son relationship, personally I would feel very weird about my dad getting together with one of my ex girlfriends. But maybe I'm just being narrow-minded?

Tracklist

Side A
1. Do The Strand 4:00
2. Beauty Queen 4:35
3. Strictly Confidential 3:42
4. Editions Of You 3:40
5. In Every Dream Home A Heartache 6:25

Side B
1. The Bogus Man 9:22
2. Grey Lagoons 4:11
3. For Your Pleasure 6:58


Usually I link to the original album versions, if possible, but this live version from 2001 is great. What a way to end a concert!