Roxy Music

"...Here was low culture, high art, rock'n'roll and erotic glamor all rolled into one glimmering vision of the here-now..."

Bryan Ferry 1972

see also Roxy Music members' solo careers: Bryan Ferry Brian Eno Phil Manzanera  Andy Mackay

With David Bowie, Roxy Music certainly dominated English pop music during the 1970s but History shows that they eventually received far less recognition, never really breaking in the USA.

In hindsight, their albums are stronger than Bowie's and recording techniques aside, any of them could easily be released today and still cause a sensation. Both pop music fans and songwriters should pay close attention to all of Roxy's albums as they've been built to last...and all contain real gems. Don't expect singer-songwriter confessionals or even the luxury of being able to relate to them, no, Roxy Music's albums are there to be admired...   

Roxy Music

Like Style Mutants from Americana's Black Lagoon, Roxy Music were a million miles away from T.Rex & David Bowie but were happy to find a temporary home in Glam Rock. Their first album, though underproduced, is wonderfully atmospheric with all the greatest excesses of glib, self-confident pop music    

For Your Pleasure 

Roxy Music's second album is many fans' favorite, including mine and by far, their most experimental release. Every element works perfectly and For Your Pleasure contains a number of genuine classics, including In Every Dream Home A Heartache, (a man's obsession for his blow-up doll)  Editions Of You & the very eerie title track.   

Stranded 

With the departure of the charismatic Brian Eno, Roxy Music quickly released Stranded, an excellent album, slightly disappointing only in that it followed the stellar, experimental For Your Pleasure.

Stranded saw a more sophisticated, chic Roxy, as epitomised by Bryan Ferry's tuxedo image for the resultant tour but the real star was Ferry's lyrics, with Just Like You and Sunset "...Oh, look at the sun it's all a-glow, slow-burning star sinking low. Heaven knows where you go, out of sight, out of mind...oh my decline..." being the closest that rock music ever got to the great Elizabethan poet John Donne.   

Country Life 

Country Life was beefier than Stranded, with Phil Manzanera's angular nerd-guitars very much to the fore. It's probably Roxy's strongest ever set but with no hit single, it's unfortunately hardly remembered.

There's a new confidence here, whether it's Ferry's swooping wails that open the album with The Thrill Of it All, the ode to Ferry's then-girlfriend, the utterly superb Prairie Rose or the harpsichord-driven Christianity of Triptych.  

Simply superb. 

Siren 

On Siren, Eno's replacement, Eddie Jobson really shone, subtly dominating the proceedings with some outstanding keyboard and violin work. With the band members providing some of the more memorable tunes, Siren is probably the best indication of where Roxy would have gone if Bryan Ferry hadn't decided to demote the others to the status of sidemen for the rest of their careers. Containing the hit single Love Is the Drug, Siren still stands up very well.   

Viva 

Viva was a surprisingly strong LIVE album culled from various performances over 3 years with a few surprisingly different arrangements and girlie backing vocals on some tracks. 

Roxy Music: Viva

Viva was apparently planned to be a double album but was unfortunately only released as a single and remains one of a handful of LIVE rock albums that I strongly recommend.  

Manifesto 

After a break of almost three years, Roxy Music re-formed to create a Manifesto, a fragmented album that, nevertheless, tentatively provided them with a new direction. 

Flesh And Blood

Flesh And Blood is very much a transition album, taking the smooth dance elements explored on Manifesto and developing them further. Unfortunately, that development isn't strident enough and the album comes across as a little limp, though there are some highlights.

Roxy Music: Flesh & Blood

When John Lennon was murdered, Roxy released a one-off single of Lennon's Jealous Guy in tribute, which became a major global hit and paved the way for the splendid next album. 

Roxy Music: Jealous Guy 

Avalon 

For many fans around the world Roxy Music begins and ends with the smooth, melancholic and entirely sophisticated sounds of Avalon and they have little time for the Roxy back catalogue, which is a real shame.

Nevertheless, it's entirely understandable, because the Roxy Music that recorded Avalon is entirely unlike that of their first few albums. Then, Roxy stood for a unique interpretation of pop culture, romance etc., unashamedly individual. Avalon's Roxy is completely different, seeming happy to be immersed in the slight melancholy of yuppie existence, with little to say about anything else.

Don't get me wrong, Avalon is superb entertainment, an album that I continually come back to but ironically it had more in common with ex-Roxy member Brian Eno's Ambient Music than rock music. The album was also pivotal in determining the direction of Bryan Ferry's subsequent SOLO career.

Roxy Music Biography

Roxy Music's Greatest Hits

Now this is where it gets confusing. The Roxy Music Greatest Hits collection directly below is a superb collection, containing most of their singles and it's absolutely great value for money. 

Roxy Music: Greatest Hits

However, if you're interest in a more expansive collection that also contains many of Bryan Ferry's SOLO hits, you should check out this Greatest Hits collection, it's terrific!  

DVDs

There are several Roxy Music LIVE in concert DVDs:

LIVE contains performances from two German TV shows, Beat Club & Musik Laden, recorded while Roxy was promoting their second album, For Your Pleasure (with Brian Eno).

As a bonus, there are some T. Rex tracks, too.

LIVE in 1973 

The High Road is a LIVE concert from Roxy Music's 1982 Avalon line-up, very slick and urbane...

LIVE in 1982

...while the reunion tour in 2001 had original drummer Paul Thompson back in the chair, giving the geriatric Roxy's a surprising amount of grunt... 

LIVE in 2001

see also: 

• wikipedia Roxy Music