MINE
I got introduced to Roxy Music thanks to a young couple I babysat for when I was about 14. While I used to mostly watch TV, eat and hope that neither of their two young sons would wake up, I also used to rifle through their record collection. And they must have been pretty hip, because I became enraptured by the creepily-posed Jerry Hall on the front of Siren. So I played it, and was hooked.
I've been around a lot of this music most of my life, but I seem to recall this hazs been because my partners own the albums - not me. Although I never bought any of either the band's albums or Bryan Ferry's solo work, this compilation was a no-brainer purchase for us. But it does mean we need another best-of - Ferry solo.
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YOURZ
Roxy Music existed as a new wave band before the term was even coined. Or maybe they are the link between glam and new wave. Either way, they're the sort of band who people or love or hate. There really is no middle ground.
There is probably a lot that could be said about Brian's Ferry and Eno (I didn't think there were enough Brian's in the world for two to end up in the same band together). But I'm not going to bore readers with too much. Suffice to say, this pairing, along with the rest of the members of the band, produced some of the most innovative music of their time, inspiring slavish adoration from fans and absolute derision from just about everyone else.
As you would expect, this collection covers everything from their early days through to the heady days of their most successful release, Avalon, the album that probably inspired more new wave artists than just about any other. It certainly inspired a lot of the fashion, although Ferry was one of the few who could pull off the satorially elegant look without looking like either a dandy or a right pratt.
I don't really have a favourite Roxy Music period, although I can remember staring at the front cover of Country Life a lot - it inspired a lot of, erm shall we say, teenage boy fevers... Lets leave it at that, okay? While there are so many fine tracks on this album, I particularly love Virginia Plain, Love Is The Drug (I know no other song that uses the word t'aint), Street Life and Re-Make/Re-Model. And their cover of Jealous Guy is almost as good as Lennon's. Note I did say almost...
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I'm honestly not too familiar with these guys. But I've never really been a fan of New Wave and only recently within the past 5 years or so really delved into glam. And I've only delved into glam to the tune of a few Sweet albums, Bowie's Hunky Dory, and T-Rex's Electric Warrior.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough when it comes to Roxy-related music I'm most familiar not with Eno or Ferry's works but with the album guitarist Phil Manzanera did with Asia vocalist, John Wetton (whom I believe toured with Roxy as their bass player in the mid-70s after King Crimson split up).
I always liked Roxy Music but more their earlier songs. Avalon, so smooth and polished, was probably my least favourite. And Brian's solo album, Let's Stick Together, will always be a favourite.
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