Weary of the waltz and mashed POLLtato schmaltz: The Roxy Music & Bryan Ferry Ballot Poll Thread

http://ris.fashion.telegraph.co.uk/RichImageService.svc/imagecontent/1/TMG8617986/m/ferryrex655_1938721a.jpg

It's never a bad time to revisit and obsess over this extraordinary body of work, so I'm gonna ask you to dig deep and come up with your TOP 20 ROXY MUSIC & BRYAN FERRY TRACKS. Anything released under either name is fair game, including the covers. Unnerstan' that Ferry re-interpreted some RM tunes (Casanova, Chance Meeting etc.) and that they sound a whole lot different, so if you want to vote for these versions, please specify or I'll assume you're voting Roxy. Scoring won't deviate from the usual fare: 1:40, 2:36, 3:33, 4:30, 5:28, 6:26 dropping 1 point per spot from here down to 12 for number 20.

Also for side poll purposes, please tell me your TOP 3 ROXY MUSIC & BRYAN FERRY ALBUM COVERS. Optional, but should be a lark.

Please email your ballots to me at roxymusicpoll at gmail dot com

Let me know anything I might be missing?

oh yeah, get yer ballots in by MONDAY, 17 FEBRUARY. that gives you two weeks, which is about par for the course, i think.

SO FUCKING STOKED

Me too (even though my ballot's gonna be all from the first 5 Roxy records).

The greatest living Englishman.

My #1-2 are almost certainly fixed but there are a couple of Roxy albums I have to spend more time with and I've never dug into solo Ferry. Stoked!

i'm gonna throw some early weight behind Dance Away from Manifesto. a beautifully-poised song on an album that sometimes gets a bit hung up on smeary, heavy-handed tactics.

I love Roxy Music, they are one of my favourite bands ever but for some reason I've just never bothered with much of his solo work. I have The Bride Stripped Bare which is decent but no way near the quality of the best Roxy albums. Is there a key album of his I should try? I should point out when it comes to Roxy Music I like most of their albums (Flesh & Blood is the only dud for me) but it's really the first three albums which are all 10/10 classics and are up there with my favourite albums ever made.

have a listen to Boys and Girls; it's a natural extension of Avalon, at least in terms of atmosphere, polish, and attention to detail.

Yeah, "Boys And Girls" and "Bete Noire" are his two best virtually dud-free albums. All the rest are a decidedly mixed bag.

http://www.albumartexchange.us/assets_c/2009/11/bferry-thesef_02-thumb-400x400-2579.jpg

because http://youtu.be/7zwBHd4kll0

#1 = Same Old Scene, then a bunch of other stuff I'll sort out.

For your consideration (& Pleasure), "Still Falls The Rain": http://youtu.be/YfKWftrGZmU

This single artist poll seems more manageable than many. I have pretty clear ideas about my favorite RM/BF, and it's not like Neil Young, where there's this sprawling body of significant bootlegs that I probably should hear before voting.

I love Roxy Music, they are one of my favourite bands ever but for some reason I've just never bothered with much of his solo work.

this is me exactly. i've loved roxy for over twenty years but have zero interest in ferry solo. i've listened to (i think) three of his records and they made little impression.

I strongly recommend at least checking out the following solo Bryan Ferry albums if you haven't already:

Let's Stick Together
The Bride Stripped Bare
Boys and Girls

xp however, "another time, another place" is my favorite album cover of anybody ever.

http://musicglue-wordpress-bryan-ferry.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Bryan-Ferry-Another-Time-Another-Place.jpg

Tempted to vote for a bunch of
http://images.junostatic.com/full/CS474056-01A-BIG.jpg
tbh

This solo BF version of 2HB is amazing, like a lot of the RM covers on LST. (I decided to be consistent there.)

When She Walks in the Room is really good though I do find it too depressing to listen to most of the time.

^^ yes. that's a wonderful song.

love

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/dc/5b/3a/dc5b3a4c32fdf6f0c3b506827373abd0.jpg

which reminds me possibly my favorite song from Siren doesn't get as much praise as I would expect. A real triumph of Bryan Ferry vocal swoopery.

i doubt any solo ferry will make my ballot (3rd fave roxy music solo career really) but there's some good stuff there, would definitely recommend checking it out, esp if you like later roxy music.

I'd guess Eno is one, but...Manzanera?

Great pic! The Prairie Rose herself. By the way, every ballot should have Prairie Rose on it.

just to elaborate a bit on Siren: to my mind it's the first time a uniform persona emerges from song to song that represents the stylised construct of Ferry himself. but it's only a half-way departure: there are still clear signs of the ambitious, deep-thinking theatre that came before.
many, many soaring standouts on this album. the aforementioned Whirlwind is definitely one, as is the wistful yet hope-filled Could it Happen to Me?

i haven't yet thought about how much solo Ferry will factor into my ballot. probably some.

Hi!

Hi.

listening to Country Life just now. i'd say about half these songs are contenders, Prairie Rose included.

A bit of self-promotion. sw00ds and I created a 14-hour podcast of Roxy and solo Ferry: http://rockcriticsarchives.com/audiovisual/index-roxy.html

My take on eighties Ferry and his influence

I'd say 95% of the first five Roxy albums are contenders, then a few to several songs from each subsequent Roxy and Ferry solo album.

I've never checked out any Ferry solo albums either so will give some a go before I vote.

The other problem I have is that I there are a couple of Roxy albums where for some reason I have trouble matching the titles to the songs (Country Life and Siren).

Whhhops, "is that I there are"

Hmm, really struggling to type today.

The guy means the world to me; he taught me to love Motown, music hall, great hair. These Foolish Things ranks with any of the great albums. We know it has the best Dylan cover ever, but his version of "Don't Worry Baby," given a quasi-Brian Wilson production, is gorgeous. After this it's diminishing returns until The Bride Stripped Bare, in which Ferry thinks he's discovered the secret of punk but hires Waddy Wachtel's L.A. studio cats and records in Switzerland. It's impossible for me to choose between Boys + Girls and Bete Noire; the former is better melodically, the latter denser (I prefer "Kiss and Tell" to "Slave to Love"). If you think his voice has drifted into the stratosphere, Taxi and Mamouna find him awake and struggling to penetrate the fog. As Time Goes By has shattering moments. Frantic is the real comeback.

yeah, i really dug Frantic at its time of release. need to remind myself how the songs go, it's been a while.

the only ones that didn't click at all for me were In Your Mind and the more recent Dylan covers album, which was a little too much.

well, look at IYM's cover art! The worst of his career, Dylanesque excepted.

I love IYM's cover. "Love Me Madly Again" will surely make my ballot (http://youtu.be/OcV9XN-XaVY)

The thought of choosing Roxy and Ferry album covers has me nervous yet excited. Perhaps the ultimate poll-based dilemma of our time.

special props for being the only person to survive Live Aid's hair disaster

http://www.assetstorage.co.uk/AssetStorageService.svc/GetImageFriendly/721235898/700/700/0/0/1/80/ResizeBestFit/0/PressAssociation/66075F15382B0278878C2587307E0E3B/live-aid-concert-wembley-stadium.jpg

Which Ferry albums did Paul Thompson play on? That'd be a huge reason for me to dig into his solo stuff.

He's on pretty much all the early ones, I think, as is much of Roxy.

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/0n3OepDn5GU/hqdefault.jpg

Iirc, the eye patch was a legit injury, but he rocked it.

Yeah, Thompson on most of the '70s ones, back for Frantic.

His last album was Manifesto; he was fired from the F+B tour.

Last Roxy album. But he came back for Frantic. And in fact was playing with Ferry when I saw him a year or two ago, though I wish I caught one of the shows with Andy Newmark on drums.

But wow, Thompson is such a great drummer.

post Manifesto RM is a weird one - got to the point where the other two became tired of session musicians being elevated way beyond what was deemed their status as part of the collective

Manifesto is the only post-Viva! (which is amazing) Roxy record I've heard, and I hated it. Couldn't explain why, other than unrealistic expectations. Never dug into anything after that, since Thompson wasn't around. But thanks for the info, will definitely start on solo Ferry (though not in time for the poll).

And yeah, Thompson is so fucking incredible. I can accept a non-Eno Roxy far more readily than a non-Thompson Roxy.

The only bad Roxy album is F+B, and it can still boast "Same Old Scene" and "Oh Yeah." Ferry hadn't figured out what he wanted to sound like after the thrill was gone, therefore the studio musicians and Manzanera-McKay sit uneasily on tracks.

Manifesto's album tracks needs more love. It's like a L.A. band impressed by the sound of disco but smart enough not to commit.

The seeds of his solo career and Boys and Girls are sown by 1980/81 - the amount of covers on a new Roxy Music album, Manzanera and Mackay blending in amongst a cast of thousands. Its obvious by 82 that they're tired of one another, rather than any deep seated acrimony

The only bad Roxy album is F+B, and it can still boast "Same Old Scene" and "Oh Yeah." Ferry hadn't figured out what he wanted to sound like after the thrill was gone, therefore the studio musicians and Manzanera-McKay sit uneasily on tracks.

― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

Yeah this is spot on. Apart from those songs it's just two uninspired covers and a bunch of filler. Same Old Scene will be in my top 10 easily. Wish they'd just saved Same Old Scene and Oh Yeah for a best of or put them out as a double A-side single or something, then they'd probably have the best run of albums ever (they might still take that title anyway to be honest)

Will listen to some Ferry solo today but it's going to take a lot to take the places of songs from the first three albums. 20 songs really isn't a lot for this amazing band.

Roxy Music - "Same Old Scene" - Classic or Dud?

I remember reading about this at the time; simultaneously terrifying and hilarious:

In 2000, the whole Ferry family were on a British Airways flight to Nairobi when a deranged passenger forced his way into the cockpit, attacked the pilot and caused the plane to lurch downward. Maintaining his composure in a frantic situation, Ferry took the time to berate one of his sons for using bad language during the incident. A crash was prevented when the assailant was eventually overcome.[28]

Ferry didn't like his socks

xpost
...and that's where the title to his '02 album comes from

I am saddened that Alfred obviously prefers These Foolish Things to Let's Stick Together. I find the former a little too goofy (maybe too camp?). We've probably talked about this before.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Bryan_Ferry_(Roxy_Music)_-_TopPop_1973_2.png

I'm giving myself one gratuitous BF image post

Oh man, don't be sad :)
xpost there's goofy for ya

Looking forward to pulling out the Ferry solo albums. Scored all his 70s records cheap years ago but I don't have any of his later output except for Olympia. I remember getting Bête Noir from the library when it came out but I can't recall at all what I thought of it back then. Off to spotify...

it's not on Spotify!

Meanwhile...

http://lh5.ggpht.com/-08tzPbOssjo/T552sgQQroI/AAAAAAAAAAA/awhMPHbmDnQ/s800/Nord_BF_2.jpg

A few of his albums have been put on YouTube. Currently listening to Boys & Girls for the first time on there.

xpost
a shame! great pic, again. visually, it'll be the most suave poll, surely

youtube it will be.

Winning tracks rollout should be interspersed with grooming tips.

No one has ever attempted what he wears and chews on here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVtfHdG8i6E

is there any other band of the time with so little extra material as roxy? their non-album tracks fill one disc on the box set, with half of them being extended mixes/alternate versions and most of the originals being instrumentals.

Bowie.

there were plenty of extra tracks on the bowie rykodisc rereleases.

The only bad Roxy album is F+B, and it can still boast "Same Old Scene" and "Oh Yeah."

and "over you"! one of my all-time favorite albums-that-no-one-else-likes.

i wouldn't call f+b bad but yeah there are a handful of weak tracks there.

i've long wondered what was up with the kids sitting in front of the stage and facing the wrong way in this clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR8WF0_KAcQ

The only bad Roxy album is F+B, and it can still boast "Same Old Scene" and "Oh Yeah."

and "over you"! one of my all-time favorite albums-that-no-one-else-likes.

I'm embarrassed – I meant to say "Over You." "Oh Yeah" is my least favorite of the late singles

love Ferry's synth work on those late records. Favorite moments: the synthesizer harmonizing w/sax over the "Over You" outro, ascending higher and higher into the ether; the last two minutes of Prophet 5 goodness on "More Than This; the solo in "Same Old Scene."

Pink Floyd, Bowie and Zep left little behind.

Creedence too.

POLLED man, to every step, a change. You watch me walk away...

I always intentionally misheard the line in "Serenade" as "from Courtney Love to costly game."

"Over You" will be on my ballot

Not too up on my Roxy, but I'm going to do some listening and try to put a ballot together.

Pretty sure anyone already here knows this one, but if you don't, their best b-side by a wide margin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNmcjiI7oAM

"pyjamarama" was an a-side, for what it's worth.

oops! sorry about that, non-album track then!

I think this was the Same Old Scene b-side, better known from the Miami Vice soundtrack (!)…great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_7WtRBtIFs

I saw the live Rock DVD a few years back. I'm not the kind of person who wishes they were someone else but watching Ferry in that, I was wishing hard...

and let's not forget the epic South Downs, the b-side of Oh Yeah!. Ferry does Low:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q17R5-nOk04

Pyjamarama is one of my favourite songs by anyone.

had never heard South Downs! love it!

"South Downs" when re-released on the "The Thrill of It All" boxset was accidentally released backwards, but due to the synthetic nature of the string sound, it didn't sound weird.

It will be interesting to see how late sleek Roxy/Ferry does vis a vis early weird Roxy.

If South Downs is Ferry's Low then surely Sultanesque (though not as good as SD) is his Heroes…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlTW7Xl_AoQ

I have no idea how to vote in this. I just tried to sketch a ballot and got five songs as certain, and after that it's like, I can't just vote for this album or that album? because I never listen to Roxy songs on their own, except off Avalon. maybe I'll just vote for all of Avalon. plus "Is Your Love Strong Enough".

i for one am hoping for seriously big points from some of the Avalon numbers. a song like True to Life doesn't put a foot wrong, seriously.

Let me just: http://nobilliards.blogspot.com/2013/08/roxy-music-avalon.html

Sent in ballot. Already lamenting all the fantastic songs I didn't include. DAMN.

RE: the bandmates getting pushed a bit to the side by the end... i think manzanera was on fire on a lot of their later stuff. not flashy, but genius little guitar arrangements.

and, yeah, paul thompson was amazing.

favorite ferry performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SN4aqXCE0Y

^^ wow, that performance.

Yes, that is fantastic.

the piece Alfred linked to on Avalon offers some very interesting thoughts about True to Life. never thought about it being a song that's compromised or at odds on a lyrical level, mainly i guess because the arrangement and execution is so perfectly together.

I've never really listened much to Avalon, tbh. I love early Roxy so much that I have trouble getting with slick late Roxy. Though I like slick late Ferry, so who knows.

OK fine Avalon hitting the spot right now, but I can't hear it as a Roxy album.

Surprised it took him as long as it did to hook up with Nile:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K7N6E0teNw

From "The Fly"!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BUkRAl_CIAASz_V.jpg:large

solo Ferry couldn't done the tricky signatures of "The Space Between" with so little clutter.

and, yes, "Help Me" is terrific. I love the video.

Alway heard echoes of "The Space Between" in this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJe-9k1IcI4

Mamouna is great all-around. If I get around to this, I'll include the title track.

the keyboard solo at the end of "Mamouna" reminds me of similar loveliness in "Over You."

Have never seen that performance of "Psalm." I got two minutes in and realized it's too great to squander at work. Bookmarking for home where I can give it my undivided adoration. <3

SPOILER ALERT: the tambourine catch is amazing.

OK I started doing my homework, listened to Siren last night for the first time in years, took notes. "She Sells" and "Sentimental Fool" are amazing! I have maybe five tracks spots left, gotta start whittling down.

I vividly recall his performance of "Kiss and Tell" on SNL in the '80s. If memory serves, the band faded out, which I've only seen once or twice on SNL (the other was a Paul Simon performance c. Graceland). Don't know if there was anything fishy going on in either case.

OK I started doing my homework, listened to Siren last night for the first time in years, took notes. "She Sells" and "Sentimental Fool" are amazing! I have maybe five tracks spots left, gotta start whittling down.

― sleeve,

"Just Another High" might be his best song.

Josh, what do you mean: the volume dimmed or something? By the way, I've looked high and low for that performance (usual NBC licensing nonsense).

@IG
The tambourine catch is GOLD.

xp Alfred I dunno, I will give it another chance but the coda went on a bit long on first re-listen...

I can take or leave Bryan Ferry, but I bought a box of Hungry Jack potato flakes on the way home thx to this thread.

probably gonna vote for "My Only Love", but for the live version on The High Road, which I think is the same version from the dvd. "Can't Let Go" is way better there than on The Bride Stripped Bare too

"My Only Love" on F+B is unbearable. In the versions performed the last 12 years the band take extended solos. The results are Pink Floyd-esque.

that sounds fabulous, will look for one

xpost Yeah, slow fade. Quieter, quieter, quieter ... done. Like a recorded fade-out.

have listened to The Bride Stripped Bare and In Your Mind today, and what a slog it's been. TBSB seemed like it was a double album but no, just 42 minutes.

and listened to Let's Stick Together which is much better, even if I'd rather listen to the Roxy version of "Casanova" (and all the other Roxy songs too for that matter)

TBSB is his best solo album after TFT, despite rubber donuts like "Hold On" and "Take Me to the River." The "What Goes On/Beginning to See the Light" mashup was my intro to the Velvets. "This Island Earth" presages the next direction of Roxy: sinister, slivery synth menace, with Ferry drifting farther and farther into the stratosphere.

Josh, apparently he repeated that arrangement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIssnSq_72s

No, see, that one has a real ending. The SNL one, the sound definitely fades out, like on an album. I wonder if SNL simply pulled the faders down?

I thought TBSB ended well; not as big on the Velvets song but the last three songs were the best of the set imo

oh I see what you mean

Can't Let Go is the main keeper on TBSB but as I said I mentioned already it's hardly a classic album.

I listened to six Bryan Ferry albums for the first time in the last 24 hours with mixed results.

These Foolish Things and Another Time seemed kind of throwaway and are definately albums I can see myself never returning to again. Let's Stick Together was slightly better but it kind of seems like a pointless album with all those versions of the Roxy Music songs that just aren't that interesting. In Your Mind was even better but again not quite great, some of the songs were a little forgettable. Love Me Madly Again was by far the best song on those first four albums.

Boys and Girls was by far the best of the albums I've now heard of his. Definately follows on from Avalon nicely and didn't really have a bad song on it. I'm now regretting passing up on many copies of this at various record fairs/shops. Bete Noire was almost as good but the songs wearn't quite as strong. Would definately pick this up if I saw it cheap.

Was good to hear all these albums and I'm really pleased I discovered how great Boys and Girls is but I'm not sure I can see anything from those albums troubling my top 20. Think it will be a Roxy only list from me.

Kitchen, read this: http://oneweekoneband.tumblr.com/tagged/bryan_ferry_covers/chrono

you thought "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" throwaway??

I love Another Time, Another Place; it's not as great as TFT but what is.

That was one of the more enjoyable covers (really enjoyed Help Me Make it Through the Night too) but I'm just not a big fan of covers albums in general really.

man, Siren is full of understated, tucked-away gems. i always seem to forget about em. currently falling in love with End of the Line again. you get the sense that Ferry secretly adores inhabiting this melancholy, romantic space.

Concrete Blonde's cover ain't bad either.

quite like that version of Casanova on TFT. the song wasn't exactly begging for a circumspect makeover, at least lyrically speaking, but the end result is a strangely compelling anomaly.

yeah, that cover is ace! had forgotten all about it. x-post

Roxy and Ferry only perform that smokey keyboard version now.

is that so? "smokey" is a good word for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWJ7U2pK4p8

I think I would have gone with "Oh Mother of Poll."

that's a good one. i've still got one up my sleeve for the results, remember? :)

Sentimental Fool is terrific, yeah.

anyone up in this bitch voting for Triptych?

I didn't!

But I love it. Feel like I could totally do a top 75 RM/Ferry that would still be all KILLER.

Looking forward to this poll, and the ILM civil war that springs up between the early weird fans vs. the later sleeksters.

How about a little love for Nightengale? the "What is this I hear" part is my favorite moment in Roxydom.

When I was in high school, my local mall record store had all the early Roxy albums in the cassette cutout bin. So me and a few friends became Ferry aficionados. The early weird stuff blew our minds like the inflatable doll, lover ungrateful.

xp I think we've already had that dust up with the Eno-polled-separately tizzy

Haha...that was my idea, too. I still stand by it cause if its good enough for Lou and Cale...

I know! I'm a child of divorce so I just wanted the bickering to be over, but it would have been interesting to see how RM fared vis a vis Eno

No Eno is bogus, man

In the Roxy poll
No Eno is bogus, man
Triptych of sorrow

it's definitely an interesting idea to lump the two together and see what comes of it, but the likelihood of people being unable to reconcile Roxy w/ Eno on their ballots -- or caring about one and not the other -- would be problematic i think.

lol

wonder how many votes Bogus Man will get. it's pretty experimental even by RM standards.

Bogus Man and For Your Pleasure are both super duper strange.

the bogus man is fantastic and will be on my ballot.

it'll get to you

yeah i would imagine bogus man and for yr pleasure will both do well

the bogus man is fantastic and will be on my ballot.

I find the Enoid experiments work as brief, contained gestures of transgression: the manipulations of sound on "2 HB," the proto-Cars solo in "Virginia Plain," transforming Manzanera into keyboard noise on "Editions of You."

I would agree with that, I love his visual image in those old shows but his musical solo bits definitely feel almost like (awesome) interruptions. One of the reasons I wanted him polled separately was because he never (to me) felt like a core member of Roxy - nobody but Ferry gets a writing credit on the 1st 2 albums, as opposed to the VU.

"definitely almost" oh god I give up

The writing credits multiply from Stranded onwards.

Btw the reunited Roxy could slay. Ferry's organ solo never fails to delight me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlr3nopkc1s

The writing credits multiply from Stranded onwards.

well yeah, that's why I referred to 1st 2 albums, it's part of why I don't really consider Eno to be core to the group.

reading up on the history has been interesting (is there a good book?), it seems like Ferry and Simpson were the initial instigators who placed an ad.

also, are there any opinions on the non-Ferry/Manzanera solo records?

ahem

http://testpressing.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/RESIZE-PHIL-MANZANERA.jpg

i'm so happy for this i don't even know what to do

can i have like 5 number ones?

it's funny, i was just thinking that there were like 5 songs vying for my number one.

great shot of Manzanera btw. this isn't just the Ferry show!

Good book by the lad who wrote the best Bowie bio: http://www.amazon.com/The-Thrill-It-All-Story/dp/1556525745

BTW, I'm as huge a fan of Eno as there is, but I think his contributions to the first two records are a tad overstated. The next three albums are plenty weird, synth sonics and all. Like, this one will make my ballot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19eXfDR6XIk

One of my all-time fave Roxy music moments is when the song briefly gets lost in the chaos of all the flanger/phaser/envelope filter effects.

(An aside, has anyone else noticed that youtube audio clips are often slightly pitched to the wrong key, perhaps to avoid recognition software detection?)

That's one of my favorite songs/moments too, Roxy or otherwise. And I love how the drum mix fades out everything but the bass drum (if you listen closely, you can almost hear the rest of the kit in the background).

I think Eno said this was his favorite Roxy record.

i'll often declare Stranded to be my very favourite RM album... when I'm listening to it. everyone always reps hard for the second half, and there is genius at play there for sure, but i've got a super tender spot for the opening three-song sequence, which is one of the greatest that i've heard. always get a massive kick out of that halcyon, almost drowsy vocal delivery on Amazona and its unlikely shit-hot chemistry with the restless instrumental track.

A big revelation for me while getting into Roxy was realising that they got better, not worse, after Eno left. Which seems obvious now but I had weird preconceptions. It's on Stranded that Ferry really finds his lyrical voice imo and fully inhabits his persona.

"Serenade" might be my favorite of their album tracks. Just a perfect bauble, a reminder of how even on throwaways Ferry was in peak writing form during this period.

Eno has said repeatedly that Stranded was their best album.

i think that i think in my heart that the first two albums are the best ones, but i'd be very hard pressed to point to Eno as the difference. i've never got my hands dirty and come up with a critical assessment of his actual contributions to be honest with you.

who amongst us rates Country Life as the finest hour?

and yeah, Serenade, what a pocket tour de force. the section that begins "Maybe i'm wrong for seeming..." is one of my favourite RM moments eva.

Country Life is up there just behind Stranded for me. Eno OTM. Those two feel like the band they were meant to be. I love Avalon and (most of) the first two but everything comes together in that middle period.

could it be that the tune featuring "CUZ LUVVIN YEW, IS AHL AH CAN DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…………" has not been mentioned? I lost my shit when the band did this at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in 2001…

don't ride that hard for 70s solo Ferry, except "the Price of Love," which matches the majesty of the above…

Stranded and Country Life are my equal faves. Side one of Country Life rules, and the second side has "Casanova" and "Prairie Rose."

My favorite BN song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YJUf22mpMw

One of my all-time fave Roxy music moments is when the song briefly gets lost in the chaos of all the flanger/phaser/envelope filter effects.

― Josh in Chicago

Yeah this is an incredible moment. When people ask me what my favourite solo ever is (this never happens by the way) I'll always name the one on Amazona.

Stranded is my second favorite album behind the debut, it's a perfect album.

could it be that the tune featuring "CUZ LUVVIN YEW, IS AHL AH CAN DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…………" has not been mentioned? I lost my shit when the band did this at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in 2001…

ha, yeah, "Street Life," the song that has been stuck in my head for 2 days now.

For me, the only element of Roxy/BF that keeps me from 100% fandom is...that vibrato.

Man, "Mother of Pearl." This band cannot be overrated.

the moment where it quiets down and settles into the groove...

I had a piecemeal intro to Roxy Music: my school radio station had 45s of "Do The Strand" and "The Thrill Of It All" and I liked them, but it was their appearance on Midnight Special that really piqued my interest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ0VNT9vTls&list=PL839ACC2DD9401D00

Despite all that, I somehow never picked up a full album until "Siren," and that's the one I played to death. Given that there was no Roxy album for quite a while after that, at the height of my Roxy fandom, I eagerly anticipated "In Your Mind" and played that A TON as well, and so probably hold it in higher regard than most people.

BTW, I'm as huge a fan of Eno as there is, but I think his contributions to the first two records are a tad overstated.

agreed. the rest of the band and the compositions are as "weird" as everything eno contributed.

McKay's hair is the most overlooked aspect of this band.

Interesting factoid from wiki re: "For Your Pleasure"

Brian Eno is very present in the final song from the album, "For Your Pleasure" making it unlike any other song on the album. The song ends with the voice of Judi Dench saying "You don't ask. You don't ask why" amid tapes of the opening vocals ('Well, how are you?') from "Chance Meeting" from the first Roxy Music album

Also, how strange is it that the band's only RIAA certification award is a Platinum disc for Avalon?

Makes sense. They were a exotic curiosity in the States. Avalon did well because (a) it was a favorite of CD audiophiles (b) accumulated good will (c) Bryan Ferry a college radio staple in mid and late eighties.

I didn't know that was Judi Dench. That's a great fact. According to a Guardian interview it comes from a Reich-inspired tape-loop piece Eno had made called You Don't Ask Why.

Avalon did well because (a) it was a favorite of CD audiophiles

absolutely. It and Fagen's Nightfly were like the standard demo CDs for a lot of high-end stereo stores (even the Wiz in NYC in the early '90s was still using 'em)

It and Fagen's Nightfly were like the standard demo CDs for a lot of high-end stereo stores cocaine dealers.

They were a exotic curiosity in the States.

Exactly, and their label had no idea how to promote them, at least in the early 70s. Roxy's first US shows were opening for Jethro Tull at Madison Square Garden, and Tull's audience wasn't having it. Ian Anderson didn't like them either and said, "They just wanted it too much."

yet they still got Manifesto to #23 and F+B to #37. I dunno -- maybe it was payola.

xposts I understand that, but the thing that's weird to me is that there's no other certifications, not even for a hits package. I imagine if an audit was sponsored, at least a couple of the other albums could qualify for Gold if one adds together the sales from different labels and editions (Reprise/Atco vinyl, Virgin cds).

They had pockets of regional strength. In the Buckley bio Ferry said Detroit was a Roxy stronghold.

Creem loved the band iirc.

Just looked it up, and was surprised to find that Country Life hit #37 in the US. Then I remembered the cover.

http://creemusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/5357912798_e5b2951dd1.jpg

Roxy & Boy Howdy!

Also, huh, "Love Is The Drug" hit #30. Their highest charting single!

I love this.
Campy and decadent version of a pretty earnest song but still apocalyptic and spooky.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zwBHd4kll0

both Roxy and Ferry respectively are one hit wonders.

He goes so far into Dylan's song that there's nothing left of the original; it's scorched earth.

Lester loved their records, hated Ferry (at :36)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOqo6scHOwc

xpost - yes! nicely said

Just looked it up, and was surprised to find that Country Life hit #37 in the US. Then I remembered the cover.

The cover image was considered controversial in some countries such as the United States, Spain, and the Netherlands, where it was censored for release. As a result, a later American LP release of Country Life (available during the years 1975–80) featured a different cover shot.

(just an aside... it had the original cover when it was a hit)

"Here it comes, that old ennui"

I thought I remembered something about a censored cover.

I once fell asleep in front of the tv and caught the opening credits of a Nash Bridges episode. I assumed I was dreaming/remembered it wrong, but

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s Jobson also built a successful career as a composer of TV and film soundtracks. He scored nearly 100 episodes of the TV series Nash Bridges.[7]

My CL vinyl (nabbed from a dollar bin in the early 2000s) is the censored one.

oh, and apparently the original US version (before the censored one) was shrinkwrapped with an opaque cover.
http://st33.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/shrink-wrapped.jpg

and don't forget one of the models is Michael Karoli's sister, Constanze.

<REDACTED CANS JOKE>

They were a exotic curiosity in the States.

Exactly, and their label had no idea how to promote them.

until "love is the drug," they did not exist on U.S. radio. at all. not on AM. not on FM. and it's not as if the hits poured out after that. at their height of u.s. fame, they were a cult band. one gold or platinum album sounds about right.

No airplay until 1979 either.

And yet, from a UK perspective, it's hard to overstate how important Roxy was. "Virginia Plain" was like the British "Like a Rolling Stone" or something, an opening shot, an opening salvo in ... something.

Mild curiosity - what was it about Detroit that made it a stronghold for RM

I think it was an early stronghold for Prince as well

Maybe Cleveland as well?

Definitely Cleveland. WMMS was an early adopter of Bowie, Mott, Alex Harvey, and lots more including Roxy.

On a related note, I remember reading about how Slade was HUGE in Philadelphia and St. Louis, which was where they had the American premiere of Flame.

Yep, WMMR in Philadelphia was owned by the same chain as WMMS: MetroMedia. Also KSAN in San Francisco, one of the pioneers of progressive FM radio. For another thread, perhaps!

i've been really diving into Bete Noire the last day or so. man, this gets quite dark in places, albeit in a very mannered way. Zamba is wonderful.

I don't expect anyone to agree with me, charlie h (maybe you do), but "The Name of the Game" kill me. Yes, a ripoff of Madonna's "Open Your Heart" (Patrick Leonard's the cowriter), but hearing Ferry singing from a mountain peak in Borneo "Out of control/And as far as I can see/No religion can save me now" resonated in the profoundest way when I discovered this album in the nineties.

a few years ago this song taught me to queer Bryan Ferry. I mean, he gives the song away to the backing vocalists!

yes, i do love that song. the verses sound so restrained and then boom! the chorus hit it out of the park.

hits

thundercloud on a hill
let me lie in your shade

Please pause a moment to reflect on the wonderful Beauty Queen:

http://youtu.be/c3E3oqyv0Wc

...and the title track from For Your Pleasure:

http://youtu.be/5ddUl7G1YAA

It took a long time for this album to really grab me (besides the obvious choices of Strand & Editions), but it's been my Roxy pick for a few years now. Wish there was more dark-night-of-the-soul Roxy Music.

Ferry once said it was their best album, "the most complete."

from this great article

This is probably a boring choice for favourite Roxy Music song but Avalon ... there's a certain kind of drum rhythm they used a lot, kind of muzak-y, don't know what you'd call it. Sort of knowingly using a 'dull' beat. But for me the best example of it is on Avalon.

And it's also doing a simulacrum of someone being sad at the end of a luxurious and splendid party in the 1920s: but look: somehow the essence of that has been captured and made timeless but it's also a pop song in the 70s but it's also ... etc etc ... somehow it is nostalgia but it isn't. The difference between good and bad is the difference between this and Downton Abbey mainly. Fuck knows. Avalon from cardamon, anyway

It took a long time for this album to really grab me (besides the obvious choices of Strand & Editions), but it's been my Roxy pick for a few years now. Wish there was more dark-night-of-the-soul Roxy Music.

may I suggest everybody make some room in their hearts and ballots for the majesty that is "Grey Lagoon"

Love Beauty Queen endlessly; he's such an incredible lyricist (that bend into science fiction-y journeys to the stars at the end!), and then the delivery (joy hopping along the assonance in that "summer lover of fun" couplet), and the noise/solo fracture. I love it, this album, and those 1st 3 albums so much.

huge fan of Grey Lagoons, though i did overlook it for a while. it's one of those RM songs that resonates with me long after i've stopped listening to it. a specific phrase such as "morning sickness on friday nights" stays with me for days on end because i'm aware of it existing on an individual level and can't quite piece together how it fits into the wider continuum of the song. so, i'll recall these words in my head exactly how they're sung, with all of the nuances intact, not as part of an overall thematic idea that stands apart from how the song plays out. hope that makes sense.

Beauty Queen is one of the serious contenders for my number one spot. agree that the lyrics are particularly outstanding here.

kinda fascinating how on LST you've got delicate new renderings of early Roxy tunes like Sea Breezes and 2HB alongside rambunctious, idiosyncratic romps like The Price of Love. as an album, it seems to occupy two (or more) distinct attitudes towards presentation and expression: introspective and literate on the one hand, and hot-blooded and direct on the other. all the more intriguing for it.

And it's also doing a simulacrum of someone being sad at the end of a luxurious and splendid party in the 1920s

I've never thought of it as partly nostalgic but it's probably true. I always pictured a rich guy left alone at dawn after a party, with empty glasses and full of ashtrays and stray traces of cocaine on the table. It felt like the natural conclusion of Ferry's ongoing obsession with what it means to have fun and live the high life and fulfil your dreams to some extent without ever quelling your fundamental melancholy. Like in Really Good Time: "All the things
You used to do/A trip to the movies/A drink or two/They don't satisfy you/They don't tell you anything new."

I suppose Drake and The Weeknd do a similar sad-playboy thing but they never emotionally engage me like Ferry does. I feel like he thought his way into every crevice of that subject whereas they stick with the first thought: "If I'm doing all the things that should make me happy why aren't I happy?"

and they don't have Prophet 5s!

Their achilles heel

Also, from a British class-obsessed POV, Ferry is fascinating: a working-class Geordie who ends up living an upper-class life to a cartoonish degree, and relating that process through songs. But even if you acquire the trappings of privilege you can never quite feel entitled to them, so there's still this gap between him and the aristos he hangs out with and that gap might be where all the music's fascinating ambiguities spring from.

I interviewed him once and he's a deeply melancholy guy, to the extent that you can't really picture him making small talk at parties. I wish I'd asked him more about class.

"It felt like the natural conclusion of Ferry's ongoing obsession with what it means to have fun and live the high life and fulfil your dreams to some extent without ever quelling your fundamental melancholy."

top notch observation. bravo

Yes. I wrote once that of the major rock and rollers he's the least interesting, most enervated interview subject ever. That guy hasn't uttered a quip of note since the Callaghan government.

Just dug out the transcript and this is quite interesting.

Have you made any albums which were entirely what you wanted them to be?

Hmm. That’s a good question. I don’t know. Probably For Your Pleasure has a purity about it to me. It was a good album because it still had a freshness. When you start doing something there’s something you can never quite recreate. And yet at the same time we’d learnt a lot from doing the first album, which was testing the waters. It was more complete for me than the first one. There was dabbling in so many different styles and collaging one thing next to another, juxtaposition of different genres. Not that I think Roxy Music ever had a style. It was always an exploration of style.

And it turns out I did ask him about class after all:

Did you aspire to enter society circles?

No more than Fred Astaire or Cary Grant. Or dare I say Noel Coward. I think that when you are a young lad you see the world as being your oyster. And you say, Do I stay in a pit village in the northeast of England for the rest of my life and work down a mine, or maybe work on a farm roundabout, or do I try and do something a bit more ambitious? I just though, Oh well, nothing’s going to hold me back. People have these strange ideas that you’ve risen above your station because you’ve sent your child to Eton. It’s all bollocks really. Because I think it’s great to just… have a life.

Do you consider yourself one class or another?
Oh nothing. Inbetween. I’m classless. Genuinely. I couldn’t be what I am today without being the little boy who had to wait for the bus to go to school on freezing mornings. I’m still that person. But I’ve had much more than I might have had. Yeah, it’s been really interesting being me so far. I wouldn’t swap it for anything.

xp

yeah that class thing is totally fascinating – the too-neat but almost irresistible idea that Ferry, the working class boy, creates a fictional high society persona and imaginary world that takes him over, to the point where his son is this byword for Tatler Tory Huntin' twatdom. & you can follow the ironies of earliest Roxy slowly collapsing as he fuses with his persona – but I've always wanted to believe that he's trapped in there, sorrowfully staring out at this world of toffs his fictions have called into being around him.

I do not really think he is that unhappy with his world of giant estates, models and money etc; but there is something there to that outsiderdom. I half remember the end of his marriage to Lucy Avalon making me think that. & there is something melancholy to him. (& always shy if I remember the one Roxy book I've read correctly (The Michael Bracewell one))

I can hear the isolation in the music, specifically the music of the late eighties in which the echo, backing vocalists, and 24-track arrangements act as distancing effects. That's why I find Bete Noir so poignant.

i always figured him as an exceptionally deep thinker, and a rare one at that: the type who can fashion a meaningful and clear-headed rational from his introspection, cutting through to the essentials of the human condition in ways that appear so casual you often don't realise how acute they actually are. doesn't surprise me that he's melancholy. i tend to think he grew into a new identity with his popularity, one that he could comfortably inhabit as a performer and as a celebrity, but also one that didn't sit quite right with him on a number of levels; for one thing, it was assumed and only a few fleeting years in the making; secondly, it betrayed him as something that at his core he wasn't at all.

There was a bit of class stuff in that piece posted earlier:

Next to join was Jarrow boy Paul Thompson. He had taken a similar musical route to Ferry's, though an entirely different social one, playing in R&B bands by night and working in the shipyard by day. Turning pro at 17, Thompson played the working men's club circuit in a band that also included singer/guitarist John Miles. When this band caught the prog-rock bug and turned its back on pop the gigs dried up. Intent on staying pro, Thompson moved to London, and in time-honoured fashion answered a Melody Maker ad. "This voice answered the phone. It wasn't a Geordie voice, but he recognised mine. Bryan never had an accent. I asked him why once and he said, 'Ah well, you can't really read Shakespeare with a Geordie accent'."

great writing and observations all around!

is he the most admired pop/rock figure to be an avowed, lifelong Tory? Does his dissolute playboy motif (comparison with Drake and the Weekend is most astute) co-exist with a Ray Davies-ish preoccupation with vanishing traditions of Britain? English people reading this should let us know!

was it a decade ago that he defended his son Otis when the kid was in involved in pro-fox-hunting protest? like, conservatives wanting to preserve the english way of life on the countryside against the English PETA, or labour party, or "political correctness," or some shit?

I would bet there are LOTS of conservative rock stars, though probably not lifelong. I try to repress knowledge of BF's political leanings

Was he Tory, explicitly Tory, in the 70s? The mess of stuff going into Roxy, or the 'Them' scene doesn't seem inherently so, or does look a bad match with the 70s Conservative party - it's more a mess of aestheticism & theatrics & art-school ethics that will also/later feed into McClaren/Westwood SEX world. That's not *not* Tory and flows into Thatcher-Britain easily enough - but he doesn't strike me as straightforwardly Tory.

do we know he's a Tory?

I don't. I'm assuming

i could def see him seeing himself as someone 'outside ' politics, an independent

a Ray Davies-ish preoccupation with vanishing traditions of Britain

& this is interesting because as far as I can see it isn't there - nostalgia for dear old britain doesn't seem much of his imaginary world - early Roxy hangs between Pop/Preppy America and Euro playboy cosmopolitanism afaict. I guess Chance Meeting = Brief Encounter suggests some of that, but I think that's again a stylised nostalgia for poise rather than Davies's pain at the passing of the stuff of his youth.

whoop
this:

i could def see him seeing himself as someone 'outside ' politics, an independent

was meant to finish

– but I think that's a Toryish attitude more often than not.

I don't want to look this up at work - does he collect Nazi stuff, or just admire some of the aesthetics?

That news story from a few years ago has somehow got mixed up in my head with Father Seamus Fitzpatrick from Father Ted.

I'm not aware he's ever been a confirmed Tory nor that he collects Nazi kit, although he made the classic "horrible politics but nice uniforms" gaffe a few years back. This is what he said about hunting:

I don’t ride but I love it as a spectacle. I’ve followed it by car or land rover or whatever. It’s a wonderful thing. I see it as an 18th century pursuit I think. It’s great if someone can find themselves living in the 18th century.

Thank you, the uniforms thing was what I was thinking of. I think he's near enough Tory now - quick search gets "I would support a Cameron government. I have met him, and he’s a bright guy. I hope they do well. "

I feel like the recent Jazz Age album codes as nostalgia for dear old Britain, even if he meant it more as a homage to pre-war US jazz.

Who they vote for vs What their music actually proposes

is a distinction I find very interesting with regard to many ppl and espesh Bryan Ferry

Voted (in the poll, not Tory)

from an interview in the telegraph:

If I'm in a limousine on the way to the airport, I still haven't forgotten what it is like to stand in the rain at a north-eastern bus stop for hours. I do have memories of deprivation, but I don't carry them around like some bitter, Left-wing hammer to beat people on the head with. The human experience is all about contrast.'

And, of course, the album covers were the stuff of heterosexual teenage fantasy. One, 'Country Life', featured two scantily clad models. It had feminists in an uproar, resulting in it being sold under brown-paper covers in America. But in Britain people were pretty relaxed about it. I remember it well. Many was the teenage hour I would contemplate it. 'Yes,' he says, 'it's remarkable how liberated the climate was then. There is much more political correctness around today. What you can and cannot say. As I discovered last year. In a way it was much freer in those days. You could speak your mind. You certainly wouldn't have got told off for talking about Albert Speer's buildings in the 1970s.'

I ask if he is a Conservative. 'Never was anything really. Never really voted. Always lived in a huge majority where I don't think my vote would have made much difference. Where I was born it was a 23,000 Labour majority and now I live in a similar Tory majority. But yes, I am conservative by nature so it would be fair to say I was supporting them now. That said, I always felt politics and art don't mix very well.'

"That said, I always felt politics and art don't mix very well."

he's obv copping out a bit here. perhaps he's just a guy who doesn't understand politics very well.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3672494/Bryan-Ferry-I-dont-want-to-be-controversial.html

Fascinatin' fascism, anyone?

Just as important to understanding him.. Essential really.

xp I only posted the Telegraph article because of the art-politics thing quoted above. NOT judging!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbsTMkttmWM

^His great cover of Like a Hurricane.

^ that is something to behold, yes.

there's obviously time left, but keep them ballots coming!

getting to know Sentimental Fool all over again and falling hard for it. love that unexpected departure towards the end that rides the song out.

Working on my list right now. Listening to Siren which is really great but it's one of those albums where I just can't pick out obvious highlights. Both End Burning will make my list but everything else on there is kind of equal to me.

getting to know Sentimental Fool all over again and falling hard for it. love that unexpected departure towards the end that rides the song out.

― charlie h

Oh yeah that last minute is so great.

yes. and End of the Line!

Jobson's fiddle is a nice, ironic touch.

yes!

meanwhile, i've made my list. it's 38 songs, not counting any BF solo.

always felt that Love is the Drug was a very misleading way for Siren to begin. it seems to trade the sincerity of the other songs for street wisdom, introspection for approximation. i usually skip it as the tracks that come afterwards make for a very beguiling sequence, albeit one that blends too convincingly at times.

i've got my shortlist of songs whittled down pretty much. no Virginia Plain!

It works if you think of "Love is the Drug" and "Just Another High" as bookends.

^ never noticed that connection! very cool

i've got my shortlist of songs whittled down pretty much. no Virginia Plain!

― charlie h, Friday, February 7, 2014 7:48 AM

ruthless

i thought so :) i mean, i might have listened to it more that any other RM song over the years.

than

It works if you think of "Love is the Drug" and "Just Another High" as bookends.

i love this thread!

spared myself infinite ballot tinkering - held my breath, picked 20 and voted

Hey, an aside for all the Brits: what's the deal with Cockney Rebel? Much more obscure here than Roxy (obv.) but those first couple of albums I've always thought of as a folkier (?) take on the Roxy model, pretty solid. There are bits that are pretty glammy, but then there are bits that remind me of ... Belle & Sebastian?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4apUYBWPpY

The first two CR albums are as good as any early 70s odd-pop albums for my money.
Couple of good tracks on the next 3, then -WHOA- off the deep end into schmaltzy session musician land.

When they were on though? Yikes good.

yeah, CR are pretty great. though for a long time i was put off by the later "schmaltzy session musician land" exploits.

meanwhile, a breezy saturday morning spent with Country Life confirms that i've still got a major crush on Three and Nine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NavzcV_gRiE

that's some seriously involved miming.

have spent much of today listening to Mamouna. a lot of it sounds pastiche-y, not surprising given the length of time it took to assemble and the number of players on board -- shades of a sophisti-pop Chinese Democracy in parts. tracks like Your Painted Smile though, which is able to sustain a uniform cinematic mood, are wonderful though.

love the title track too tbh

yeah, the title track builds nicely. the waxy guitar line seems to gravitate towards an actual destination in that one.

actually, the title track sorta reminds me of Talk Talk

"The 39 Steps" is my keeper, and it segues nicely into "Which Way to Turn"

i'll give 39 Steps another listen. it's the kind of album where i have trouble remembering what individual songs do.

ONE MORE WEEK to vote in this thing if you haven't already, folks.

voted!

how high is "Kiss and Tell"

very high, yes. and not as light and gossipy as the title suggests.

or did you mean, how high did balls vote it? lol

"Trash 2" > "Trash"

Beauty Queen is one of the serious contenders for my number one spot. agree that the lyrics are particularly outstanding here.

i love this song but... anyone know what he means here:

while you worship the sun
summer of fun
gold number with neighbors
who said that you'll go far
...

(that should be "summer lover of fun" of course)

not sure about the "gold number" but i aways view the "neighbours who said you'd go far" in light of one of the lines that comes before it: "you're the pride of your street".

i really like how this is a pragmatic breakup song on a certain level, but also a tribute. the images seem all the more powerful when you consider that it might be painful for the speaker to bring them to mind, given that he is choosing to leave behind this one-of-a-kind muse.

i also like it how the song shifts from physical imagery, albeit very colourful, to a more spiritual, metaphysical realm by the end, with those references to "soul-ships" passing by and "gliding so far that the eye cannot follow" seeming to imply a deeper understanding that the characters might have had. it's a really nice conclusion that gives the relationship, and the celebration of the girl herself, a great deal of gravitas.

yeah, wonderful song.

it's just "gold number with neighbors" that i'm curious about. the rest is straightforward.

very nice interpretation btw.

Did any of you guys see Eno singing "Seven Deadly Fins" on Danny Baker's bbc4 show?

Just voted.

^^ cheers for that.

just 3 points separating nos. 1 and 2 so far!

keep em coming!

Sent. Holy shit, that was impossible.

Just getting my list ready to send. Really happy with my top 15 but filling those last 5 spots is a little tricky. There are at least 10 songs I really don't want to miss out.

I gave Manifesto a play for the first time in a while yesterday. It's definitely my second least favourite Roxy album (ahead of Flesh of Blood) but there are some gems on there. Never really noticed what a great song My Little Girl is before, those backing vocals in the chorus are just so charming.

The first side is as good as they every were. "Ain't That So" is their stab at Boz Scaggs. "Still Falls the Rain" mates classic rock and New Wave stutter rhythms. "Angel Eyes" is creamy disco. The title track is a splendid comeback.

Check out the band – as tight as Ferry's red leather suit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6sosLhIcL4

The first side is as good as they every were.

oh come on

yes really. A different band than the iteration on Country Life, but Siren presages the disco and R&B experiments

that ^ video is great, thanks for posting!

i always feel like "My Little Girl" doesn't live up to the promise of its first 25 seconds.

some days, but not often, i think i prefer Manifesto to Siren, despite it sounding a little bit clumpy and insipid in parts. really love that performance of Still Falls the Rain. makes me feel a little ashamed for overlooking the song all these years.

agreed that My Little Girl is class.

Speaking of presaging, "Spin Me Round" sure sounds like a first stab at what Ferry perfected on "Avalon."

sw00ds and I discussing Manifesto.

Not really a big fan of the first half. I've never really understood why Trash was released as the first single, it's barely even a song. Not surprised it only reached number 40, luckily they had Dance Away ready to save them. I always forget how dodgy the album version of Angel Eyes is too. They did a great job with that remix.

Ain't That So, My Little Girl, Dance Away and Spin Me Round are the keepers on that album for me.

Agree that "Trash" is aptly named: one of the grosser let's-go-New Wave experiments. Its failure, according to Manzanera, nearly killed their comeback momentum.

I like the Suede version way better.

The tambourine catch from Psalm returns but this time with a microphone. Love how happy he looks when he catches it.

http://youtu.be/HZr5HpNm2TU

@Alfred
Ooh. Did you do a podcast for each album? If so, where do I find all of them? Enjoying this.

The Angel Eyes remix is AMAZING btw. Destroys the album version.

which remix?

Here they are, complete with suggested reading/links:

http://rockcriticsarchives.com/audiovisual/index-roxy.html

This:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsUupvzUbEM

Thanks for the links, sir!

oh yah that remix rules, amazing video too-- a few years ahead of its time?

i've evangalized for serge santiago's 15min edit on ilx before but that wont stop me from doing it again:

https://soundcloud.com/bryanferry/angel-eyes-serge-santiagos

Or the Glimmers remix of "Same Old Scene"

http://youtu.be/2YdfyD8U_Fw

i havent been paying any attention to thsi thread but will still probably put together a ballot-- i'm guessing 00's edits/remixes are not eligible?

your Ferryesque hair is eligible

everyone vote my hair #1

Really digging the 1st record podcast, Alfred; otm re: Ferry's keyboard work. And now I know that "H.B." is Humphrey Bogart!

Ferry's chord voicings with only the root and fifth notes is all time great

and like Dylan he plays a lot of black keys

I met a fancy pants person who had their husbands' 50th birthday on some island and chose Elvis Costello over BF to fly down and do a private concert...wtf?

o come on tarfumes - "here's looking at you babe"?

manifesto tends to fluctuate w/ the debut for my fave

I know, I know, it's screamingly obvious, and I never made the connection.

or,
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dUwO9bgNKU4/UCqWbK1JRdI/AAAAAAAABYM/Lp86AZPiaoY/s1600/dixonHB2.JPG

Ferry's chord voicings with only the root and fifth notes is all time great

haha, yes! I know pretty much nothing about playing piano, and one of the first songs I ever figured out was "Editions Of You."

I know, super easy!

Ferry always looks like he's about to either sneeze or fall asleep. And look great doing it.

list sent; making a playlist of the also-rans.

make sure you share that playlist at some point, nerve_pylon!

anyone out there who shares my immense love for Chance Meeting? playing that earlier, i realised for the first time that Eno (probably) makes a huge contribution to it.

oh and gr8080, i guess any edits/ remixes will just be counted as a vote for the regular version of the song, but i could put a little aside in the results if it comes to that.

holy shit, She Sells is so electrifying, right?

"YOU so right, ME so wrong"

How the hell did "She Sells" not make my list?!?! UGH
Always felt that tune had a bit of a different sound on 'Siren.' Totally stuck out in a good way. Very strident! haha

This really should've been top 75 Roxy/Ferry. I can't believe all the perfect songs that didn't make my ballot.

the only Jobson cowrite of Roxy's career.

Totally weird that he was on more albums than Eno, but never gets cred.
He totally killed it on those records too.

yeah, She Sells is a lot more frantic than the other stuff on Siren.

with less than a month of summer to go in my part of the world, i'm seriously thinking about hosting a Roxy/ Ferry themed cocktail party at my place. at the very least, it'll present an opportunity to force people to listen to the music and realise how wonderful it is. :)

The song Sunset hasn't aged well for me. I used to love it but when I dug out my copy of Stranded, it was a bit of a slog.

made my ballot, i think, based on a previous love affair with it, but it's not one i usually reach for these days.

found a video for Trash 2. i like how weary Ferry sounds, and the organ. significantly less new-wave, too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XmVsgA0w_g

made my first gif

http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/2-12-2014/PEhsY9.gif

that's awesome, woof!

ballot sent.

and mine too

thanks guys.

tremendous gif, woof!

Trash 2 is great. excellent delivery from Ferry. and so much... darker.

the version on Manifesto is a bit of a mess, i guess.

it's a song i never gave much due, but Re-make/Re-model is a total blast. so wild & unhinged, amazing it all holds together.

it will be high on my ballot

Yeah, it's very high on my list too. One of the best opening songs ever.

I listened to "Mamouna" today for the first time in yonks. It's certainly not a record that plays in my head when I look at the cover, I had forgotten what a moody bastard it is. A solid affair with the opener "Don't Want To Know", the title track, "The 39 Steps" and "Wildcat Days" (which sounds like a Bete Noir outtake) as the standouts.

My love for this album has nothing to do with how good it is. After 18 months of devouring the Roxy/Ferry catalog, I was ravenous by the time Mamouna dropped; and, I should remind everyone, it got good reviews at the time.

great piece, Alfred!

thanks! I went too far. I'm too much a Ferryologist.

world could use more Ferryologists, sir - bravo !

oh hey i got new headphones today. this should be good...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykDr32qvmLg

... this way...

btw i know alfred hates "my only love" but i think it's because he's a ferry guy. everything manzanera or mckay-related related on this song rules.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3uPi6trues

ps and the percussion's pretty dope too

pps especially with headphones)

and boys will be boys will be boyoyoyoys

My Only Love is great, much more of a triumphant ensemble piece than i gave it credit for.

which reminds me, what does everyone think of the RM treatment of Eight Miles High? i never used to think it worked very well, but now i'm reconsidering.

I don't hear a Roxy song in "My Only Love" -- it sounds like Ferry and sidemen.

now "Over You" has more classic Manzanera and McKay parts.

i really like the guitar line in Over You. in fact something about that song -- the bassline, the atmosphere maybe? -- reminds me vaguely of New Order.

and The Cars

yes!

Over You's bass and jangles also sound like the House of Love's Christine (which sounds like The Smiths' Hand That Rocks the Cradle and Patti Smith's Kimberley).

yeah, it's Christine minus the slumped shoulders.

Ferry always looks like he's about to either sneeze or fall asleep. And look great doing it.

i can't stop loling at/otming this post in my head

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oTOXnQhYhEM/TMjqcP-hQLI/AAAAAAAACNM/aLHC2FoE_aE/s1600/Bryan%2BFerry%2Bbryan.jpg

This still blows my mind: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zv0HNSoV1eo/UGSeVWPdcKI/AAAAAAAAHmk/1FswUIqcHyo/s1600/roxy%2Bmusic%2Bfor%2Byour%2Bpleasure%2Bgatefold.jpeg

Eno looked hot in the 1st album gatefold but more closely resembled Riff Raff in that Editions of You video.

i just need to post this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYgVORvXGAs

The only time Ferry sported dreadful hair, for which he compensated for sounding like Pepe Le Pew from Pluto.

for = by sounding

^NEXT LEVEL (ladytron video)

also, has any other band more fully explored the drama of castanets?

The Drama of Castanets will be my memoir title.

Donald Fagen said recently I think that he still can't believe he is actually a singer, because he sounds like a "Jewish Bryan Ferry"!

also, has any other band more fully explored the drama of castanets?
― nerve_pylon, Thursday, February 13, 2014 10:36 AM (1 hour ago)

Did someone say castanets?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhYaFplWam0

:) ... Chris Spedding AND castanets=my favorite Ferry cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPS1_y0reRQ

oh and gr8080, i guess any edits/ remixes will just be counted as a vote for the regular version of the song, but i could put a little aside in the results if it comes to that.

― charlie h, Tuesday, February 11, 2014 8:06 PM (2 days ago)

so votes for the remix of angel eyes (the RM remix, not any 00's remixes) will go towards the inferior album version?

One of my faves from 'Frantic'. Had no clue it was a cover!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLpDPH_uxs4

Donald Fagen said recently I think that he still can't believe he is actually a singer, because he sounds like a "Jewish Bryan Ferry"!

he wishes! (with all due respect to fagen, whom i love)

Voted. Very happy with my list (for now) It's been really fun going back over their albums and getting to know his solo career a bit better.

I hope y'all voted for:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz0ebvpf9FY

Thread reminds me that I just learned Phil Manzanera's real name and where he went to school, which is kind of interesting.

boy, Taxi is not a fun listen. just a long and blurry midtempo slog

okay so it's sort of "all I want is you" lite but i'm here to confess that I've been sleeping on "nightingale" a bit.

and maybe overrating "end of the line"...

"Nightingale" is fantastic.

nightingale is totally magnificent, one of the apices of Ferry as late Romantic poet + the swoops and rushes!

damn for a drunk man i know some fancy plurals

Come over tonight! I can give you a glasses of apices.

I wonder if there will be even ONE vote for anything from Jazz Age....

xp

haha alfred i would love to have an evening of canon-poetry/crit + roxy with you. One of these transatlantic faps…

Ned, Scott, and I discussed The Jazz Age: http://rockcritics.com/2013/02/21/roxymania-re-turnedre-tuned/

Thanks, Soto, I'll check that out.

Scattered notes:

How do we rank the solo albums? My ranking:

These Foolish Things
The Bride Stripped Bare
Frantic
Bete Noire
Boys & Girls
Taxi
Mamouna

the self-written title track for Another Time, Another Place deserves mentioning.

The only good thing about "Taxi" was all the CD singles with excellent live cuts on them.

maybe i think that The Bride Stripped Bare is the best solo album. just maybe.

meanwhile, happy valentine's y'all

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIEP8MDKe8A

I had not ever really dove into Roxy's catalog, but holy shit that's all I've been listening to for the last couple weeks. WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME HOW GOOD STRANDED AND COUNTRY LIFE ARE?!

:)

it's one of those things people can tell you, but you don't grasp the truth of it until you spend time with them yourselves and your mind is blown.

yourself

a weekend and a bit to vote in this thing if you haven't already, boys & girls. it's been a great ride so far.

WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME HOW GOOD STRANDED AND COUNTRY LIFE ARE?!

Add Siren to the list, and this is exactly where I'm at too.

i underestimated The Thrill of it All. Fairly low on my ballot, but it sounded jaw-dropping this morning, particularly mackay's background colour during the quieter passages. Pure whiskey reeling round and round…

as incredible as the Stranded->Country Life->Siren run is, my heart says i love s/t and For Your Pleasure best.

i also should mention at this point that over the years, i've really come round to Avalon in a massive way too; i think i probably wasn't capable of fully appreciating such a transparently mature and discriminating work a few years back.

i didn't vote for The Thrill of it All. it is wonderful though. captures the band -- as does much of Country Life -- at their most confident and impulsive.

I ended up leaving a lot of those big tracks like 'Both Ends Burning', 'Thrill of it All', '...Heartache', etc. off of my list. i love them all, but i opted for the treasure trove of deeper album cuts. maybe i've just heard them too many times?

and i love Avalon. that first line, "Now the party's over, I'm so tired" gets me every time.

yeah, it's a very simple line but so, so evocative.

Man, "Both Ends Burning" plays in my head whenever I feel too busy. And I hear Ferry sort of twisting "burning" into "boining".

^^ nice spaghetti-dance feel to the synths on that one

it occurred to me last night that Olympia's "Reason or Rhyme," its best original moment, is a chanson worthy of late Leonard Cohen.

yeah, Reason or Rhyme is my favourite song on that album. just like on Avalon (the song), it brings resonating meaning and clarity to really simple imagery ("that look in your eye, the brush of your cheek" etc.). i enjoy the fragile delivery too -- makes everything seem that much more desperate and dependent on the empathy and tolerance of the individual he is addressing, because he is unable to elevate his plea with the full force of his voice.

Is "Both Ends Burning" the first pop instance of that phased string synth sound used so effectively by Moroder, Nick Rhodes and then everybody in the early 80s?
Remember picking up 'Siren' in the early 80s and being struck by how current that track in particular sounded.

Alfred, you left In Your Mind off your solo ranking! I know it's not well liked, but...

Also, I kinda like Taxi. At least I can recall most of the songs (maybe because they're covers) better than Mamouna or Boys and Girls.

xp, I don't think so...doesn't that same sound appear in "Out Of The Blue"?

Hmm. There's phasing going on there, but is it a synth string patch?

If it is, maybe it's just the context that it's placed in with BEB that calls to mind future synth-pop.
OotB seems a bit more ROCK (in my mind anyway).

Alfred, you left In Your Mind off your solo ranking! I know it's not well liked, but…

dull duller dullest

Even the sleeve typescript is dreadful.

I don't mind "This is Tomorrow" though.

"Out of the Blue" uses Jobson's violin, phased in places.

Makes sense.
"Both Ends Burning" as proto-Nick Rhodes in its synth string patch phaseyness then, I think.

I wonder if Nick Rhodes was a fan?

hahahaha

I love the title track to In Your Mind so much; it's like proto-"Heroes."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyD2LYZLZQ8

It was through liking Japan that I got into Roxy, who were always cited as an influence on them and this is no more apparent than on "Both Ends Burning".

Makes sense.
"Both Ends Burning" as proto-Nick Rhodes in its synth string patch phaseyness then, I think.

― mr.raffles, Friday, February 14, 2014 1:06 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think the main reason I associated "Out Of The Blue" with proto-Rhodes was this, which is little more than a cleverly disguised cover:

http://youtu.be/cpWByMo2V0o

I always thought Halloween by Japan ripped off Out of the Blue quite obviously.

http://youtu.be/IiZyy11oS9M

sort of enjoying the mild surprise of what won't be making my own ballot. hardest call for me is what comes after #1 and #2...

Attention '2 H.B.' fans: make sure you hear Bryan's version before you cast your votes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIZrqoHLKps

the best part of 2HB is the breakdown with all those heavenly Mackay horns (RM version)

Posted this in another thread, but I heard this version of "2HB" in a Noodles and Co. the other day.

(xp) well, i think the best parts are Thompson's drumming and the keyboards on BF's version, but it's all good!

Voted: 9 Roxy, 11 Ferry. Just missing out: a cut from The Jazz Age. So much to sink in, so many questions to ask. I'll save them for the rollout thread.

I just sent in my first ever ILM poll! This was ridiculously hard; I just tried not to overthink, and went for the ones that meant the most to me, or that I would play for a neophyte, which made mine a rather superficial greatest hits. Almost all Roxy, no Ferry solo in the 80s onward.

I don't hear a Roxy song in "My Only Love" -- it sounds like Ferry and sidemen.

--Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

even the version on Roxy Music Live? man this is like their "comfortably numb" or something.

(cue chorus of "comfortably numb sounds like waters and sidemen")

I wonder what the Sway of this poll will be, ie the relatively obscure album track that unexpectedly makes it to the top 5.

stoked that this was your first ever poll, Dan!

yeah, i always thought My Only Love reached its full potential on RML. sounds relatively limp on F+B, i suppose.

just checked the Rolling Stones results thread. Sway in fourth place with 8 votes for #1! wow

my first ever poll, too!

making my shortlist tonight, chopping and ordering tomorrow --

I wonder what the Sway of this poll will be, ie the relatively obscure album track that unexpectedly makes it to the top 5.

― kornrulez6969, Friday, February 14, 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVPC_Tog5AQ

that's a good 'un.

but i'll always rep for True to Life harder. though that song may be seen as less obscure?

also in the running for "sway" status

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXOgQN1a7bE

ahhh, thanks for reminding me of that excellent clip!

that's what these polls are all about :)

well, that and figuring out what comes in second after ______ __ _____

it's true. Goddess of Love from Frantic is such a shoo-in.

i'm still juggling my 20 but there's a good chance one track from frantic will make it

also: props

Just noticed I have more from Frantic than any other album

that's a very interesting stat!

my favorite moment in the SOS video: Ferry picks up his cigarette and walks away from his synthesizers, tossing a bored look at the band, as if he just remembered he's Bryan Ferry.

if only The Great Paul Thompson played on SOS...!

Wow, SOS is such a great song, isn't it?

BTW, I've thrown this out before, but I thought I'd throw it out again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekufPK0pGvE&feature=kp

Produced by Rhett Davies, even features Eno!

the Sound Opinions podcast interview with Ferry is pretty great!

"Mamouna", the song, is better than anything on Taxi.

I'm just wading into the 90s albums for the first time ever, so I dunno if I can vote for any of the songs over the ones I've been listening to for twenty years, but "Mamouna" may be worth it.

Nobody's mentioned 'Jealous Guy'.... surprise 'Sway'?

I don't like it. Exception: the synth solo.

i like it for dumb, sappy reasons.

man i am shocked and appalled by some of the stuff that's not making my final 20

rogermexico, I have a confession -- every time I see your screen name I have a brief instant of getting you confused with Roger Adultery, but I make sure to feel bad about it afterwards.

aw man... every time? maybe it's time for me to just start fresh al leong style...

RogerMexico is great! Are you a Pynchon fan, I guess you must be!

No, not every time, just every now and then. Don't change!

well, that and figuring out what comes in second after ______ __ _____

Why I love ILM: I know exactly what those blank lines mean. It was my #1 too.

My guess for the Sway is ______ _____

@kornrulez

That was totally my number one too. I mean, Jesus, how could it not be?

Divine intervention!

Not my #1 though

My guess for the Sway is ______ _____

― kornrulez6969, Saturday, February 15, 2014

on the bubble for me tbh. like i said this is a very distressing ballot...

@iago maybe a little, once upon a time

I'm not necessarily one for reunions, but that reunion tour in... 01 or 02 or so? One of the best shows I've seen in my life.
Didn't expect them to, but DAMN they came out blazing. Couldn't have asked for a better set list. AND... the show was outside, by the water, on a perfect Summer's night.

Goddamn that was good.

(Roxy Reminisces)

sent

Didnt catch any of the original reunion shows but it's one of my biggest 21st C disappointments how nu Roxy has seemingly fizzled out creatively. I have the (great) Apollo DVD and it should have been the catalyst for so much more. Right now....never say never I suppose, but it looks unlikely.

My guess for the Sway is ______ _____

on the bubble for me tbh. like i said this is a very distressing ballot...

Will we never know?

Re/Make-Re/Model

I was a bit let down by the Roxy reunion, but I think it may because at the time I was really into rough and rocking Roxy and less smooth Roxy, and the setlist shifted from rocking to smooth very quickly. But I have seen Ferry solo a few times, and really enjoyed it for the opposite reason: the mode was smooth, but every once in a while would shift rocking!

Probably won't/can't vote in this. I tried today and just ... can't. I don't really like to rank things, but especially not when I love so much of Roxy through and through. :/ But I do look forward to the results!

have never seen them perform (and can't recall the reason why). how i would have loved to!

Listening to Mamouna for the first time.
Not amazing on first glance, but better than I thought it would be (so far). Up to track four.

Mamouna >>> Boys and Girls

i've gotta say, Mamouna has grown on me quite a bit. Boys & Girls is a bit more of a sentimental favourite of mine.

This poll has inspired me to check the Ferry albums I don't know that well. Such a Roxy fanatic, but have only dipped into his solo stuff here and there.
Listening to 'The Jazz Age' today was actually quite fun!

Got 'Olympia' on now. Know this one pretty well. Some very good stuff, but the excitement level def dips a bit from 'Frantic' (I remember 'Dylanesque' being awful).

The stretch from Boys and Girls to Mamouna is as fascinating as any ex frontman's solo material from any time period. I would mention Gabriel but the context there to Genesis was so different to Ferry and Roxy Music.

Have my ballot written out...will send soon.

good stuff, C. Grisso

there was clearly a kind of distillation/ paring down process in effect during the run from Boys & Girls to Mamouna. the albums do get progressively more spartan and austere from one to the next, but in a manner that remains true to the key aesthetics of Ferry's sound during this period. this trend is somewhat defused by the fact that Mamouna took so damn long to come out, however.

Those albums work only if you're willing to tolerate hot licks + Ferry on Mt Everest.

seems a gaggle of guitar guns were in tow for Mamouna. hot licks aplenty, but it still manages to sound reined-in, a lot of it.

There may be some parallels with David Sylvian. His solo career has had a similar Zen consistency. Lots of awesome players, even more restraint.

What is this remix album of Don't Stop The Dance that spotify has thrown my way?

I've been reading XGau's (conflicted) takes on Roxy and Ferry, a pretty consistent B+ in his eyes. But boy does he seem obsessed to the point of self-conscious comedy with tempo.

just a reminder that the deadline is today, so get those ballots in when you can!

oops!

i'll be flexible, so we can hopefully get a bunch more ballots in.

how many you got so far?

33

sent!

Come on, people! We should be able to get 40 ballots.

Sending mine within the hour.

:)

Sending soon...unexpected day trip broke out.

Sent!

what the...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpzREN3CRi4

i'm a fan!

sent!

oh yeah. i love it. btw i somehow never caught until this poll the way "mamouna" echoes and responds to "slave to love"...

nearly done with my ballot but having the devil's own time with the solo stuff

HACK AND TEAR

ballot is in. i'm ashamed at some of the tracks i left off but I know they won't fail to chart (except maybe "i thought" - that juuuuust missed my cut though personally i love it to bits)

was happy to be notified of this poll. ballot sent this evening. very few surprises, but murder whittling it down.

thanks lads.

regretting not giving Sentimental Fool a higher placing. it's my favourite song on Siren by some way, i've decided.

also, because i haven't mentioned it -- and because it's very clear that most of you voted in order of preference -- the scoring for album covers will be as follows: first place gets 3 points, second place 2 points, and third place 1 point.

I kind of regret taking "Sentimental Fool" off my list -- weird thing to do in a way because it was in my Top 5 initially! But last minute I just felt like my list was a bit too Siren- and Stranded-heavy.

what always drew me towards SF was how it ended. now i'm equally in awe of the way it begins, and in particular how that opening line is sung.

My brother saw Roxy on the Siren tour, and loves telling me how they opened with "SF," and did a fairly elongated intro, until Ferry came on stage and mesmerized the crowd -- or something like that. Anyway, it painted an evocative picture. (I also can't help but hear it in tandem with the intro to Bowie's "Station to Station.")

what a spectacular -- and fitting now i think about it -- way to open a Roxy show!

i'll keep voting open a little while longer. no hard and fast rules on that just yet.

When does the rollout begin?

Drafting my ballot: I tried but I could not find a way..
(I'll try again tonight)

i'll start it on Tuesday evening, at about 6pm EST, which is like Wednesday morning for me. it's looking like a top 40 rollout plus the album covers, but that could change...

i mean, how does that sound? i could probably start earlier.

Voted.

they opened with "SF," and did a fairly elongated intro, until Ferry came on stage and mesmerized the crowd

I saw this, and yes it was hypnotic. If you can find the entire Stockholm 1976 video it's on there. It used to be on youtube, but now only other portions of the show are.

^^ incredible!

i think this poll will be closed for voting in about 8 hours, at which point i will have checked my inbox for any overnight ballots. cheers

all your Roxy bootleg needs right here
http://ace.bootlegs.free.fr/wordpress/?p=1121

Something about that Stockholm video really underscores just what a weird band this was.

xpost Wow, where should I start with those? I think First Kiss is the only one I have. Maybe that and BBC.

Josh, try "Why Do You Think I'm a Funky Chick?" and "Siren in the Empire Pool" are both great, as is Paris Palais de Congress '74 (the ones I've downloaded today)

no harm in keeping voting going till around midnight eastern time, i guess.

anybody still putting together a ballot?

Just sent mine! hope it's in time

yep!

Second what Josh says about the Stockholm video.

There's always been something subtly inscrutable about this band.

Right? Like when they suddenly bust into "Wild Weekend" by the Rockin' Rebels?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVf144-Ccj4

wow, can't wait to devour some of those bootlegs!

just sorting out my album covers. BF looking very Fonz on the cover of These Foolish Things

BF solo album covers some of the shittiest things. There like if Morrissey's "Maladjusted" was the norm, not the exception. I mean, come on:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e9/Bryan_Ferry_Dylanesque.jpg/220px-Bryan_Ferry_Dylanesque.jpg

Won't put the image in, because it's NSFW, but I think this "Country Life" cover behind the scenes is sort of fascinating:

http://ace.bootlegs.free.fr/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/images/boots/roxy%20music/1974-11-27%20-%20Paris%20%2774%20-%20front.jpg

And then there's this:

http://ace.bootlegs.free.fr/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/images/boots/roxy%20music/The%20thrill%20of%20it%20all%20%28live%201975%29%20-%20front1.jpg

In Your Mind and Dylanesque neck and neck for worst Ferry covers ever.

yeah, the Dylanesque cover is horrid and quite odd as well.

ONE HOUR LEFT TO VOTE if you need to

ok, that's it for voting! thanks everyone.

what time of day do most people check into ilm? i'll do my best to sync the rollout to that.

I forgot to vote for album covers but I hope Manifesto does well. It looks ahead of its time in a way that then more famous ones don't.

yeah, the Manifesto cover is amazing once you pay attention to it. so much going on that i don't know where to look.

That cover would have earned my vote for the BLAST typeface alone.

Anyone heard Mackay's "In Search of Eddie Riff?" It's kind of like a Roxy novelty record, a busman's holiday sort of thing in which Ferry takes the day off and the other guys get together to record an eclectic batch of instrumental rock and roll. This one is credited to him and Eno, which is why is sort of sounds like Mackaytronics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDn5Tb1X2kg

And this one was the first single!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wTpfQoF1-s

POLLing and turning, how can I sleep?: The Roxy Music & Bryan Ferry Results Thread

btw now that this thread is done i can post this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpfsMVagDHM

i don't know how and i don't know when but i swear everyone responsible will pay

Holy shit! at the Andy MacKay solo stuff. Thank you for posting that.

yeah, that Andy Mackay material is a revelation.

I went long on this list.

Nice work. Stranded is my favorite as well.

Yes albums could ship gold in 1972 with songs like “The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)” but Roxy couldn’t chart in America with a song dependent on Casablanca for pathos and a deranged offer from a British art fag imitating Count Chocula to grow potatoes by the score.

Yeah, but only one of these records was issued in a doobie-rolling-friendly gatefold cover.

Great list. Stranded is one of my favorite pieces of music by anyone, ever. At one point I was listening to it twice a day for a solid month. I only stopped because I was worried I'd get sick of it, so I reduced my listening to once every other day. Still didn't get sick of it.

And otm re: "Triptych" and "Bitter-Sweet." Always found those a bit of a slog, especially annoying on a record that is otherwise the polar opposite of a slog.

Triptych a slog? That's crazy talk.

They said go west young man, that's best
It's there you'll feel no pain
Bel-Air's okay if you dig the grave
But I want to live again

maybe "for your pleasure" is formaldehyde, but i sure as hell get high off it

Triptych some wicker man level beauty

Korn otm

Stranded is the best

And here's the follow-up: the Ferry albums you should own.

guess I should've mentioned As Time Goes By

I've never read any good in depth interviews with Ferry, I don't think (I watched him interviewed a couple of years ago here, but the interviewer didn't ask any particularly good questions ... or get any particularly illuminating answers). I've always wondered what was behind the transition from the chaos and energy of Roxy's first five records to the smooth apotheosis of Avalon, which of course has been the basis for all/most subsequent slick Ferry.

I'm a fan of Mamouna, which like you (I think we're pretty much the same age) was along with Taxi my first realtime introduction to Ferry. I think it's a really dreamy album.

Ferry, I think I said upthread or another thread, is the least interesting major rock and roller in history. He's a bore. When he enters a studio or steps onstage, Henry Jekyll turns into Edward Hyde.

...only one of these records was issued in a doobie-rolling-friendly gatefold cover.

Wait, what? I certainly had some, erm, experiences with this one:

http://assets.rootsvinylguide.com/pictures/roxy-music-roxy-music-debut-1972-uk-ilps-9200-island-records-gatefold-vinyl_624253

Ah! I was not aware any Roxy records had gotten the gatefold treatment!

Oh man, then you haven't seen For Your Pleasure? Amazing! (Stranded has one as well.)

https://jonmwessel.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/roxy-music-for-your-pleasure-gatefold.jpg

Brain Fury, as the NME (probably) dubbed him, is certainly unorthodox for a "major rock and roller" and although one might consider him boring onstage or in interview, I don't think the accusation stands once he's over the studio threshold. Certainly not on the classic early run of platters (as the NME probably referred to them)

That's what I said: When he enters a studio or steps onstage, Henry Jekyll turns into Edward Hyde.

Are you custom or are you readymade?