Best Roxy Music Album

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

No obvious frontrunner here, should be interesting to see the results. Studio albums only.

Poll Results

Option	Votes
For Your Pleasure	27
Roxy Music	14
Country Life	10
Avalon	8
Stranded	7
Siren	5
Flesh and Blood	1
Manifesto	0

― kornrulez6969, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:39 (eighteen years ago)

Tough

― Tom D., Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:39 (eighteen years ago)

hah, I'm actually curious about this one. I voted for 'Avalon', but I'm more of a yuppie winebar kinda guy.

― baaderonixx, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:41 (eighteen years ago)

I voted for Stranded, Mother Of Pearl puts it over the top.

― kornrulez6969, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:42 (eighteen years ago)

Tough, indeed--I went with Siren (though Stranded, For Your Pleasure come very close).

― Joe, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:43 (eighteen years ago)

... hmmmm, yes, those are the three I'm struggling over too

― Tom D., Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:45 (eighteen years ago)

For Your Pleasure. No struggle. Especially side two.

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:49 (eighteen years ago)

I went for For Your Pleasure as well, but I could have gone with anything up to Siren really. I might have gone for the 1st album but I think Virginia Plain was added on as a bonus track so I shouldn't really count that towards it?

― Colonel Poo, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:59 (eighteen years ago)

It wasn't added as a bonus track

― Tom D., Tuesday, 24 April 2007 15:59 (eighteen years ago)

though it is a bonus track on the cd

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 16:01 (eighteen years ago)

Was it? Actually, you might be right!

― Tom D., Tuesday, 24 April 2007 16:01 (eighteen years ago)

I always preferred "Pyjamarama" anyway

― Tom D., Tuesday, 24 April 2007 16:02 (eighteen years ago)

For Your Pleasure. No struggle. Especially side ~~two~~ one.

The first five albums are quite an imperial run. If I had to choose, it'd be Stranded. Or Country Life. Actually, my fave Roxy is a C-100 I recorded in 1992 with tracks/singles thru Avalon.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 16:03 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah I meant Virginia Plain was added to the CD version, so not officially part of the album.

― Colonel Poo, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 16:05 (eighteen years ago)

The only thing stopping "For Your Pleasure" from walking it is "The Bogus Man"

― Tom D., Tuesday, 24 April 2007 16:09 (eighteen years ago)

(x-post) "Virginia Plain" has always been on the American LP pressing I grew up with, though. Reminds me I need to finally get this on CD.

And it's the debut I choose, although my actual fave is "Why Do You Think I'm A Funky Chick," a bootleg of the '75 Siren tour.

― Dan Peterson, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 16:12 (eighteen years ago)

Virginia Plane was added to the vinyl really early on.

I'm going with Stranded because I probably listen to that the most, though I'd take just about any Roxy album over pretty much anything else ever!

― dan selzer, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 16:23 (eighteen years ago)

For Your Pleasure, but really any of the first five can take it.

― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 16:25 (eighteen years ago)

avalon is my favourite album ever, so... avalon.

― ☪, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 16:38 (eighteen years ago)

Very tough. I'm going with FYP, but Country Life is close.

― Davey D, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 16:46 (eighteen years ago)

This one IS tough. If we could vote for sides, side one of the debut gets it easily. (And this is the first time I'm hearing that "Virginia Plain" wasn't on every pressing. Did all UK pressings of the debut exclude it?) But in terms of overall album consistency, it's Siren.

Still, is consistency Roxy Music's gift to the world? With Stranded (and the departure of Eno?), the music becomes more streamlined and reliable to the point where it dissipates into the gorgeous yuppiescapes of Avalon. But gone are the proggy cognitive dislocations of the first two albums. And Ferry's vocals grow more and more expressive of whoever he thought he was at the time whereas the way he presses his voice beyond its range on the debut deconstructs the notion of self itself.

So in the interest of deconstructing the notion of the album itself, I'm voting for the debut.

And wasn't there a new Roxy disc a few years back? On Virgin? Gotta give the pervs something to vote for.

― Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 17:34 (eighteen years ago)

The reunion one is a live album idnit?

― C. Grisso/McCain, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 17:38 (eighteen years ago)

They quit on top, "Avalon" being their pinnacle.

― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 18:20 (eighteen years ago)

Followed by "Manifesto" and "Flesh & Blood" btw. Late period Roxy Music was way better than early Roxy Music.

― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 18:21 (eighteen years ago)

toss up b/w the first two for me, first one gets it

― akm, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 18:47 (eighteen years ago)

That was tough for me too. Stranded just edged it out of the 1st five, although Country Life Album cover almost swayed it

― roger whitaker, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 00:47 (eighteen years ago)

This collection is a near perfect primer:
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000002LH2.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_SS500_.jpg

― Spencer Chow, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 00:49 (eighteen years ago)

"The Bogus Man" is the best thing they ever did! (Tom D xpost)

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 06:52 (eighteen years ago)

I have most of these albums but to be honest I just end up going back to the "More Than This" compilation. I know, I know, but a lot of their albums just seem to meander and make me fall asleep (I know this might be the point somehow).

― the next grozart, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 09:48 (eighteen years ago)

i think, maybe, 'country life'

― That one guy that quit, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 09:52 (eighteen years ago)

Where's the "I don't like Roxy Music" option?

― I know, right?, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 11:33 (eighteen years ago)

I voted for Stranded.

― I know, right?, Thursday, 26 April 2007 22:30 (eighteen years ago)

BAN ALL POLLS

― I know, right?, Thursday, 26 April 2007 22:30 (eighteen years ago)

i voted for their debut.

― alex in mainhattan, Thursday, 26 April 2007 23:22 (eighteen years ago)

Happy to see that some people realise "Avalon" is better than their 70s stuff. :)

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 30 April 2007 23:24 (eighteen years ago)

God, how can Flesh + Blood get one vote and Manifesto none?

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 30 April 2007 23:25 (eighteen years ago)

Agreed...Manifesto deserved better. Among their underrated.

― Joe, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 02:10 (eighteen years ago)

Besides the singles Manifesto's got "Still Falls The Rain," "Spin Me Round," "Ain't That So," and the title track. Granted, "Cry Cry Cry" reeks almost as bad as F+B's "Rain Rain Rain," but "Running Wild" ain't no "Spin Me Round."

(I'm always amazed by the fact that Manifesto remains their highest charting U.S. album.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 02:21 (eighteen years ago)

"Same Old Scene" and "Over You" are titanic enough to best anything on Manifesto, but still...

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 02:21 (eighteen years ago)

But I didn't get to vote! :(

I remember seeing the video for Same Old Scene and thinking it was a magnificent song, yes.

― Bimble, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 02:22 (eighteen years ago)

"Same Old Scene" is the history of post-Roxy New Romanticism in three minutes; it's like they recorded their own testament (or epitaph?)

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 02:29 (eighteen years ago)

"Same Old Scene" and "Over You" are titanic enough to best anything on Manifesto, but still..

I think you've answered your question. Though I have a feeling Manifesto is more consistent (and it probably doesn't have any of the extreme lows of Flesh + Blood--which I have to admit I haven't heard in probably 20 years), I don't think there's a single song on that record I love--it all seems kind of blandly consistent. The two songs you mentioned from F+B, though, are indeed pretty great.

Didn't know manifesto was their highest charting, but it kinda makes sense, I think, given when it appeared--by '79 they were new wave legends, they could've released anything and it would've done well on curiosity factor alone.

― sw00ds, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 02:46 (eighteen years ago)

I'm disappointed in the #1 choice, I must say. I mean, I love the album, but it's still the least of their first five for me, with three moments of irritation ("In Every Dream Home," "The Bob," "Bogus Man"). Best inner sleeve photos, though--maybe of any band, ever.

― sw00ds, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 02:50 (eighteen years ago)

I mean "photo" (non-plural). Stared at that thing for eons, growing up.

― sw00ds, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 02:51 (eighteen years ago)

"In Every Dream Home..." actually sounds better NOW than it did then; now that he's become the character he's singing about it's doubly creepy.

remember seeing the video for Same Old Scene and thinking it was a magnificent song, yes

It's got that great shot of Ferry stepping away from his bank of keyboards for a fag, looking diffidently at Manzanera, Mackay, et al.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 02:53 (eighteen years ago)

i voted for FYP but am surprised at the lack of love for Stranded which is almost as good, methinks.

― nonightsweats, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 03:13 (eighteen years ago)

Manifesto is great...the title track is sooo menacing...and you'd think it would get some votes based on all the love Angel Eyes has been getting on the re-edit circuit.

― dan selzer, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 04:53 (eighteen years ago)

the answer is Roxy Music: Early Years. Best of the first 3 albums.

― CaptainLorax, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 08:44 (eighteen years ago)

Predictable winner really. Hoped Country Life would sneak a win though.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 14:52 (eighteen years ago)

two years pass...

sw00ds and I discuss Roxy and Ferry.

― Hell is other people. In an ILE film forum. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 19 January 2010 14:37 (fifteen years ago)

Skipping 32 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Stranded and Country Life are usually my two faves.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 8 May 2017 19:38 (eight years ago)

"Amazona" kicks ass

― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Monday, 8 May 2017 19:52 (eight years ago)

I think Stranded, Country Life and Siren is an excellent run, the peak of their "art rock" years. I'd have considered that run to be their overall peak if they hadn't managed to put together Avalon.

― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Monday, 8 May 2017 20:00 (eight years ago)

Stranded is one of my favorite records by anyone, ever (ok, maybe not "A Song For Europe").

Never got into post-hiatus Roxy. Without Paul Thompson, it just doesn't feel like Roxy (and even then, Manifesto was pretty disappointing).

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 8 May 2017 20:11 (eight years ago)

I'll be the heretic in this thread and say that I prefer "The Thrill Of It All" box set which weeds out the weak material and adds a mess of great non-lp stuff. Of the handful of worthy songs left off the box, I've got them as BBC sessions or as killer live versions from Musikladen TV.

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Monday, 8 May 2017 20:13 (eight years ago)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C4qpWbLWcAA5x43.jpg

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 8 May 2017 20:15 (eight years ago)

i really like manifesto (but i also really like the second side of the first one)

things i did not know abt paul thompson: he played with the angelic upstarts for a while (working with mensi must a be a nice holiday after putting up with ferry)
things i did know abt paul thompson: he is a great drummer

― mark s, Monday, 8 May 2017 20:17 (eight years ago)

'If There Is Something' and 'Amazona' do indeed kick ass. As do 'Mother of Pearl', 'Street Life', 'The Thrill of it All', 'Both Ends Burning', 'Out of the Blue', loads of others...

― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Monday, 8 May 2017 20:19 (eight years ago)

Another thing you may not have known about Paul Thompson: he auditioned for AC/DC when Phil Rudd left or was fired in the early '80s.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 8 May 2017 20:22 (eight years ago)

And he was inexplicably in Concrete Blonde for a while, c. "Joey."

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 8 May 2017 22:06 (eight years ago)

Avalon and Boys and Girls are like a lost double album to me. Together they are extremely strong; stronger than either one on it's own.

― akm, Monday, 8 May 2017 22:18 (eight years ago)

two months pass...

This remix is perfect summer fodder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic4xAuIkoFE

― Paisley Window Pane (Ross), Friday, 14 July 2017 02:06 (eight years ago)

Belatedly joining in with ranking their albums..

1. Stranded
2. Roxy Music
3. Avalon
4. For Your Pleasure
5. Siren
6. Country Life
7. Manifesto

8. Flesh & Blood

― kitchen person, Friday, 14 July 2017 03:19 (eight years ago)

1. Stranded
2. Roxy Music
3. Country Life
4. For Your Pleasure
5. Avalon
6. Siren
7. Manifesto
8. Flesh & Blood

― Paisley Window Pane (Ross), Friday, 14 July 2017 03:29 (eight years ago)

This will always be Avalon ...

― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Friday, 14 July 2017 13:07 (eight years ago)

waht Flesh & Blood is great! "Same Old Scene" is up there with their very best tracks

― André Ryu (Neil S), Friday, 14 July 2017 13:11 (eight years ago)

I agree, it's also a better album than Manifesto ...

― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Friday, 14 July 2017 13:19 (eight years ago)

The Glimmers did a great remix of Same Old Scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YdfyD8U_Fw

― André Ryu (Neil S), Friday, 14 July 2017 13:21 (eight years ago)

Avalon and Boys and Girls are like a lost double album to me. Together they are extremely strong; stronger than either one on it's own.

― akm, Monday, 8 May 2017 22:18 (two months ago) Permalink

This is very, very true.

― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Friday, 14 July 2017 13:22 (eight years ago)

I disagree, I think Avalon is very much the superior record and doesn't need any propping up.

― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Friday, 14 July 2017 13:25 (eight years ago)

This is your opinion. I'm siding with akm as I've always felt these are two very compatible albums that are almost cut from the same cloth.

― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Friday, 14 July 2017 13:28 (eight years ago)

I love the warmth of Manifesto's fusion of L.A. studio rock, disco, and European frostiness, especially on deep cuts like "Ain't That So" and "Still Falls the Rain." "Spin Me Round" is the great lost forlorn Ferry ballad.

Flesh + Blood is by far my least favorite Roxy, but it's so damn top heavy it's hard to notice.

― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 14 July 2017 13:43 (eight years ago)

Roxy Music's worst album is better than most bands best.

― dan selzer, Friday, 14 July 2017 14:23 (eight years ago)

Obviously.

― dan selzer, Friday, 14 July 2017 14:23 (eight years ago)

Stranded
Country Life
Avalon
Siren
For Your Pleasure
Roxy Music
Manifesto
Flesh & Blood

pretty fuckin nuts that an album as good as FYP is only 5th

― voodoo chili, Friday, 14 July 2017 14:27 (eight years ago)

This is your opinion.

Person in "expressing an opinion on music board" shocker! Of course it's my opinion!

(Of course, I won't have to look far for others that share it, but still...)

― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Friday, 14 July 2017 14:31 (eight years ago)

Stranded
Country Life
Siren
Roxy Music
Avalon
For Your Pleasure
Manifesto
Flesh + Blood

― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 14 July 2017 14:34 (eight years ago)

xxpost:

Yeah, Roxy Music up to Siren is an incredible run of music regardless of the order in which the albums are ranked... and Avalon was the best possible note to end things on. I'm glad they continued long enough to make it!

― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Friday, 14 July 2017 14:35 (eight years ago)

two years pass...

The proper order imo.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 10 October 2019 11:26 (six years ago)

Had no idea For Your Pleasure was so highly regarded

― Paul Ponzi, Thursday, 10 October 2019 14:00 (six years ago)

I agree with that grouping. For me FYP is still the best one. I actually have grown to really like both Flesh and Blood and Manifesto; partly because I ignored them for so long that I never really gave them their fair due, and now I'm much less familiar with them.

― akm, Thursday, 10 October 2019 14:33 (six years ago)

I'd probably move Mamouna from "solid" to "great" and move Bete Noir down to "solid" myself.

― akm, Thursday, 10 October 2019 14:33 (six years ago)

I'm on the akm train. Bete Noir is my least favorite of his smoothie session cat records. Also, Bride Stripped Bare has some incredible stuff ("Sign of the Times," "When She Walks In the Room," "This Island Earth") and some blech stuff (mostly the soul stuff: "Hold On I'm Comin'," "Take Me to the River"). I'd swap it with In Your Mind, which has "Tokyo Joe" and "This Is Tomorrow Calling," among other things. And as noted up-thread, Let's Stick Together probably has more tracks I love on it than any other Ferry album, notwithstanding its grab bag nature.

― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 10 October 2019 14:45 (six years ago)

Agree that Stranded is the best one.

― kornrulez6969, Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:09 (six years ago)

i used to think stranded was my favorite, and tho the highs are probably the highest, song for europe and sunset weigh it down a bit. as amazing as they are, avalon is the only truly filler-free roxy music album imo. maybe siren.

― flopsy bird (voodoo chili), Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:18 (six years ago)

"Song For Europe" is a slight slog, but "Sunset" is one of the most perfect album endings by anyone, ever.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:20 (six years ago)

and "filler" isn't even a problem for a band like roxy, which so emphasized mood-creation and experimentation that there are bound to be two or three weird cuts per record. i'm glad that they're there.

― flopsy bird (voodoo chili), Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:20 (six years ago)

There's some missteps but I don't they ever went in for filler, as such.

― Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:21 (six years ago)

"Song For Europe" is a slight slog, but "Sunset" is one of the most perfect album endings by anyone, ever.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, October 10, 2019 10:20 AM (eighteen seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

sunset is a nice comedown from mother of pearl, and definitely works in the context of the album, but i've never had the urge to listen to it by itself.

― flopsy bird (voodoo chili), Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:21 (six years ago)

There's some missteps but I don't they ever went in for filler, as such.

― Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Thursday, October 10, 2019 10:21 AM (twenty seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah, that's why i qualified--failed experiments aren't the same as filler.

― flopsy bird (voodoo chili), Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:22 (six years ago)

F+B's got the filler.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 10 October 2019 15:41 (six years ago)

I love "Song for Europe" with every cell in my body. When Ferry starts singing in French, man, what a warped, emotionally charged, ridiculous and overflowing with europeanness moment.

I, for one, am glad to see some love for Olympia. I can listen to it from beginning to end without a single skip.

― cpl593H, Thursday, 10 October 2019 22:46 (six years ago)

he starts singing in Latin before he switches to French!

― flopsy bird (voodoo chili), Thursday, 10 October 2019 22:52 (six years ago)

It's such a marvelous mess, all of it.

― cpl593H, Friday, 11 October 2019 10:38 (six years ago)

Ferry singing in French reminds me of Kenneth Williams singing Crepe Suzette and I still love it.

― 29 facepalms, Friday, 11 October 2019 10:44 (six years ago)

.. only more camp.

― Michael Oliver of Penge Wins £5 (Tom D.), Friday, 11 October 2019 10:57 (six years ago)

The Pitchfork Sunday review today is 'For Your Pleasure.' Some intriguing points were made concerning connections between British art schools and British art rock. I don't care. The rating score he gave for the album is 9.5. Everybody knows that this is a 10 album, if there is such a thing as a 10 album. It is perfect in every way and one cannot even conceive of how it could be improved upon. So for the love of God, what sort of logic could lead to a 9.5 score? Do I even want to know?

― Migdalia Amygdala (Dr. Joseph A. Ofalt), Sunday, 13 October 2019 23:36 (six years ago)

I'd rate FYP an 8 and I love Ferry more than you love your girlfriend.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 13 October 2019 23:53 (six years ago)

I’m as gay as a unicorn ranch Soto, which reveals the inherent illogic of this discussion so, checkmate Mary!

― Migdalia Amygdala (Dr. Joseph A. Ofalt), Monday, 14 October 2019 00:51 (six years ago)

yeah i don't know, FYP would be a 10 to me. It's one of my favorite albums of all time.

― akm, Monday, 14 October 2019 02:42 (six years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.