new introductory bit here.

This is a reviews page based on my own collection, which just keeps growing despite itself. If it isn't listed here, it's because I don't own it yet, or I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Also, bother your local "new rock" radio station and make sure they are playing "new rock" and not "Rock the Casbah," which is not new.

note: entries in red text indicate my pick for the artist's best available album. A gold numeral indicates the POPocalypse winner of the year's best album; second- and third-place winners are in blue. Green lettering indicates an obviously exploitative record company compilation without apparent artist input.

Flatly, frankly and honestly, Roxy Music does not get anywhere near the level of respect due them. When they were at the top of their game, which was most of the time, they were astonishing, trendsetting, influential and experimental. In the end, they were just too weird for America to embrace, an oddball cult act whose mighty British chart presence meant nothing to the world of FM radio.

Bryan Ferry formed the band with Andy Mackay on sax, Paul Thompson on drums and Brian Eno on keyboards, with a rotating series of guitarists and bassits. Eventually, following some stunning BBC sessions and live sets, they settled on Phil Manzanera on guitar and Graham Simpson on bass. Their debut set, Roxy Music, is a critical piece of 1972 glam. It probably didn't change the face of rock like Ziggy Stardust, released the same June, but neither Roxy nor Bowie nor T. Rex would have been absolutely successful in reshaping London for two years without complementing each other with their outrageous clothes and phenomenal presences. The album is certainly dated, but impressive as hell all the same. What faults there are lie in Ferry's casting-about for a voice, marring both "2 HB" and "If There is Something" with vocal hiccups. On the other hand, it's a thunderous musical triumph, and "Re-Make/Re-Model" remains one of my four or five favorite songs ever.

A single, "Virginia Plain," made the top 5 later that year before Simpson left, replaced by "guest bassist" John Porter for their 1973 second album. For Your Pleasure kills any sophomore slump suggestions, being far superior to the first album, and an absolutely triumphant blend of tight rock and experimentation. The vocals and the production are much improved, and the classic tracks "Editions of You" and "Do the Strand" are both fantastic and frantic, sounding exactly like you'd imagine 1973 London would sound. The title track is beautiful and unearthly. The only dud is "In Every Dream Home a Heartache," which is the only really dated song, and one whose punchline I think I've heard too many times. However, as Roxy finished up English and European dates that spring, Eno left the band after personality clashes with Ferry. As Ferry rush-released a solo album, there were many rumors that the band had split, but surprisingly they continued, with Eddie Jobson replacing Eno and John Gustafson replacing Porter, and had a second album out later that year. Nothing on Stranded is quite as great as the highest points of Pleasure, but the overall average of the remaining songs seems to be a bit higher. Key tracks include "Street Life" (top 10 that December), the magnificent "Song for Europe" and the shoulda-been single "Serenade." It also includes the breathtaking "Mother of Pearl," which changes tempo so effectively that a generation of punks elected to emulate it later in life, and which encapsulates Ferry's aloof, pained artiste persona so damn well that had he closed his career here, his genius would be spoken of by every man with a record player.

American success completely eluded the band, however. Roxy's blend of synthesized future noises, outlandish costumes, ironic detachment and art history was far beyond the sensibilities of American deejays, and a catastrophic US tour opening for such unsuitable acts as Humble Pie, Ten Years After and Edgar Winter took them to cities like Chattanooga, Wheeling and Augusta, none of which would know a Tate Gallery if it dropped in their downtown. Surprisingly then, it was art that broke the band in the US. Roxy's album sleeves contained stunning gatefold shots of beautiful, sexy women. (Well, that was the intent. I don't find any but Pleasure notable in that regard.) For the fourth album, Country Life, the band issued a sleeve of two near-nude women in the foliage that remains jaw-dropping to this day, and the resulting furor -- not the radio play -- drove sales into the top 40 before a censored sleeve was issued. Those who persevered with the album, made with the same lineup as Stranded, found an album almost as good as that record. The tone is louder, the lyrics more biting, caustic and personal, and yet the feeling is slightly more conventional in terms of production and verse-chorus-verse structure. The classic "All I Want is You" was their first relase to miss the UK top 10 (landing at #12), and the album quickly fell down the British chart. Meanwhile, Ferry found himself the constantly-commented-upon subject of the British society pages, earning the contempt of the music press, which only a year before praised his every tune.

Gustafson left the band briefly, and they recruited King Crimson's John Wetton for a tour before reconvening with Gustafson for new studio sessions. The people at Rolling Stone used to always single out 1975's Siren album as their best, but unfortunately, despite its charms, it is a major letdown, without any of the innovation we'd seen before. The only really great songs ("Love is the Drug" and "Both Ends Burning") were pulled as singles. "Love is the Drug," a stomping moment of disco funk which burned up the charts worldwide, is probably the band's signature song. The others suffer from poor arrangements, and a tone more in keeping with what other people were doing on the charts in 1975. There's nothing new on Siren, and some of Ferry's lyrics are his best ever, but the production and arrangements ensured much that disappoints. Gustafson again left before the tour, and Rick Wills joined them on the road, along with a dreadful pair of backup singers called the Sirens, before the band split up in the spring of 1976.

Later that year, a live album called Viva! Roxy Music was released, featuring material recorded over the last three tours and overseen by Manzanera, who apparently did some remix and overdubbing work. Some of Viva! is quite good, notably a ten minute stomp through "If There is Something" highlighted by Eddie Jobson's violin, but some of it's quite terrible, notably Ferry's weird vocal inflections in "The Bogus Man" and the truly painful rendition of "Both Ends Burning," which starts fine but is ruined by the intrusive tone-deaf whining of the Sirens mentioned above.

Roxy had been away for four years between studio records -- an eternity by 1970s standards. After Ferry's solo career had fizzled away (for a British innovator to go all bloated California-lazy was a bad move in the wake of punk), expectations were very high for their '79 reunion, and for the most part Manifesto is very successful. The new bassist for the album was Gary Tibbs, and Jobson's contributions were split between Ferry and Paul Carrack. The album's title track and "Stronger Through the Years," among others, show the band returning to their earlier, innovative prowess, but they chart new ground with simpler, adult pop like "Dance Away" (a huge UK hit) and "Angel Eyes." On the other hand, the success of this simpler material gave Ferry more of a groove to slide into, much to the distaste of critics who have exclusively favored his experimental side.

By Flesh + Blood, the band had been pared down to a core of Ferry, Mackay and Manzanera, with session musicians augmenting their sound. Sadly, that sound is very similar to the second side of Manifesto, featuring uncomplicated new wave pop. It was another successful UK #1 for the band, and featured the top 5 singles "Over You" and "Oh Yeah (on the Radio)," but the overall impression was that Roxy simply wasn't trying as hard as it could. While it stayed on the UK chart for a stunning 60 weeks, this is generally regarded as their poorest LP.

Following the 1981 #1 single "Jealous Guy," Roxy slid into the history books with their lanquid, lazy and beautiful 1982 swan song, Avalon. It features eight vocal tracks and two brief instrumentals, and most of the vocal songs are not among their best, although "More Than This" has certainly stood the test of time and the overall average is much higher than what the previous album offered.

Roxy finally called it a day in the spring of 1983 after a US tour, and Ferry restarted his solo career, with considerably better artistic success than he'd found in the mid-70s. The band reformed in early 2001 for an eagerly anticipated tour.

ROXY MUSIC: Heart Still Beating (1990, **)
Apparently recorded in France on their '82 tour (although it may actually have been Scotland), this document is a far better album than the earlier live Roxy release. On the other hand, the band doesn't try anything too experimental or weird, sticking to verbatim readings of what they had done in the studio. It features a cover of Neil Young's "Like a Hurricane" that doesn't shame the original at all.

ROXY MUSIC: "Love is the Drug" CD single (1990)
This features workmanlike live versions of the lead and "Editions of You" (both from Heart Still Beating) and "Do the Strand," which was omitted from the LP.

ROXY MUSIC: Song for Europe (Oakland, 4/20/79, 1990, Great Dane)
A reasonably common Italian boot of a decent performance(misidentified as April 4), but honestly it is not the best of the very good Manifesto tour shows. From a very good quality FM broadcast.