SecondEdition wrote:I, for one, think "Grey Lagoons" is one hell of an underrated song.

I love Grey Lagoons.

Also:

And fag or no fag, Bryan Ferry's covers of "Walk a Mile in My Shoes" and "A Hard Rain's a-gonna Fall" are damn near definitive--and I'm totally devoted to both originals.

I'm reminded just now: Jealous Guy. Great versions of Jealous Guy, both live and recorded.

There is a ton of primo Roxy Music footage on Youtube.

Take a look:

Ladytron, Old Grey Whistle Test 1972
Virginia Plain, Top of the Pops 1972
Grey Lagoons, live 1972 (Eno murders the harmonies a bit)
Do The Strand, live 1973, I think
In Every Dream Home A Heartache, live 1973
Re-Make/Re-Model, live 1973
Editions of You, live 1973

In all of them, the outfits are beyond belief (thinking particularly of Andy Mackay's lurex green Count Chocula getup, Ferry's spangly burgundy-and-epaulets uniform, whatever kind of leotard thing Paul Thompson squeezed himself into, and...well, anything Eno's wearing...he's winning first prize in every one of these videos), the music, especially in the '73 videos, has a very punkish drive, and the tension between Ferry and Eno is noticeable in almost every one of them.

Great, great viewing.

ERawk wrote:Thanks, SE.

One of my favorite bands when I was in undergrad. I thought I was the only person in the world who thought that Siren and Country Life were better overall albums than Roxy Music and For Your Pleasure (I've warmed up to Stranded recently). Nice to see I have company. All of my other friends into them claimed that Roxy began and ended with Eno.

I got the feeling they were trying too hard to impress people with "their superior music taste". To back up Edward, I listen to Siren and Taking Tiger Mountain a hell of a lot more than the first two RM albums.

I listened to "Mother of Pearl" about ten times in a row at work a few weeks ago.

I came to Roxy Music through Eno's solo albums - I think a lot of people do nowadays, and so they want to hear as much Eno as possible. I still haven't gotten any of the other Roxy Music albums yet, but I want to: since a lot of people who've reviewed Roxy's entire catalog say they got better after Eno left. (Ferry apparently said once that, in retrospect, he wished that they'd kept Eno around and hired Jobson as well. That would have been interesting.)

The thing that these videos make apparent, for me, was the kind of stage dynamic Roxy had with Eno - the contrast between Suave Smoothie Ferry and Transsexual Techie Eno was just bizarre. What were these guys in the same room, much less in the same band? Toss in whatever Andy Mackay and Phil Manzanera were supposed to be and it just becomes such a ridiculously entertaining show.

Oh yeah, does anyone else think that Paul Thompson gets passed over on those "Great Drummers" lists way too much?

I'm starting to. The guy is incredibly solid and has such a great sense of timing. I really like his drumming.

ERawk wrote:I heard Roxy before the Eno solo albums, but I can see how other people experience being exposed the other way around.

Middle period Roxy is not as weird as some of the earlier stuff but more consistent album content-wise, IMO. I hardly skip songs on Country Life and Siren but always do on the Eno ones.

Later stuff gets a bit on the 80s slick side. If you can get past it (80s production), Avalon has some really pretty, lush moments.

Oh yeah, you know that Bananarama was partially named after "Pyjamarama", right?

I think that I'm probably going to try and get Stranded next. That one is supposed to be great and consistent - while I love many of the songs on the Eno albums, I do agree that they aren't consistently good all the way through.

If only Bananarama had been a tenth as listenable as "Pyjamarama" is. And the funny thing is, "Pyjamarama" isn't all that great of a song. I don't know why it was chosen as a single. (Though those massive guitar chords at the beginning are pretty spectacular.)

Funny fact: Apparently the Nice's guitarist, Davey O'List, who was the original guitarist before Phil Manzanera (Manzanera failed the audition, and was originally the road manager and assistant sound mix engineer! talk about a promotion), had a lot of input on shaping the songs on the first album, before he was asked to leave and before he'd recorded a note with the band. Sucks to be him...

ERawk wrote:I listened to "Mother of Pearl" about ten times in a row at work a few weeks ago.

OK - I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE, THEN... (relief.)

Captain's Log: Sat Dec 15, 2007:

Arson Smith wrote:Last night I listened to Roxy Music "Mother of Pearl" over and over until finally my car said "Enough." and crashed itself a little.

ERawk wrote:Later stuff gets a bit on the 80s slick side. If you can get past it (80s production), Avalon has some really pretty, lush moments.

I love Avalon, including the sound of it.

Flesh+Blood is like a demo record for Avalon. Still good, but transitional.

I think I am more inclined to like Roxy Music's ballads than the more upbeat numbers like "Do the Strand," which I don't like.

BER, I F part of Y P.

I thought I was the only person in the world who thought that Siren and Country Life were better overall albums than Roxy Music and For Your Pleasure (I've warmed up to Stranded recently).

No, you're not. You see. I vote for Country Life.

I love Avalon, including the sound of it.

Me too. I had to do this again. Almost like MES.

SecondEdition wrote:Re-Make/Re-Model, live 1973

That audience sucks at listening to music. Squares.

Not unknown Roxyfact: The girl in the black knickers on the front of Country Life is the sister of Can's Michael Karoli.

One of my favourite memories from recent times is drunkenly fogging up a friend's front room with a borrowed smoke machine and smooching with ma femme to Dance Away.

NC.

cjh wrote:Not unknown Roxyfact: The girl in the black knickers on the front of Country Life is the sister of Can's Michael Karoli.

and Good God, she is ogly.

Things that make me go "blleeehhhhhhh."

I thought karoli's sister was the one whose nips you could see.