Premier Rock Forum

Ha, I think that was the band "Stations"-He said "Bryan Ferry'z a stupid fag" or something, and got kicked out.
I'm glad your session went ok.

Jay

Do it on the tables, Quaglino's place or Mabel's... Tired of the tango, fed up with Fandango... In furs or blue jeans, you know what i mean... We're incognito down the Lido... Had your fill of quadrilles, the madison and cheap thrills... Bored with the beguine, the samba isn't your scene...
Rhododendron is a nice flower (!!!!)

Not crap

"in every dreamhome a heartache".

First 4 albums.

Eno on the first 2.

The cover art.

Bryan Ferry crooning to supremes style psychedelics, Brilliant.

Not Crap.

NO CRAP HERE! GO ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS!

Just listened to For Your Pleasure today in fact.

All I know is the first record, but I think "Virginia Plain" and "Mother of Pearl" are smashing. 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 do not like Roxy Music. I like a few things about them, which I will illuminate:

Eno's synth shit was way fucked up, and interesting in its own right. It can even be appreciated as a foil for the foppish vocalist and the tragically suave music (as if Steely Dan were genuinely interested in all the tranny/drug/psychosis shit they sang about, instead of affecting it to wash off the Bard College jazzbo heritage they actually represent).

Bryan Ferry's voice has a unique lubricating effect on young women. Playing Roxy Music is a pretty good way to get in there, and if i could stand listening to it, I would certainly have used it in this capacity as much as my more letcherous (I'm loathe to call them "sexually successful") friends did.

The saxophone isn't the worst part. This is something of an accomplishment, as I can only think of a couple other cases where this is true.

As soulless, icily cold penthouse music, I suppose you could do worse. It's not for me.

I never understood what was so good about this band. Kind of like my feelings toward Frank Sinatra or the Beatles. What's so good about it? Crap. Maybe if I had more patience....

i think the worst thing about roxy is that they convinced a lot of people that being fake is a great idea and an aesthetic choice that is the equal of genuine expression

being fake is a bad idea and basically always sucks. being 'real' can certainly suck as well, but it's less of a guarantee to suck than fakery.

roxy might seem to be an exception to this rule, but one of the reasons they seemed to be so good at fakery is that, finally, beneath the archness, they were not so fake after all.

you hear the break in ferry's voice in 'do the strand' or his little yodel in 'love is the drug' or his version of 'jealous guy' and the dedication in the playing of the group throughout, and it's clear that they are driven by emotion and strong ideas.

they didn't really let the beating heart show completely and shamelessly until the last couple of records, but all in all the tendency to cloak things a bit worked to their advantage over roxy's long career.

ferry has always known what he can and cannot pull off

he knows he can't match otis redding in the pipes dept., so he takes what he can from him and shadows the rest

he knew he could match anyone in the clothing and haircut dept., so he played that up as much as possible

and thru it all, he knew he could write rings around pretty much any would-be soul men this side of strong/whitfield. therefore, he always, always came through with at least a few great songs on each record.

and all that, combined with an band that is exceedingly well-put-together in all incarnations, is what made it work

tmidgett wrote:he knew he could match anyone in the clothing and haircut dept., so he played that up as much as possible

Oddly enough I was standing in a room with Bryan Ferry a few weeks back and have to say to he was still looking as sauve and well-groomed as he ever did. He does this well.

What I don't like about Bryan Ferry is that whole play-acting at being a toff, when in all honesty he was born to working class family on Tyneside. This toffish affectation spawned a whole decade of skinny-microphoned dull white soul clones, for which I thoroughly despise him. Recently, his son Otis and some his prick mates stormed the House of Commons, mid-session, in a protest over the banning of foxhunting. Bryan's socialite ex-model wife commented to the press:

"It was a political statement. I am very angry and so are thousands and thousands of other people.

"This bill is an attack on the freedom of a minority of people," she said.

"We are disgusted by Mr Blair's lies and we can bring this government down."

Bryan then tried to pay tribute to his son's actions at the Q music awards and got deservedly booed.

Seriously Bryan, have a word with yourself, mate. There is a fucking war going on.

Roxy Music are a frustrating band because you feel that all the right elements are there to make it good, but their faux-blasé loucheness gets in the way. As Steve pointed out, there is a crossover here with people that like Steely Dan. They're shallow.

Avalon can kiss my hairy arse. Crap.

Cranius wrote: As Steve pointed out, there is a crossover here with people that like Steely Dan. They're shallow.

People that like Steely Dan are shallow?

Steely Dan is shallow?

Roxy Music is shallow?

I'm not a big fan of either Roxy or Steely, but neither of these bands are "shallow."

I wouldn't want to make a general statement about all the people that like these bands either.