What do you consider to be their best album?

I've only recently gotten into them and so far I think It's Avalon but I also love For Your Pleasure.

I also have Stranded which I think is great and there first album which has some great moments but on the whole I'm not as impressed with.

Which should Iget next. I'm thinking of picking up Siren because I love the Jerry Hall cover and I think Love is the drug is agreat song.

Romeoblu said:

You're off to a great start! Other than the ones you mentioned owning, "Siren" is definitely the best of what's left.

I would say For Your Pleasure.

Romeoblu said:

Get Siren a little way down the road. It's good, but it's not their best "First Era (1972-1976 - they took a three year break when punk broke, but not because of that).

You sound like you prefer the "Second Era" (1979-1982), which everyone remembers for "Avalon". I don't. The best album they made in that time - and all three are good - was Manifesto. It's close to the most musically diverse album they ever made, bridging the gap between their early sound and the direction they would follow afterwards. It's an album of two halves. The first has a distinctly European feel (the title track is a krautrock tribute, the second a sideways glance to "new wave"). The second side is poppier. It has Angel Eyes and Dance Away on it.

If you don't like Stranded or the debut, then you might find For Your Pleasure tough going. It's more polished than the debut, but not as slick as Stranded. In which case buy Siren, then Country Life. Siren isn't quite up there with the first four albums, although it has Sentimental Fool, Both Ends Burning and, of course, Love Is The Drug on it.

Bear in mind that Roxy Music have never released a bad album to date.

Bryan Ferry's latest album - Dylanesque (all Dylan covers) - is pretty damn good too, although it gets a bit pedestrian towards the end.
[Edited 2/27/07 12:44pm]
[Edited 2/27/07 13:57pm]

Shapeshifter said:

I think you mean Siren and not Stranded.

And I would argue that Siren is better than Country Life, but not as interesting as the first 3.

Damosuzuki is the biggest defender of it around here, although I love it quite a bit too.

Based on past posts, i'm guessing that many hardcore fans will barf at this suggestion...



...but I think Avalon is a great album.


Incredibly well produced (the very reason some will dislike it) and romantic record.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

GangstaFam said:

Yes, I meant Siren not Stranded. Corrected.

Country Life is a superb album. Not a bad song on there. The Thrill of it all, All I Want Is You, Out of the Blue, Triptych, Prairie Rose, Casanova ... You can't argue with those at all. Siren sounds a tad tired, like Ferry was coming to his end of his creative tether a bit.

I'll happily argue with Mr Suzuki over Siren vs Country Life, although, of their early albums, I rate the first two highest of all. Funny how none of them have dated one bit.

theAudience said:

It's a timeless album.
[Edited 2/27/07 13:56pm]

Shapeshifter said:

I liked the first 2 best also until I heard Stranded.

They certainly have a varied catalogue, and I find that I like each of their 8 studio albums. You already own my 4 favorites (the first 3 and Avalon), but of those that remain, I agree that Siren is the next best bet.

I don't think you'll find many fans who loathe a particular album. I say get 'em all.

Definately Avalon!
It was either released 5 - 10 years to early or it's such a good album that it still sounds contemporary!
Lack of Bass gives me the shits though!

GangstaFam said:

I do love Country Life - I think we butted heads over the fact that I prefer it above the first two albums - but Siren is my favourite Roxy album, and it's the one that I'd recommend as well.

I know everybody loves the first two Roxy albums, but I still kinda see them as slightly sketchy templates for the sound they perfected on albums three through five, which I think are all excellent.

damosuzuki said:

The million dollar question is .... What do you think of Manifesto?

Shapeshifter said:

I can't really pass judgement on it, as I've only heard the entire record once or twice and that was at least fifteen years ago. I know I wasn't thrilled with it at the time except for Dance Away. I never went back to it because I'd always heard that Manifesto and Flesh & Blood were held by most as being fairly weak.

What do you think of Flesh & Blood? It's reputation is pretty wobbly...

damosuzuki said:

Half of Flesh & Blood is superb - Same Old Scene, Oh Yeah, Over You, My Only Love, Flesh & Blood - but there are two dreadful covers on it and a couple of filler songs.

Revisit Manifesto. The title track alone should put a smile on your face - all that looming menace, Chic meets Can, and those wonderful lyrics. It's a damn fine album, truly. Their most underrated.

The first 5 albums are all classics, but those are all I can attest to.

Apparently, I need to check out Manifesto!

Country Life versus Siren: I have to go with the former.

'Grey Lagoons' from the 2nd album is one of my all-time favorite tunes.

Enjoy delving into this band!

And What Bryan Ferry's Solo stuff?

I've got Eno's Here come the warm Jets. I've had that for a few years and love it.
[Edited 3/1/07 11:19am]

PeteZarustica said:

Yes, you do need to check out Manifesto. If you love the first five albums and are even on nodding terms with Avalon, you'll find that Manifesto is a transitional album, using elements from the first five albums but updating them with disco idioms. You can hear Ferry's voice changing to its now familiar lower register croon too (although that had already become evident on his solo album, The Bride Stripped Bare - blame heartbreak and the mountains of cocaine he was doing then).

Unlike most transitional albums, Manifesto is practically an unqualified success. I hugely recommend it. It might take you a while to get into, because the styles do shift around - funky krautrock for the opening track, new wave for the second, straight ahead disco-rock for the third (angel Eyes, which they re-recorded with a Morodoresque drum machine and scored a huge hit single with), then back to their old sound with Stronger Through The Years. The second half is more consistent - a lot poppier, but there's a loneliness and bruised anger at the heart of it.

I originally bought the album on vinyl in 1979 (one of the first ten albums I bought), anfd it was divided into an East Side (the first) and a West Side (the second). This basically meant European and American sides. If you listen to it with that in mind, the album makes perfect sense.

Romeoblu said:

Well, I love all of Ferry's solo albums - although In Your Mind a lot less than the others.

My favourite is probably The Bride Stripped Bare, although it's not his most accessible album. It's his break-up with Jerry Hall album, and deeply unhappy it is too. You can almost sense Ferry wanting to snap and seriously start smashing things up on some tracks.

The first three are essentially albums of cover versions - widescreen, orchestral takes on Dylan, The Beach Boys, Sam Cooke et al. The third olo album - Let's Stick Together - has re-recorded versions of Roxy Music songs on there too. Not as good as the originals.

Of the post-Roxy solo albums, I'd suggest you start with what is arguably his best solo album - Frantic. Then you can go back and delve into the delights of Boys And Girls (very good), Bete Noire (good, but a bit too similar to B & G - plus he wasn't happy with it; management and then label problems intruded), Taxi (more cover versions - superb), Mamouna (despite what you might hear about this, it's great - similar to the trademark sound he'd established with Boys & Girls and Bete Noire, but the songs are stronger, overall). The one to leave until last is As Time Goes By. It's another covers album, this time of standards, done 1940s style (mostly). It's more an exercise in style, but what style!

Now, if you want some Eno pointers .... If you liked Warm Jets, get Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy, Before & After Science and Another Green World. They're all vocal albums (as opposed to the ambient ones he'd become famous for). Another Green World is an antecedent to Bowie's Low, in that it's half instrumental.

Shapeshifter said:

I'm not quite as enthusiastic as you are, but I do think Ferry's solo albums get overlooked. They're mostly excellent - in particular I like the first three albums, and I think they nicely complement the concurrent Roxy records.

Bete Noire, B&G and Taxi are all really fine records that follow the Avalon template quite nicely. I've never heard Mamouna, but your description will likely lead me to seek it out. i have to admit sir, you always make me re-think records that I'd dismissed years ago as not worth hearing. I'll dig Manifesto out of storage this weekend and give it a spin.

For your pleasure is easily the best Roxy album, it's got everything you want, teen-angst, synth, phasing, Brian Eno, weird instrumentation... it's a heavy heavy record

damosuzuki said:

I have a bootleg of "Horoscope" - an early version of "Mamouna" - which has a couple of great unreleased songs on it. It also, unfortunately, has a version of Mother of Pearl on it, done Bete Noire style, which is unnecessary, to say the least. You can't top the original.

I recommend Ferry's new album of Dylan covers - "Dylanesque". The first half is superb, then it gets a bit pedestrian.