Roxy With Moxey

When I first heard Roxy Music as a teenager on a radio show that used be on Sunday nights I was not quite sure what to think.  I knew this was from a different time, but it sounded futuristic with those space type treatments that Brian Eno made.  It did sound cool I give it that.  What was just as cool was the voice of one Bryan Ferry.  He fit the band like a glove and I could not get over his swooning vocals along with all the chaos going on around him.  The whole band was a interesting twist of Glam, Progressive Rock and Art Rock.

When I heard the two songs on the radio show I had to get more of their music.  It was my mission to get all their music.  It took a while but I found a few their albums at the local record store.  The cover had attractive women on the front that would either get your attention or pass it by as some kind of fad or gimmick.  I picked them up anyway.  When I came home with their album For Your Pleasure my dad thought I was trying to sneak in some nudie magazine.  It was a challenge, but then agin the band was just as much as a challenge to listen to.  My dad being a fan of the saxophone he heard things he never heard hearing Roxy Music and surprisingly he liked it.

When I heard them again on the radio they were far different from this raw Glam Rock sound.  It was the 1982 song "More Than This" that they abandoned their Glam Rock roots for a slicker and 80's Rock band sound.  It was good, but a far cry from the cool sound I loved.  Bryan Ferry ditched his crooning sound for a polished sound that ultimately ended the band.  Sure, they adapted to the time of the late 70's and early 80's, but it was not the raw sound and the great Phil Manzanera solo's and twists that were so evident in the early albums that I loved.  Also gone was the adornment of the lovely ladies on the front of the albums.

When I re listened to the early Roxy Music I was in awe how they really fun and different they were to the rest of it's musical style.  It was Phil's guitar playing, and also Brian Eno's work on the first two that were the bee's knees.  The music on the first was very fresh to my ears and what I loved about it was that they were open to many different styles of music besides the ones I mentioned.  As Allmusic pointed out, they were adventurous and full of imagination and it all worked.  Beside the first which I'm talking about here, you can make a case for any of the first four as quite fun to listen to.  I liked all their music, but I keep going back to the early albums as I shake my head and love every breathtaking moment they put to each song on the albums.

I love Roxy Music from day one of listening.  It was really hard to pick one of the other for my first post about them, but their first is amazing.  Each song has a creative catch of being different from it's glam predecessors and hearing Ferry's awesome vocals, Eno's "treatments" or Manzanera's guitar and Mackay's sax work, it was all unique and fun.  I really liked what they presented to the listener.  If you start with Roxy, start here.  It's in a nice package at 45 minutes and also quite unique.  It has you scratching your head for more and more.  Enjoy!