The east side is very good on manifesto but i don't like the west side. 'Stronger through the years 'is one of the best songs they did. Manifesto and flesh and blood are the joint worst albums. Flesh and blood is over produced but with some great singles but has a lot of filler though.
8. Flesh & Blood 7. Manifesto 6. Avalon 5. Siren 4. Country Life 3. Stranded 2. Roxy Music 1. For Your Pleasure Agree with you on Prairie Rose very underrated. Shout out to Viva particularly for If There Is Something, my favourite Roxy tune of all time.
Viva is a great live album. What do you make of Both Ends Burning live with the screeching background vocals. I have always wanted to ask someone that. My friends don't listen to Roxy Music, unfortunately.
I became deaf (motorcycle accident ) in '78 at the age of 18. In 2001, I got a cochlear implant in my right ear, and 15 years later, my left ear got implanted. First thing I did when I could hear was listen to music: Pink Floyd and Roxy Music, most of the time. Music I knew, I heard and understood the best, including the words (whereas understanding speech when people talked to me took a a few years). I LOVE ROXY MUSIC! Manifesto came out after I went deaf, but when I heard it the first time, I had no problem understanding it. Not so Flesh & Blood, and Avalon: those 2 albums I had to listen to 50 times each to understand them, they are so different. But I love everything Roxy Music (and Bryan Ferry solo, Phil's solo albums), and those 23 years deaf make it impossible for me to pick favorite albums. I just do the sensible thing and listen to Roxy on my ipod in the shuffle mode most days. I do have favorite songs, though: If there is something (I love Bryan's voice on the first album, but the song on Viva album is sooooo beautiful) 2HB. Strictly Confidential Grey Lagoons A song for Europe Mother of pearl The thrill of it all A really good time Sentimental fool Both ends burning Manifesto Stronger through the years My only love Over you Avalon True to life.
@@classicalbum It was music that I missed the most during my deaf years, but most of what I remembered at the time I got the implant was just snipets of songs -just try and remember all of Floyd's ECHOES! But once I started hearing music, it all came flooding back. I've got 13,547 songs on my ipod, and I listen to a lot of music. Surprisingly, I listen to very little of today's music, unless it's rock. I have no desire to listen to Justin Beiber and the like. I've only heard 1 Madonna song (I think). When I bluetooth my ipod, the sound doesn't come from a speaker in the headphones, but is inside my ear via the implant: Best way to REALLY hear music! With 3 settings on the dial, I prefer music to be just that, no outside sound. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some music to listen to.
I find myself agreeing with all your song choices, including your remarks about If There Is Something. Mr. Ferry's vocals on the first album are another galaxy. Not proficient as in the sense of a high level singer, but how he transferred the emotions into his voice ... outstanding.
I'm sorry... "Stranded" is the best album thru and thru. Every song. I love the sound of their first four albums. I was 16 in '74 going to pick up my date listening to Mother Of Pearl, immediately I was hooked. Way ahead of their time and yet so listenable.
I agree. "Stranded" is a work of pure genius. "For your pleasure" has just a bit too much noodling for me. Both released in 1973! 1 Stranded 2 Siren 3 For Your Pleasure 4 Country Life 5 First album 6 Manifesto 7 Avalon (mild green Ferry liquid) 8 Flesh and Blood
Top 5 1 For your pleasure 2 Roxy music 3 Country life 4 Stranded 5 Siren If Stranded had a better song than Psalm it would be top 3,i think it's prob the worst Roxy song ever
I personally adore their debut record. My invitation card was, as for most, For Your Pleasure, which is alsmost as good, but Roxy Music just feels so special to me. The arrangements, the genres fusing one with another seamlessly, Ferry's beautiful voice with poetry, everything seems to come together. I can surely say that FYP is more consistent as an album, but I can't help bot love every song on the debut. Especially Sea Breezes, which is my favorite Roxy song period. Anyways, nice list. The band also went nuts live. This seems to be overlooked, but some of their live perforances even top their studio recordings (e.g. Out of the Blue). Viva! is a particularly great album at that.
"Ladies and gentlemen, FOR YOUR PLEASURE, the second Roxy Music album..." You pretty much nail it with each video, but this one is spot on for me. I have listed FOR YOUR PLEASURE as one of my all-time favorite albums for many, many years, since I made a habit of playing STRAND and DREAM HOME on the radio back in the 70s. Thanks for your work. And never forget: "...deluxe and delightful..." and "...do the Strandski..."
I get that, but it's sad. I recall girls I knew as a child who gave the same review to the Beatles when they became truly great, but were no longer their beloved mop tops. And how could one claim only one given Bowie, at the expense of other brilliant records? I love early Roxy, but Avalon is a sublime masterpiece and my unquestionable favorite.
@@nolongerthere It's typical ' Supermarket Shopping Aisle ' music though .... the polar opposite of everything Roxy was, in those innovative early days. Records like Avalon can be made by any half decent band - no originality required. It signalled the end for Roxy, as it had become the Bryan Ferry Backing Band, but hey ...they made a lot of money from those last 3 commercial albums, so Ferry n' the band would surely say that these elevator music albums set them up for life ...
@@dirktaylor5484 There is a lot of music I feel that way about; it's a matter of taste, as we all know, and we're all entitled to voice our opinions to groups in open forums, erroneous as our blanket dismissive statements may be. However, the higher road for a music fan is to practice a measure of restraint in direct responses to specific individuals expressing their love for said music.
Great video. Roxy is definitely underappreciated here in the states. I agree with you on "If There Is Something" as being perhaps their best song. In fact, it might be my all-time favorite song by any artist and I find that the live version on "Viva!" is especially moving. I tried for a couple of years to get my wife into Roxy and she never quite understood them until she saw the movies "Flashbacks of a Fool" and "Lost In Translation." After that, she finally came around.
Funnily enough, I have some wonderful acid related memories from way back when, Country Life, Stranded, Viva, For Your Pleasure and the Eponymous! Smiling at the memories!
Don't know if "Worst" applies to any Roxy album... Not for me anyway but it was great seeing you go through these and seeing what you liked about the albums. I think any lists are difficult and I doubt if anyone would agree completely on anything but that is actually the beauty of it all. You take from it what you will and certain things hit home for you more than maybe someone else. That is why it's interesting to hear someone else's point of view of material that you love - you will likely discover something new or look at the material from a different angle or just simply gain more appreciation. I can't bring myself to line the albums up in this way. I love all of these albums, some more than others but to me, the strongest, most cohesive albums are Country Life, Stranded, Siren and Avalon. As for individual tunes, the first song that reeled me in was In Every Dream Home a Heartache. After that, the ones that really pulled me in and got me hooked were Remake Remodel, Editions of You and Street Life. BTW, the live version of If There is Something off of Viva blew my mind and blows away the album version. Viva sealed the deal for me. I had to get EVERYTHING after that!
Roxy Music played their first U.S. gig in Cleveland Ohio and became a cult hit, garnering a lot of radio airplay on our big FM station WMMS and leaving a deep imprint on Cleveland's local underground music scene. I vividly remember Crocus Behemoth (later front man for Rocket From The Tombs and Pere Ubu) absolutely RAVING about the first album back when he was a writer for Cleveland Scene magazine.
So glad to see you put for your pleasure as number one. That is their best album. That record is amazing in every dream home a hardache is an amazing track way ahead of its time.
Well done Barry for doing this video of a great and influential band that hardly gets a mention when others(Not as good as you) are ranking artists or songs on TH-cam. I have to agree with you and say that For Your Pleasure is their best album but my favourite song of theirs is on: Country Life and that is the brilliant: Out Of The Blue. I also love all of Bryan Ferry's solo work and for me he's the only artist that can make a cover sound better than the original.
“Manifesto”, the title track is brilliant as is “Stronger Through The Years” and it is better than “Flesh + Blood” on my list and “Country Life” rates much higher up for me.
Saw Roxy Music on the Midnight Special when they were promoting the Country Life album. I later went to the mall and purchased it at the Record Bar. This is the Roxy Music I fell in love with and played the crap out of that record. Later on in life I collected the rest of they're catalog of music. And yes all very good albums. But I have to hold Country life as my fave. and the most complete sounding and the most balanced.
I am a Roxy Music fan since their first two singles in 1972 that were not on the first album and I enjoyed all of their releases. There is no bad one, even the polished "commercial" late albums stand high above anything else released in that genre. The band was always unique and if I rank the albums in the order of their appearance that does not really imply a steep downward slope. If you take 8 steps down from that sensational first album you are still more than eight miles high... Apart from Eno, who is of course a genius in a class of his own, there are also many good albums from Ferry and especially from Phil Manzanera (Diamond Head, the 801 albums, etc).
God I love Trash! It's their Punk song! Nice that Siren is highly placed, Brian has so much fun with his vocals on that one. Beautiful review of their debut!
Have you worked in music journalism?? Your not just "some dude" on you tube this is the most in depth stuff I've heard,it's next level ... i'd say "liked and subbed" but I already did that way back, superb stuff!!! ,Max, Liverpool 😁👍
I've not worked in music journalism - my specialty is English lit. I bring close reading techniques and my obsession with rock music to these videos. They go quite well together.
Sure, after Siren Roxy Music became totally different from the earlier Roxy Music. But I understand there has to be a development, you can't keep on always doing the same unless your name is Engelbert. I also understand that artists want to play for an audience, not for the thumbs-up of critics only. However, Avalon is a milestone as a pop album, and at that time a high level aural-paradise to our ears. It is quality through and through. It deserves the same level of recognition as the first 4 RM albums. If only more commercial music was as innovative as Avalon was in 1982. To my opinion Roxy Music delivered. 2 of the best progressive Art-Rock albums ever, one of the best Pop Albums ever, and from 8 released works 6 excellent. Plus, their life album Viva is one of the best life albums ever. BTW. If I took the 4 pre 90's Bryan Ferry albums In Your Mind, The Bride Stripped Bare, Boys and Girls, and Bête Noir, and cut off their slack, it would result in another two high level pop albums.
Barry, you have the Top 3 in perfect order as far as I'm concerned. After those musically intense masterworks with their exquisitely crafted lyrics, the other albums appear thin and much less imaginative, though of course there are some catchy moments here and there.
Roxy Music is the greatest British band of all time, all the best bands have been influenced by them over the years, and as usual they never get talked about or heard of in the UK, thank you for making this video.
I see Roxy as two bands. The great art rock band captured on the first four. Then the classy pop band that I feel started from Siren onwards. The art rock band is much more me. As for the order, I tend to listen to all four in chronological order when I'm in the mood. I rate all four at 9/10. My only 10/10 was a 1976 compilation called greatest hits which did an excellent job of picking the very best from these four albums plus the two hits from Siren. Roxy are also on my list of "bands who should have a great live album but don't". Viva shows great promise but it's just too short.
Great point--the long-out-of-print Greatest Hits you mention is a perfect album. You're right--Viva should be a lot better (the sound is dodgy and why isn't it a double?).
County Life for me and not just for the sublime cover. Out of the Blue is the 24 carat diamond as sharp, shining,, and and soaring into the heavens as it reaches an out of this world climax. Every cut on this album were so finely executed with just the right about of nuance to underscore what lived behind the gates of a Country Life. That's my take
@@cal59uk1 The way I put 'Out of the Blue' onto a Cassette tape in '84 was (for this non-techie) inspired engineering-enhanced audio joy. Using a friend's vinyl stereo with amazing JB speakers I gradually turn up the soaring violin-tinged close (what is it...35 seconds?) until it was at 'full blast' by the tune's climax. Then popping the cassette into my car's player...WOW...in a 'remake/remodel' of the song I had the opus S-C-R-E-A-M-I-N-G at me (like a Beatles crowd circa '63) in a blistering ear bath I still have to recreate now & again. Best song by best band ever
There are some very subjective reviews tending to a style of music but you are like me liking many genres of music and not be stuck on one. You are very objective and study well the difference of songs and albums. Bravo
Great list and video! Here's mine. 1.) For Your Pleasure 2.) Country Life 3.) Stranded 4.) Siren 5.) Roxy Music 6.) Avalon 7.) Manifesto 8.) Flesh + Blood
I enjoyed this video, my no1 has to be the Roxy Music album. When the first album came out it sounded so avant garde, it was a truly great record, 'still play it today.
Smart appraisal man. These albums are so important and measure my passage from early teenhood onward. Iremember an article in which Eno referred to Ferry as "blank frank" and recognised this as a kind of contempt for the popular. Anyway, an interesting listen, Rare to listen all the way thru a video these days-a non patronising, Well done!
They're my third favorite band of all time. They were like a combination of my first two favorite bands, The Beatles and King Crimson. Glad you mentioned "Prairie Rose". My favorite Roxy Music song.
Cracking review as usual Barry. I thought at first you'd missed some albums, but realised they were the live discs. So, not many recordings from one of the greatest bands to come out of the 70s, but what a body of work it is. That's a very perceptive comment about Roxy prefiguring the New Romantic movement by nearly ten years; and I love your reference to under the counter inflatables ! They never made a bad album and Ferry has gone on to release many excellent solo works. His Bob Dylan tribute album was a real standout. The first two Roxy discs in those wonderful glamour covers still sound modern and challenging nearly fifty years later. They still inspire me.
I think its kind of sad just how underestimated Ferry is as both a singer, who like so few others of his generation knows how to find the inner heart of a song - much like (but not at the godly level) say, Billie Holliday. Even things like "in Every dream home..." and as a songwriter who just knows how to craft a damn good pop song and if necessary, mangle it beyond recognition. He really deserves more recognition for that, so its nice to see an understanding review.
@@shanewright2772 Couldn't agree more Shane. Everything he touches seems to come off. I suppose it's great taste and musical intelligence. He doesn't get the recognition that Bowie gets but that early Roxy stuff was just as creative and artistic, musically and lyrically. He's a wonderful modern crooner as well, and can front a jazz orchestra or string quartet as well as he can a rock band. Maybe Barry could do something on the site that does full justice to Bryan's talent.
Id really love to see you cover Brian enos solo albums at some point. If not his whole catalogue, a look into "here come the warm jets", and "taking tiger mountain by strategy" would be great.
a spectacular effort. I am not one to normally recommend live recordings but in this case there is a 2 disc cd Roxy Music Live that was recorded in 2002 in France. An incredible band line up and a setlist that mimics most to the individual songs you mentioned. Cannot recommend this release enough.
Good ranking and interesting analysis. I enjoyed this. You didn't mention the track Manifesto, which is IMO the best track on the album and one of their best songs. I especially love the eerie bass introduction. This track makes the album jump up a couple of notches to me. I agree generally the earlier albums are more innovative and For Your Pleasure is probably their best album. There's not a bad track on it. I would rank Country Life and Stranded as equal second. The first album is also excellent in terms of songs but lacks the quality production values of subsequent albums. Yes, I remember seeing Eno say in an interview that Stranded was his favorite Roxy album.
@@SKYSAW59 'it is that. I remember putting Remake Remodel on repeat, lifting the tone arm to play it over and over again. I took a while to get to the rest of the album, but it was everything it promised to be. I like the production, it sounds great to me. It is far better for not having those blessed "production values..." being more like the first Velvets album. It was such a surprise after hearing Stranded and even For Your Pleasure. A song called "Remake Remodel" just had to sound like that. What an opener!
Thought-provoking analysis and thanks for a rare ranking of this band's albums. For Your Pleasure changed my life and stayed with me through Punk, New Wave, Electronic Dance and much more. I retained a soft spot for Roxy's remaining studio albums too, as they always seemed to be able to turn out haunting melancholy - if no longer the experimentation - apart from Manifesto, which I just could never get along with. Dance Away, in particular had me cursing their increasing popularity being inversely proportional to their diminishing creativity - such a polar opposite to Virginia Plain and Pyjamarama. And by then there was much more interesting 'dance' music (to me) coming from the likes of Kraftwerk!
I came here after listening to your excellent review of Bowie's oeuvre. This one didn't disappoint. Ironically, even though you didn't like Manifesto, I thought your critique of it was one of the more nuanced I've come across - given that you usefully placed it within in the context of Ferry and Co's response to punk. I don't think I've come any reviewers who've done that. For me, the lp was clearly partly Ferry's attempt to take account of the changed music landscape after punk. Your description of the chorus of Avalon's "Take a Chance with Me" is as infectious as a dose of the clap" made me laugh out loud. Your review of Roxy Music's oeuvre was a pleasure to listen to. And, surprise, surprise, I agreed with your no. 1 choice! Didn't know it was Dame Judi Dench who'd intoned, "Don't ask why" at the end of "For Your Pleasure." But everything you say about this pop masterpiece is spot on. Nice job!
I enjoyed your critique. It was both, calculated and objective, by a person (I think) that understands the breadth of their work and the overall potential for the band. I don't know if my opinion would be similar, but off the cuff, I think I'd place "Country Life" a little bit higher, however, you did preface by saying that your remarks might be a little controversial with some fans. Ever notice that "Avalon" seems to go straight-to-the-top for anyone and everyone? It was definitely refreshing to see you put it more into perspective here. Thank you.
If there is something that always bugs me more than Phil's bug-eyed shades, it's that For Your Pleasure always grabs the number one spot. If we consider it a remake or re-model even of the first album - a bogus man might think it is - then this is to my displeasure. Would you believe it if someone said Aladdin Sane was better than Ziggy Stardust? No, nor would I. My own chance meeting with their best album - the eponymous debut - was due to hearing something very strange and wonderful in HMV in 1972 (and I'm not talking about Trout Mask Replica). This album made me linger in a most suspicious way - somewhere between Brahms and Beethoven - as the various medleys bobbed in and out of my receptive and disbelieving consciousness. When asking at the counter what was playing I was given a plain answer by Virginia the cashier. And so I rushed home with a glamorous looking album under my arm (I hoped no one would think it was a copy of Playboy) and (dare I say it?!) placed Ziggy Stardust carefully beside the radiogram while I opened the glossy gate-fold Roxy album and glimpsed the six cigarette card-like photos of the band. Whoah, that was glamrock right there! I found out that 2 H.B. was not a song about a pencil and that the cigarette song (VP) was not even on this album. But Eno's noodlings, Mackay's slashing sax notes, Phil's compound-eyed guitar, Paul's thunder-drowning drums and Ferry's whimsical warblings were mesmeric and even threatened Ziggy's giant shadow. I tried but I could not find a way to dislike this album. Nothing they have done since is as radical or remotely concept-busting as this immortal gem. You can butter up Country Life all you like; be Stranded in the Strand forever; sigh about Siren all you want; pass down familial ravings to your own flesh and blood about some other album; have Manifesto with all your parties, but nothing will persuade me to accept anything other than the original Roxy Music is their best album. I will defend this to the Bitters End!
Aladdin Sane is far better than Ziggy. He dumped Ziggy because it was Bowie's glam facade for adolescent dreamers. He was putting it on. He moved up several gears with Aladdin Sane and got serious. It's a wonderful album and one of his best.
DAVID--You are simply correct(!) as my ears have so long attested. It's not really a debate as to top Roxy album tho my friend Pak and I place Siren kind of close...maybe it's aided by Jerry on cover? Blondes rule-another argument that is 'not really a debate' aha
most enjoyable analysis Mr Album Review...sounds like a podcast of an issue of the NME or Melody Maker back in the late 1970s....stimulating journalistic lexicon...much appreciated, thanks
What I enjoy most about your channel is your monumental Britishness. The view from the window on your right is either St. Paul's Cathedral, or a quiet sheep meadow. Don't destroy my illusion.
All the rankers I followed so far started with MANIFESTO - means not liking it. Strange.. I'm crazy about the whole album. Still in these days I play MANIFESTO all the way through - once in a while. It brings me in a certain mood that I like. (In 1979 I was 21)
Great to hear a detailed and informed analysis of albums that aren’t given the correct attention. Stranded has always left me cold, that’s the only placement I’d change. However, the songs you highlight are fantastic. As I say, really great analysis- I will be listening to more.
I bought AVALON in 1982 and really liked it's more reflective ambient leanings. I was given the first four Roxy Music albums in 1981 on Japanese pressings and NEVER listened to more than one album - once - until last year (2022) and became a huge fan of those records, especially FOR YOUR PLEASURE and ROXY MUSIC. The gifted early albums survived some 15 moves and 40 years before I actually listened to them. Good things come to those who wait!
Enjoyed that greatly and the list coincides pretty much with what I would have chosen. That said, you seem to be moved towards different tracks on the bigger albums which just goes to show what a band they were
“Infectious as a dose of the clap.” What a simile to describe a song chorus! This series is wonderful and a far cry from those videos with an individual making facial expressions or the ‘Bill & Ted’ types head bobbing and saying ‘duuude that was awesome.’ It is refreshing to hear someone with a grasp of language and the intelligence to express himself. Wonderful stuff sir.
"For Your Pleasure" is a stone-cold classic. Heard it when it was first released in 1973, and it knocked me down. To think "Stranded" came out six months later........ For me, the first three albums were the best. Ferry is on record, as saying FYP is his favourite RM album. Rightly so.
1- Stranded 2 - For your pleasure 3- Roxy Music (1st album) 4- Country Life 5- Siren 6- Viva! (Roxy Music Live) 7- Greatest Hits 8- Avalon - 9-Manifesto 10 - Flesh and Blood.
I'd put Country Life and Siren higher and Avalon lower on this list, but it's fun to compare takes. It'd be great to see a review of Ferry's solo albums, too.
Great video! For some reason it seems that Roxy music is getting a mini-revival, at least here in YT. My first MR album was "Siren" and I think that will always be my #1 from them.
I loved Roxy from Virginia Plain (still my favourite all time single), but to me "best to worst "is easy. The first two are equally the best, then getting less so with every other up to Siren (I still like all of these though) I was appalled when I bought Manifesto on its release, and tried so hard to like it but passed it on quickly. Didn't buy anything else after this, but hated all the MOR songs I heard by them on the radio - Angel Eyes, Dance Away, Avalon etc.
I'm sure most of us know where you're coming from and it's easy to just agree with you; but I'd add that everything that Bryan has done is valid and he had the talent and musical imagination to stretch out. There's some good stuff on those later albums but nothing can beat the early Roxy. I think we're probably all agreed on that.
@@PhilBaird1 not all of us, Phil. I can almost reverse Lemming's take on this: for me, the artsy-fartsy pretentious experimentalists eventually discovered melody and produced superbly polished, (at last) accessible treasures with Manifesto... Flesh & Blood...and the jewel in their crown, the sublime Avalon - nothing short of exquisite. From Siren backwards each album was patchy: flashes of brilliance (Amazona on Stranded is truly breathtaking) but lots of self-absorbed, forgettable padding.
Early Roxy Music or later Roxy Music? Personally I prefer the early work, but still like the last three albums. It's a bit like early and later Genesis, again I much prefer the early albums, but obviously both bands (and others) decided at some point to change direction/style and nothing could be done about that. I'm thankful that Roxy Music recorded some great work, and listen quite regularly to all their music.
A great critical assessment. My fave is their debut, but fave Roxy track is Out of the Blue, with it's phasing and truly cinematic scope. Would love to hear you speak to their singles, especially the non-album tracks.
Great band , beautiful records , amazing musicians. That is Roxy Music for me . My favourite album is Country life , followed by For your pleasure and Stranded.Your videos are very nice, very well argued.
the first album is really an invigorating and venturesome listen. you could draw reasonable parallels between t-rex and spiders but roxy was like a big bang, and the stage persona added to the mystique of it all. almost like futuristic teddy boys in their sartorial get ups and perhaps in some sense influenced by the game- changing a clockwork orange. for your pleasure takes on more daring themes and eno is ever present throughout the journey. the melody is more prevalent on albums after eno's departure because there was void now that could be used for optimal musical effect.
I would put Avalon as my favorite. It is one album that I can listen too, that i creates an escape from my day to day problems and puts me in a sedated relaxed mood. It is a masterpiece! Rolling stone magazine ranks Avalon, the highest, of their four albums picked in the top 500 Greatest Rock Albums of All Time. I love For your Pleasure and can agree with his choice of making it his number 1, (The bogus man, In every dream home a heartache, Do the strand) all the experimental dark layers, Eno on keyboards. I definitely enjoyed his review, but I would have placed AVALON much higher.
James Zoll It’s very common for really popular albums to be ranked middle to low on these kinds of pages. Not just by the author but by the actual people commenting. Maybe they think it makes them cooler? Who knows? It’s my favourite too by the way
It always sounded tired to me. Like they were copying the bands who had achieved some success by copying them immediately post-punk. America loved it because all the edges had been smoothed off. I’m not “trying to be cool” by ranking a “popular” choice lower, I simply felt less excited by balladry than I did by experimentation.
Although it's 3 years old, this is a stellar video that mirrors my ranking of Roxy Music to a T. However, my favorite all-time Roxy tune has to remain Virginia Plain, as that was the first track I heard as a young kid, via a Warner Brother's loss leaders sampler. Great show!!!
Thanks for your Opionons I would diagree with you a lot as I listened to the later material first & worked my way back.I like both ends of the spectrum the Pop vs the Rock. Roxy wrote some of the best pop songs of all time.Avalon is like escaping into another world.I came from the new romantic experince but was happy with the classic roxy albums.Country Life is one of my favorites Out of the Blue is mind blowing.Thanks again it was nice to see some share there Roxy Music experince with others.Bowie usually gets all the atenttion.
Lucky enough to have seen the band, when Brian ENO was still a member at the Grand Theatre, Leeds. In the early 70’s, saw them a couple of times after that, but they just weren’t as good.
Hello john. Agree with you. I loved the band . But they never impressed me in concert. Saw them first in 73 in newcastle the stranded tour with Leo sayer.and bryan and the others were ok on the night .I saw them in 74 and 75 and they never improved on this. Still love their music.
Personally, I would have put Stranded as number 1 - I have much, much love for 'Song For Europe' - but can't really argue too much with this list. Nice work Barry
Had the pleasure to see them in '75 at the Granada in Chicago. They opened with "Manifesto" via an extended introduction, allowing Ferry to parade out in a red leather tuxedo. The band was fucking tight. So wish I could have seen them in '72/'73 with ENO.
Great list. Mine is essentially in chronological order as for me, whilst I love every album, their wonderfully accessible art rock eccentricity waned with each release, thus making them less interesting as time progressed. 'Manifesto' & 'Flesh + Blood' are pariahs in their discography, though by the standards of almost any other band they'd be revered. 1. Roxy Music 2. For Your Pleasure 3. Stranded 4. Country Life 5. Siren 6. Avalon 7. Flesh + Blood 8. Manifesto
An articulate & valuable ranking of the fabulous Roxy Music catalogue. FOR YOUR PLEASURE and COUNTRY LIFE are my favourites (today) but I'd also add the first GREATEST HITS album from 1977. It includes two definitive stand-alone singles ("Virginia Plain" & "Pyjamarama"), a concise edit of "The Thrill of It All" plus key cuts from their first run albums. The COMPLETE STUDIO RECORDINGS box, of course, includes all of these as well as the atmospheric, sometimes experimental b-sides.
I'm glad Roxy developed as a band and moved with the times. It makes their history interesting. It would have been wrong for them to be still sounding like 1972 in 1982.
True, but they aren't the only group who changed their style substantially over the years. Surprising how few bands do actually get out of their comfort zone and try new sounds. Some have been more successful than others mind you. I've always been fascinated by Roxy Music, and how they started off essentially as an 'art school' glam rock band, but finished as a more mainstream polished 80's pop band.
So agree. I would hold my breath upon first dropping the needle on a new Roxy album, always bought the instant they came out, usually unheard. I think Ferry moved forward with each album with such a high standard of maintaining artistic integrity with an ear for the marketplace while maintaining such a remarkable unique and distinctive sound. Of course I have my sequence of favorites, but I don't think Roxy has ever made anything less than one great album after another.
I'm not a big consumer of pop, Roxy or early Roxy one of the few Pop Groups I found to be of value. Eno was a genius, some of his 75-84 efforts, sublime.
The 8 albums comprise to #1. Impossible to say what is the best album! In 1974 Country Life was my fav, however Flesh & Blood in 1980 was my fav all time at the time! We change in our tastes as we progress through life. It's much easier to state what are my fav songs now. Lover which never appeared on any album is one of my all time best-loved!
Fantastic video and reviews, I don't agree with the ranking in its entirety but to each his/her own, obviously. It's funny that years ago our positions would have been much closer but recently I've warmed up to the albums they produced in their latest years and , for instance, "Flesh and Blood" is featured on my playlist much more often than "For Your Pleasure".
Eno was still in the band for 'For Your Pleasure' album' if the sleeve notes and Wikipedia are to be believed. It's my favourite too. Second albums rarely even match the first. This one surpasses it.
Great video. Personally I would have put Flesh & Blood as worst below Manifesto, and Stranded and Roxy Music above For Your Pleasure, but that's me. Have a question though: you mentioned Dame Judi Dench as part of your comments on For Your Pleasure. In what context is she used?
Wow what an exquisite fast-paced fact-filled storyline. I'm really impressed. I adore stranded I love for your pleasure I enjoyed both manifesto and flesh and blood Avalon was an interesting coming of age record but I still love the first record most of all. Not to sniff at country Life or siren no Siree
Thanks for this--great video and excellent insights. Roxy Music, especially in the States, doesn't seem to get appreciated as the innovators and giants they were. I can't quibble too much with your choices (with one big controversially sleeved exception), though I'd go Stranded #1, For Your Pleasure #2, Country Life #3, Siren #4, and Roxy Music #5. The first side of the debut is BRILLIANT, the second side mostly a mess--similar to Manifesto, which only Dance Away redeems. Most underrated for me is Flesh + Blood, a potentially outstanding album almost ruined by its insipid, lame cover versions. Although any Roxy album without The Great Paul Thompson is going to be inferior to one with him.
Man..you obviously know Roxy really well!..all of your fave songs, per each album, I totally agree with.."Sirens" is a totally underappreciated album...,."Stranded " ,will always be my fave...Eddie Jobson is perfect!!...i, personally, only consider the first 5 albums, truly Roxy albums,as a band..the others are kinda Ferry solo stuff...thank you for your great review!!❤
Interesting choices. I saw the first tour they played the whole first album then Virginia plain as the encore and that was it, 50 mins! Tickets went from 60p to 75p when it charted!
Love that this video exists. It’s really hard to find Roxy videos and they are awesome
Thank you .. do share this
Right? I couldnt agree more. Roxy are one of the best bands ever. Everyone needs to know them
The east side is very good on manifesto but i don't like the west side. 'Stronger through the years 'is one of the best songs they did. Manifesto and flesh and blood are the joint worst albums. Flesh and blood is over produced but with some great singles but has a lot of filler though.
Eno's electronic noodlng : nothing will describe Eno better than that notion
Even their worst is better than many artists best! 👍
8. Flesh & Blood
7. Manifesto
6. Avalon
5. Siren
4. Country Life
3. Stranded
2. Roxy Music
1. For Your Pleasure
Agree with you on Prairie Rose very underrated. Shout out to Viva particularly for If There Is Something, my favourite Roxy tune of all time.
Viva is a great live album. What do you make of Both Ends Burning live with the screeching background vocals. I have always wanted to ask someone that. My friends don't listen to Roxy Music, unfortunately.
Agree with your ranking 100%
@@petalchildyes, me, too!
Good list
The live album Viva! Roxy Music is also tremendous.The Great Paul Thompson one of the most underrated rock drummers is at his best here.
PT is not underrated.
I am FB friends with PT..We have been pmIng a bit here and there...He seems like a very nice guy!
Such a great live album, the live version of 'If There Is Something' competes with the studio version of the song for me, it's that good.
I became deaf (motorcycle accident ) in '78 at the age of 18. In 2001, I got a cochlear implant in my right ear, and 15 years later, my left ear got implanted.
First thing I did when I could hear was listen to music: Pink Floyd and Roxy Music, most of the time. Music I knew, I heard and understood the best, including the words (whereas understanding speech when people talked to me took a a few years).
I LOVE ROXY MUSIC! Manifesto came out after I went deaf, but when I heard it the first time, I had no problem understanding it. Not so Flesh & Blood, and Avalon: those 2 albums I had to listen to 50 times each to understand them, they are so different. But I love everything Roxy Music (and Bryan Ferry solo, Phil's solo albums), and those 23 years deaf make it impossible for me to pick favorite albums. I just do the sensible thing and listen to Roxy on my ipod in the shuffle mode most days. I do have favorite songs, though:
If there is something (I love Bryan's voice on the first album, but the song on Viva album is sooooo beautiful)
2HB.
Strictly Confidential
Grey Lagoons
A song for Europe
Mother of pearl
The thrill of it all
A really good time
Sentimental fool
Both ends burning
Manifesto
Stronger through the years
My only love
Over you
Avalon
True to life.
What an amazing story...
Wow, glad you're able to hear now especially great music! 😁
Wowowow. What a great story honey.
@@classicalbum It was music that I missed the most during my deaf years, but most of what I remembered at the time I got the implant was just snipets of songs -just try and remember all of Floyd's ECHOES! But once I started hearing music, it all came flooding back. I've got 13,547 songs on my ipod, and I listen to a lot of music. Surprisingly, I listen to very little of today's music, unless it's rock. I have no desire to listen to Justin Beiber and the like. I've only heard 1 Madonna song (I think).
When I bluetooth my ipod, the sound doesn't come from a speaker in the headphones, but is inside my ear via the implant: Best way to REALLY hear music! With 3 settings on the dial, I prefer music to be just that, no outside sound.
Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some music to listen to.
I find myself agreeing with all your song choices, including your remarks about If There Is Something. Mr. Ferry's vocals on the first album are another galaxy. Not proficient as in the sense of a high level singer, but how he transferred the emotions into his voice ... outstanding.
Thanks for sharing your ranking. I had the pleasure of seeing Roxy Music 3 times '(83, '01, & '22).
I agree wholeheartedly with your list. For Your Pleasure is a gem. Roxy Music blazed across the 70s night sky like a comet.
I'm sorry... "Stranded" is the best album thru and thru. Every song. I love the sound of their first four albums. I was 16 in '74 going to pick up my date listening to Mother Of Pearl, immediately I was hooked. Way ahead of their time and yet so listenable.
I used to put “Just Like You” on sooooo many mix tapes/CDs made for folks I wanted to sleep with 😂
For your pleasures can't be beaten, Stranded is good but Psalm spoils it just drags on and on
I agree. "Stranded" is a work of pure genius. "For your pleasure" has just a bit too much noodling for me. Both released in 1973!
1 Stranded
2 Siren
3 For Your Pleasure
4 Country Life
5 First album
6 Manifesto
7 Avalon (mild green Ferry liquid)
8 Flesh and Blood
Do the strand probably the greatest Roxy song ever
Top 5
1 For your pleasure
2 Roxy music
3 Country life
4 Stranded
5 Siren
If Stranded had a better song than Psalm it would be top 3,i think it's prob the worst Roxy song ever
I personally adore their debut record. My invitation card was, as for most, For Your Pleasure, which is alsmost as good, but Roxy Music just feels so special to me. The arrangements, the genres fusing one with another seamlessly, Ferry's beautiful voice with poetry, everything seems to come together.
I can surely say that FYP is more consistent as an album, but I can't help bot love every song on the debut. Especially Sea Breezes, which is my favorite Roxy song period.
Anyways, nice list. The band also went nuts live. This seems to be overlooked, but some of their live perforances even top their studio recordings (e.g. Out of the Blue). Viva! is a particularly great album at that.
"Ladies and gentlemen, FOR YOUR PLEASURE, the second Roxy Music album..." You pretty much nail it with each video, but this one is spot on for me. I have listed FOR YOUR PLEASURE as one of my all-time favorite albums for many, many years, since I made a habit of playing STRAND and DREAM HOME on the radio back in the 70s. Thanks for your work. And never forget: "...deluxe and delightful..." and "...do the Strandski..."
Victor Hawkins Hands down one of the best albums ever. In every dreamhome is still up there for me. They were in rare form then.
Make no mistake. Avalon is one of the greatest albums ever recorded. Problem is, it's just not "our" Roxy Music.
The NME review of Avalon at the time of release had the headline "Mild Green Ferry Liquid"!
I get that, but it's sad. I recall girls I knew as a child who gave the same review to the Beatles when they became truly great, but were no longer their beloved mop tops. And how could one claim only one given Bowie, at the expense of other brilliant records? I love early Roxy, but Avalon is a sublime masterpiece and my unquestionable favorite.
@@nolongerthere It's typical ' Supermarket Shopping Aisle ' music though .... the polar opposite of everything Roxy was, in those innovative early days. Records like Avalon can be made by any half decent band - no originality required. It signalled the end for Roxy, as it had become the Bryan Ferry Backing Band, but hey ...they made a lot of money from those last 3 commercial albums, so Ferry n' the band would surely say that these elevator music albums set them up for life ...
@@dirktaylor5484 There is a lot of music I feel that way about; it's a matter of taste, as we all know, and we're all entitled to voice our opinions to groups in open forums, erroneous as our blanket dismissive statements may be. However, the higher road for a music fan is to practice a measure of restraint in direct responses to specific individuals expressing their love for said music.
Wrong. It’s way too mature and smooth, which is not what Roxy Music truly was. I want the provocative glammy arty futuristic weird rock n roll band.
Great video. Roxy is definitely underappreciated here in the states. I agree with you on "If There Is Something" as being perhaps their best song. In fact, it might be my all-time favorite song by any artist and I find that the live version on "Viva!" is especially moving. I tried for a couple of years to get my wife into Roxy and she never quite understood them until she saw the movies "Flashbacks of a Fool" and "Lost In Translation." After that, she finally came around.
First heard Roxy Music listening to Country Life while coming down from my first acid trip back in the late 70's. Hooked for life ever since.
Funnily enough, I have some wonderful acid related memories from way back when, Country Life, Stranded, Viva, For Your Pleasure and the Eponymous!
Smiling at the memories!
One or two changes but mostly I agree with your list. "Mother Of Pearl" and "Song For Europe" are my Roxy favorite songs.
Oh, and of course "In Every Dream Home a Heartache". How could I forget?
@@RuiBarEdits Yes, I was going to add that one myself, they are pretty much Roxy's epic tracks.
Don't know if "Worst" applies to any Roxy album... Not for me anyway but it was great seeing you go through these and seeing what you liked about the albums. I think any lists are difficult and I doubt if anyone would agree completely on anything but that is actually the beauty of it all. You take from it what you will and certain things hit home for you more than maybe someone else. That is why it's interesting to hear someone else's point of view of material that you love - you will likely discover something new or look at the material from a different angle or just simply gain more appreciation. I can't bring myself to line the albums up in this way. I love all of these albums, some more than others but to me, the strongest, most cohesive albums are Country Life, Stranded, Siren and Avalon. As for individual tunes, the first song that reeled me in was In Every Dream Home a Heartache. After that, the ones that really pulled me in and got me hooked were Remake Remodel, Editions of You and Street Life. BTW, the live version of If There is Something off of Viva blew my mind and blows away the album version. Viva sealed the deal for me. I had to get EVERYTHING after that!
Roxy Music played their first U.S. gig in Cleveland Ohio and became a cult hit, garnering a lot of radio
airplay on our big FM station WMMS and leaving a deep imprint on Cleveland's local underground music
scene. I vividly remember Crocus Behemoth (later front man for Rocket From The Tombs and Pere Ubu)
absolutely RAVING about the first album back when he was a writer for Cleveland Scene magazine.
Couldn't wait for Fridays to hear Murray Saul say "You gotta get down dammit". The Buzzard ruled big time back then.
@Mike G I remember someone from CREEM magazine describing Cleveland as "the kind of city where a Kevin Ayers concert would sell out."
@Mike G I wanted to be a writer for CREEM. I loved that magazine. The anti-ROLLING STONE. R.I.P. - Rick Johnson.
bowie and the spiders made their american debut at public hall in cleveland 1972. must be a magnetic pull that brought them both there.
So glad to see you put for your pleasure as number one. That is their best album. That record is amazing in every dream home a hardache is an amazing track way ahead of its time.
Well done Barry for doing this video of a great and influential band that hardly gets a mention when others(Not as good as you) are ranking artists or songs on TH-cam. I have to agree with you and say that For Your Pleasure is their best album but my favourite song of theirs is on: Country Life and that is the brilliant: Out Of The Blue. I also love all of Bryan Ferry's solo work and for me he's the only artist that can make a cover sound better than the original.
“Manifesto”, the title track is brilliant as is “Stronger Through The Years” and it is better than “Flesh + Blood” on my list and “Country Life” rates much higher up for me.
#1 for me. I think these things depend on when bands come on to your radar.
Gotta go with the first 5 albums, all so good with glitter, romantic music , bizarre sounds and space rock
I fell in love with A Song For Europe and would listen to it in my car over and over. Thank you so much for this video!
"Take a Chance With Me" is one of my top ten favorite songs of all time. It is a perfect pop song.
Agree.. I’m trying to get my band to do it here in 2024
Saw Roxy Music on the Midnight Special when they were promoting the Country Life album. I later went to the mall and purchased it at the Record Bar. This is the Roxy Music I fell in love with and played the crap out of that record. Later on in life I collected the rest of they're catalog of music. And yes all very good albums. But I have to hold Country life as my fave. and the most complete sounding and the most balanced.
One of my fav bands ever.
you sir are a brilliant wordsmith, love your vids
I am a Roxy Music fan since their first two singles in 1972 that were not on the first album and I enjoyed all of their releases. There is no bad one, even the polished "commercial" late albums stand high above anything else released in that genre. The band was always unique and if I rank the albums in the order of their appearance that does not really imply a steep downward slope. If you take 8 steps down from that sensational first album you are still more than eight miles high...
Apart from Eno, who is of course a genius in a class of his own, there are also many good albums from Ferry and especially from Phil Manzanera (Diamond Head, the 801 albums, etc).
still more than eight miles high......very droll...
“Infectious as a dose of the clap” - that is quite a simile! Excellent list and breakdown of your list. Thank you.
Wow... "Country Life" is my favorite.
Me too!
It's tied w For Your Pleasure for my favorite!
For your pleasure and this are pure amazong
It's been my favourite for a very long time.
God I love Trash! It's their Punk song! Nice that Siren is highly placed, Brian has so much fun with his vocals on that one. Beautiful review of their debut!
Have you worked in music journalism?? Your not just "some dude" on you tube this is the most in depth stuff I've heard,it's next level ... i'd say "liked and subbed" but I already did that way back, superb stuff!!! ,Max, Liverpool 😁👍
I've not worked in music journalism - my specialty is English lit. I bring close reading techniques and my obsession with rock music to these videos. They go quite well together.
They sure do! Thanks for the reply 😀👍
Sure, after Siren Roxy Music became totally different from the earlier Roxy Music. But I understand there has to be a development, you can't keep on always doing the same unless your name is Engelbert. I also understand that artists want to play for an audience, not for the thumbs-up of critics only.
However, Avalon is a milestone as a pop album, and at that time a high level aural-paradise to our ears. It is quality through and through. It deserves the same level of recognition as the first 4 RM albums. If only more commercial music was as innovative as Avalon was in 1982.
To my opinion Roxy Music delivered. 2 of the best progressive Art-Rock albums ever, one of the best Pop Albums ever, and from 8 released works 6 excellent. Plus, their life album Viva is one of the best life albums ever.
BTW. If I took the 4 pre 90's Bryan Ferry albums In Your Mind, The Bride Stripped Bare, Boys and Girls, and Bête Noir, and cut off their slack, it would result in another two high level pop albums.
Barry, you have the Top 3 in perfect order as far as I'm concerned. After those musically intense masterworks with their exquisitely crafted lyrics, the other albums appear thin and much less imaginative, though of course there are some catchy moments here and there.
Roxy Music is the greatest British band of all time, all the best bands have been influenced by them over the years, and as usual they never get talked about or heard of in the UK, thank you for making this video.
I see Roxy as two bands. The great art rock band captured on the first four. Then the classy pop band that I feel started from Siren onwards.
The art rock band is much more me. As for the order, I tend to listen to all four in chronological order when I'm in the mood. I rate all four at 9/10. My only 10/10 was a 1976 compilation called greatest hits which did an excellent job of picking the very best from these four albums plus the two hits from Siren.
Roxy are also on my list of "bands who should have a great live album but don't". Viva shows great promise but it's just too short.
Paul Simister yesssss!
Great point--the long-out-of-print Greatest Hits you mention is a perfect album. You're right--Viva should be a lot better (the sound is dodgy and why isn't it a double?).
Heart Still Beating is close to what you are seeking.
Totally agree, first four albums terrific 1st album my favourite of all time, saw them in greens playhouse in Glasgow and they blew my mind
County Life for me and not just for the sublime cover. Out of the Blue is the 24 carat diamond as sharp, shining,, and and soaring into the heavens as it reaches an out of this world climax. Every cut on this album were so finely executed with just the right about of nuance to underscore what lived behind the gates of a Country Life. That's my take
My second fave Roxy album. Apart from the throwaway If It Takes All Night this all killer no filler.
"Out of the Blue" 1974 is their best album track.
@@cal59uk1 The way I put 'Out of the Blue' onto a Cassette tape in '84 was (for this non-techie) inspired engineering-enhanced audio joy. Using a friend's vinyl stereo with amazing JB speakers I gradually turn up the soaring violin-tinged close (what is it...35 seconds?) until it was at 'full blast' by the tune's climax. Then popping the cassette into my car's player...WOW...in a 'remake/remodel' of the song I had the opus S-C-R-E-A-M-I-N-G at me (like a Beatles crowd circa '63) in a blistering ear bath I still have to recreate now & again. Best song by best band ever
Some of the production on CL is rough.. but not as bad as the unlistenable Just another High! The guitar sound is awful.
@@cal59uk1 no.. Remake will always be the benchmark. It can never be beat.. by anyone!
There are some very subjective reviews tending to a style of music but you are like me liking many genres of music and not be stuck on one. You are very objective and study well the difference of songs and albums. Bravo
Great list and video! Here's mine.
1.) For Your Pleasure
2.) Country Life
3.) Stranded
4.) Siren
5.) Roxy Music
6.) Avalon
7.) Manifesto
8.) Flesh + Blood
I enjoyed this video, my no1 has to be the Roxy Music album. When the first album came out it sounded so avant garde, it was a truly great record, 'still play it today.
Mother of Pearl is the song that opened my eyes (& ears!) to the brilliance of Roxy Music.
I really thought Avalon would be in a higher position. Dor me this album os sublime.
Thanks for this amazing video and greetings from Brazil
Smart appraisal man. These albums are so important and measure my passage from early teenhood onward. Iremember an article in which Eno referred to Ferry as "blank frank" and recognised this as a kind of contempt for the popular. Anyway, an interesting listen, Rare to listen all the way thru a video these days-a non patronising, Well done!
They're my third favorite band of all time. They were like a combination of my first two favorite bands, The Beatles and King Crimson. Glad you mentioned "Prairie Rose". My favorite Roxy Music song.
Cracking review as usual Barry. I thought at first you'd missed some albums, but realised they were the live discs. So, not many recordings from one of the greatest bands to come out of the 70s, but what a body of work it is. That's a very perceptive comment about Roxy prefiguring the New Romantic movement by nearly ten years; and I love your reference to under the counter inflatables ! They never made a bad album and Ferry has gone on to release many excellent solo works. His Bob Dylan tribute album was a real standout. The first two Roxy discs in those wonderful glamour covers still sound modern and challenging nearly fifty years later. They still inspire me.
I think its kind of sad just how underestimated Ferry is as both a singer, who like so few others of his generation knows how to find the inner heart of a song - much like (but not at the godly level) say, Billie Holliday. Even things like "in Every dream home..." and as a songwriter who just knows how to craft a damn good pop song and if necessary, mangle it beyond recognition. He really deserves more recognition for that, so its nice to see an understanding review.
@@shanewright2772 Couldn't agree more Shane. Everything he touches seems to come off. I suppose it's great taste and musical intelligence. He doesn't get the recognition that Bowie gets but that early Roxy stuff was just as creative and artistic, musically and lyrically. He's a wonderful modern crooner as well, and can front a jazz orchestra or string quartet as well as he can a rock band. Maybe Barry could do something on the site that does full justice to Bryan's talent.
Id really love to see you cover Brian enos solo albums at some point. If not his whole catalogue, a look into "here come the warm jets", and "taking tiger mountain by strategy" would be great.
I always had the sense of a connection between Roxy's pre-"Manifesto" albums and Be Bop Deluxe
So glad that you gave their debut album a high rating at No. 3 Many people seem to write it off but it's really great on its total whackiness.
a spectacular effort. I am not one to normally recommend live recordings but in this case there is a 2 disc cd Roxy Music Live that was recorded in 2002 in France. An incredible band line up and a setlist that mimics most to the individual songs you mentioned. Cannot recommend this release enough.
Good ranking and interesting analysis. I enjoyed this. You didn't mention the track Manifesto, which is IMO the best track on the album and one of their best songs. I especially love the eerie bass introduction. This track makes the album jump up a couple of notches to me. I agree generally the earlier albums are more innovative and For Your Pleasure is probably their best album. There's not a bad track on it. I would rank Country Life and Stranded as equal second. The first album is also excellent in terms of songs but lacks the quality production values of subsequent albums. Yes, I remember seeing Eno say in an interview that Stranded was his favorite Roxy album.
But.. The production of Remake is absolute chaotic perfection!
yes, the track Manifesto is equal to their best songs from earlier albums.
@@SKYSAW59 'it is that. I remember putting Remake Remodel on repeat, lifting the tone arm to play it over and over again. I took a while to get to the rest of the album, but it was everything it promised to be. I like the production, it sounds great to me. It is far better for not having those blessed "production values..." being more like the first Velvets album. It was such a surprise after hearing Stranded and even For Your Pleasure. A song called "Remake Remodel" just had to sound like that. What an opener!
8. Manifesto
7. Siren
6. Country Life
5. Flesh + Blood
4. Roxy Music
3. Four Your Pleasure
2. Stranded
1. Avalon
fchrisgrimm You nailed it
Thought-provoking analysis and thanks for a rare ranking of this band's albums. For Your Pleasure changed my life and stayed with me through Punk, New Wave, Electronic Dance and much more. I retained a soft spot for Roxy's remaining studio albums too, as they always seemed to be able to turn out haunting melancholy - if no longer the experimentation - apart from Manifesto, which I just could never get along with. Dance Away, in particular had me cursing their increasing popularity being inversely proportional to their diminishing creativity - such a polar opposite to Virginia Plain and Pyjamarama. And by then there was much more interesting 'dance' music (to me) coming from the likes of Kraftwerk!
largely agree with your rankings - shock! For Your Pleasure is a total masterpiece.
I came here after listening to your excellent review of Bowie's oeuvre. This one didn't disappoint. Ironically, even though you didn't like Manifesto, I thought your critique of it was one of the more nuanced I've come across - given that you usefully placed it within in the context of Ferry and Co's response to punk. I don't think I've come any reviewers who've done that. For me, the lp was clearly partly Ferry's attempt to take account of the changed music landscape after punk. Your description of the chorus of Avalon's "Take a Chance with Me" is as infectious as a dose of the clap" made me laugh out loud. Your review of Roxy Music's oeuvre was a pleasure to listen to. And, surprise, surprise, I agreed with your no. 1 choice! Didn't know it was Dame Judi Dench who'd intoned, "Don't ask why" at the end of "For Your Pleasure." But everything you say about this pop masterpiece is spot on. Nice job!
I enjoyed your critique. It was both, calculated and objective, by a person (I think) that understands the breadth of their work and the overall potential for the band. I don't know if my opinion would be similar, but off the cuff, I think I'd place "Country Life" a little bit higher, however, you did preface by saying that your remarks might be a little controversial with some fans. Ever notice that "Avalon" seems to go straight-to-the-top for anyone and everyone? It was definitely refreshing to see you put it more into perspective here. Thank you.
Great descriptions of the Albums!
If there is something that always bugs me more than Phil's bug-eyed shades, it's that For Your Pleasure always grabs the number one spot. If we consider it a remake or re-model even of the first album - a bogus man might think it is - then this is to my displeasure. Would you believe it if someone said Aladdin Sane was better than Ziggy Stardust? No, nor would I. My own chance meeting with their best album - the eponymous debut - was due to hearing something very strange and wonderful in HMV in 1972 (and I'm not talking about Trout Mask Replica). This album made me linger in a most suspicious way - somewhere between Brahms and Beethoven - as the various medleys bobbed in and out of my receptive and disbelieving consciousness. When asking at the counter what was playing I was given a plain answer by Virginia the cashier. And so I rushed home with a glamorous looking album under my arm (I hoped no one would think it was a copy of Playboy) and (dare I say it?!) placed Ziggy Stardust carefully beside the radiogram while I opened the glossy gate-fold Roxy album and glimpsed the six cigarette card-like photos of the band. Whoah, that was glamrock right there! I found out that 2 H.B. was not a song about a pencil and that the cigarette song (VP) was not even on this album. But Eno's noodlings, Mackay's slashing sax notes, Phil's compound-eyed guitar, Paul's thunder-drowning drums and Ferry's whimsical warblings were mesmeric and even threatened Ziggy's giant shadow. I tried but I could not find a way to dislike this album. Nothing they have done since is as radical or remotely concept-busting as this immortal gem. You can butter up Country Life all you like; be Stranded in the Strand forever; sigh about Siren all you want; pass down familial ravings to your own flesh and blood about some other album; have Manifesto with all your parties, but nothing will persuade me to accept anything other than the original Roxy Music is their best album. I will defend this to the Bitters End!
Aladdin Sane is far better than Ziggy. He dumped Ziggy because it was Bowie's glam facade for adolescent dreamers. He was putting it on. He moved up several gears with Aladdin Sane and got serious. It's a wonderful album and one of his best.
DAVID--You are simply correct(!) as my ears have so long attested. It's not really a debate as to top Roxy album tho my friend Pak and I place Siren kind of close...maybe it's aided by Jerry on cover? Blondes rule-another argument that is 'not really a debate' aha
Aladdin Sane is better than Ziggy Stardust.
@@PhilBaird1 Aladdin Sane is Bowie's best album.
Brilliant piece of writing David! Reminded me of the golden old days of Creem magazine.
most enjoyable analysis Mr Album Review...sounds like a podcast of an issue of the NME or Melody Maker back in the late 1970s....stimulating journalistic lexicon...much appreciated, thanks
What I enjoy most about your channel is your monumental Britishness. The view from the window on your right is either St. Paul's Cathedral, or a quiet sheep meadow. Don't destroy my illusion.
great reviews!
my personal list
8. flesh and blood
7. manifesto
6. Stranded
5. Avalon
4. Roxy Music
3. Siren
2. Country Life
1. For your pleasure
All the rankers I followed so far started with MANIFESTO - means not liking it. Strange..
I'm crazy about the whole album. Still in these days I play MANIFESTO all the way through - once in a while. It brings me in a certain mood that I like. (In 1979 I was 21)
Great to hear a detailed and informed analysis of albums that aren’t given the correct attention.
Stranded has always left me cold, that’s the only placement I’d change. However, the songs you highlight are fantastic.
As I say, really great analysis- I will be listening to more.
I bought AVALON in 1982 and really liked it's more reflective ambient leanings. I was given the first four Roxy Music albums in 1981 on Japanese pressings and NEVER listened to more than one album - once - until last year (2022) and became a huge fan of those records, especially FOR YOUR PLEASURE and ROXY MUSIC. The gifted early albums survived some 15 moves and 40 years before I actually listened to them. Good things come to those who wait!
Enjoyed that greatly and the list coincides pretty much with what I would have chosen. That said, you seem to be moved towards different tracks on the bigger albums which just goes to show what a band they were
“Infectious as a dose of the clap.” What a simile to describe a song chorus! This series is wonderful and a far cry from those videos with an individual making facial expressions or the ‘Bill & Ted’ types head bobbing and saying ‘duuude that was awesome.’ It is refreshing to hear someone with a grasp of language and the intelligence to express himself. Wonderful stuff sir.
Once again great reviews
"For Your Pleasure" is a stone-cold classic. Heard it when it was first released in 1973,
and it knocked me down. To think "Stranded" came out six months later........
For me, the first three albums were the best.
Ferry is on record, as saying FYP is his favourite RM album.
Rightly so.
Totally agree , early Roxy majestic.
1- Stranded 2 - For your pleasure 3- Roxy Music (1st album) 4- Country Life 5- Siren 6- Viva! (Roxy Music Live) 7- Greatest Hits 8- Avalon - 9-Manifesto 10 - Flesh and Blood.
I'd put Country Life and Siren higher and Avalon lower on this list, but it's fun to compare takes. It'd be great to see a review of Ferry's solo albums, too.
Great video! For some reason it seems that Roxy music is getting a mini-revival, at least here in YT. My first MR album was "Siren" and I think that will always be my #1 from them.
I loved Roxy from Virginia Plain (still my favourite all time single), but to me "best to worst "is easy. The first two are equally the best, then getting less so with every other up to Siren (I still like all of these though) I was appalled when I bought Manifesto on its release, and tried so hard to like it but passed it on quickly. Didn't buy anything else after this, but hated all the MOR songs I heard by them on the radio - Angel Eyes, Dance Away, Avalon etc.
Lemming 998 fully agree with you there, lost interest after Siren, but those first 5 albums, man they were magic.
I'm sure most of us know where you're coming from and it's easy to just agree with you; but I'd add that everything that Bryan has done is valid and he had the talent and musical imagination to stretch out. There's some good stuff on those later albums but nothing can beat the early Roxy. I think we're probably all agreed on that.
@@PhilBaird1 not all of us, Phil. I can almost reverse Lemming's take on this: for me, the artsy-fartsy pretentious experimentalists eventually discovered melody and produced superbly polished, (at last) accessible treasures with Manifesto... Flesh & Blood...and the jewel in their crown, the sublime Avalon - nothing short of exquisite. From Siren backwards each album was patchy: flashes of brilliance (Amazona on Stranded is truly breathtaking) but lots of self-absorbed, forgettable padding.
Early Roxy Music or later Roxy Music? Personally I prefer the early work, but still like the last three albums. It's a bit like early and later Genesis, again I much prefer the early albums, but obviously both bands (and others) decided at some point to change direction/style and nothing could be done about that. I'm thankful that Roxy Music recorded some great work, and listen quite regularly to all their music.
A great critical assessment. My fave is their debut, but fave Roxy track is Out of the Blue, with it's phasing and truly cinematic scope. Would love to hear you speak to their singles, especially the non-album tracks.
Great band , beautiful records , amazing musicians. That is Roxy Music for me . My favourite album is Country life , followed by For your pleasure and Stranded.Your videos are very nice, very well argued.
Do enjoy myself the title track from Manifesto, Love Is The Drug, End of The Line all very great. Also, lets not forget, Virginia Plain. Great vid :)
Thanks for another excellent video!
the first album is really an invigorating and venturesome listen. you could draw reasonable parallels between t-rex and spiders but roxy was like a big bang, and the stage persona added to the mystique of it all. almost like futuristic teddy boys in their sartorial get ups and perhaps in some sense influenced by the game- changing a clockwork orange. for your pleasure takes on more daring themes and eno is ever present throughout the journey. the melody is more prevalent on albums after eno's departure because there was void now that could be used for optimal musical effect.
What’s with all the dislike for Avalon?
I think it’s a great album.
colemann76 haha love it too but i can get why!
I would put Avalon as my favorite. It is one album that I can listen too, that i creates an escape from my day to day problems and puts me in a sedated relaxed mood. It is a masterpiece! Rolling stone magazine ranks Avalon, the highest, of their four albums picked in the top 500 Greatest Rock Albums of All Time.
I love For your Pleasure and can agree with his choice of making it his number 1, (The bogus man, In every dream home a heartache, Do the strand) all the experimental dark layers, Eno on keyboards.
I definitely enjoyed his review, but I would have placed AVALON much higher.
James Zoll It’s very common for really popular albums to be ranked middle to low on these kinds of pages. Not just by the author but by the actual people commenting.
Maybe they think it makes them cooler? Who knows?
It’s my favourite too by the way
I loved. I loved the layers of sound and instrumentation. Very classy and elegant. Not bad at all.
It always sounded tired to me. Like they were copying the bands who had achieved some success by copying them immediately post-punk. America loved it because all the edges had been smoothed off. I’m not “trying to be cool” by ranking a “popular” choice lower, I simply felt less excited by balladry than I did by experimentation.
Although it's 3 years old, this is a stellar video that mirrors my ranking of Roxy Music to a T. However, my favorite all-time Roxy tune has to remain Virginia Plain, as that was the first track I heard as a young kid, via a Warner Brother's loss leaders sampler. Great show!!!
Thanks for your Opionons I would diagree with you a lot as I listened to the later material first & worked my way back.I like both ends of the spectrum the Pop vs the Rock. Roxy wrote some of the best pop songs of all time.Avalon is like escaping into another world.I came from the new romantic experince but was happy with the classic roxy albums.Country Life is one of my favorites Out of the Blue is mind blowing.Thanks again it was nice to see some share there Roxy Music experince with others.Bowie usually gets all the atenttion.
I would definitely have put Country Life before Avalon. But other than that I mostly agree
Lucky enough to have seen the band, when Brian ENO was still a member at the Grand Theatre, Leeds. In the early 70’s, saw them a couple of times after that, but they just weren’t as good.
Hello john. Agree with you. I loved the band . But they never impressed me in concert. Saw them first in 73 in newcastle the stranded tour with Leo sayer.and bryan and the others were ok on the night .I saw them in 74 and 75 and they never improved on this. Still love their music.
Personally, I would have put Stranded as number 1 - I have much, much love for 'Song For Europe' - but can't really argue too much with this list. Nice work Barry
another great video....i probably would have put 'country life' a little higher, but great list...cheers....
Had the pleasure to see them in '75 at the Granada in Chicago. They opened with "Manifesto" via an extended introduction, allowing Ferry to parade out in a red leather tuxedo. The band was fucking tight. So wish I could have seen them in '72/'73 with ENO.
Correction: It was '79
Nice video. You said that For Your Pleasure was the album that RM made after Eno departed but it was the second and last with him.
Great list. Mine is essentially in chronological order as for me, whilst I love every album, their wonderfully accessible art rock eccentricity waned with each release, thus making them less interesting as time progressed. 'Manifesto' & 'Flesh + Blood' are pariahs in their discography, though by the standards of almost any other band they'd be revered.
1. Roxy Music
2. For Your Pleasure
3. Stranded
4. Country Life
5. Siren
6. Avalon
7. Flesh + Blood
8. Manifesto
Really glad you mentioned 'If There Is Something'. Undoubtedly my favourite Roxy track; Ferrys voice is truly stunning on it.
Yes. Love your taste.
A near perfect listing. I'd put 'FYP' above the debut, but who's arguing.... ;-)
I totally agree with the list......I tried but I could not find a way.....(to disagree with the list)
My list 1) Stranded 2) Siren 3) For Your Pleasure 4) Avalon 5) Country Life 6) Flesh+Blood 7) Roxy Music 8) Manifesto
An articulate & valuable ranking of the fabulous Roxy Music catalogue. FOR YOUR PLEASURE and COUNTRY LIFE are my favourites (today) but I'd also add the first GREATEST HITS album from 1977. It includes two definitive stand-alone singles ("Virginia Plain" & "Pyjamarama"), a concise edit of "The Thrill of It All" plus key cuts from their first run albums. The COMPLETE STUDIO RECORDINGS box, of course, includes all of these as well as the atmospheric, sometimes experimental b-sides.
For Your Pleasure first Roxy album I ever bought and my favourite. A big fan of early Roxy and this Album is in my top tnree of all time.
Superb video, now must go and visit Tidal for a Roxy binge
I'm glad Roxy developed as a band and moved with the times. It makes their history interesting. It would have been wrong for them to be still sounding like 1972 in 1982.
True, but they aren't the only group who changed their style substantially over the years. Surprising how few bands do actually get out of their comfort zone and try new sounds. Some have been more successful than others mind you. I've always been fascinated by Roxy Music, and how they started off essentially as an 'art school' glam rock band, but finished as a more mainstream polished 80's pop band.
Yes, I think that's probably right, and it counters the familiar wisdom.
So agree. I would hold my breath upon first dropping the needle on a new Roxy album, always bought the instant they came out, usually unheard. I think Ferry moved forward with each album with such a high standard of maintaining artistic integrity with an ear for the marketplace while maintaining such a remarkable unique and distinctive sound. Of course I have my sequence of favorites, but I don't think Roxy has ever made anything less than one great album after another.
Siren was the fork in the road. They were saying farewell to the old, like a snake shedding its skin.
I'm not a big consumer of pop, Roxy or early Roxy one of the few Pop Groups I found to be of value. Eno was a genius, some of his 75-84 efforts, sublime.
Great show Siren is My favorite Phil manzanera guitar work is excelent.🎸
The 8 albums comprise to #1. Impossible to say what is the best album! In 1974 Country Life was my fav, however Flesh & Blood in 1980 was my fav all time at the time! We change in our tastes as we progress through life. It's much easier to state what are my fav songs now. Lover which never appeared on any album is one of my all time best-loved!
Fantastic video and reviews, I don't agree with the ranking in its entirety but to each his/her own, obviously. It's funny that years ago our positions would have been much closer but recently I've warmed up to the albums they produced in their latest years and , for instance, "Flesh and Blood" is featured on my playlist much more often than "For Your Pleasure".
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Eno was still in the band for 'For Your Pleasure' album' if the sleeve notes and Wikipedia are to be believed. It's my favourite too. Second albums rarely even match the first. This one surpasses it.
Great video. Personally I would have put Flesh & Blood as worst below Manifesto, and Stranded and Roxy Music above For Your Pleasure, but that's me. Have a question though: you mentioned Dame Judi Dench as part of your comments on For Your Pleasure. In what context is she used?
Wow what an exquisite fast-paced fact-filled storyline. I'm really impressed. I adore stranded I love for your pleasure I enjoyed both manifesto and flesh and blood Avalon was an interesting coming of age record but I still love the first record most of all. Not to sniff at country Life or siren no Siree
For Your Pleasure is the most complete album,dark,haunting,rocky,prog,arty you name it.
Country life number One for me.
My pick as well.
Thanks for this--great video and excellent insights. Roxy Music, especially in the States, doesn't seem to get appreciated as the innovators and giants they were. I can't quibble too much with your choices (with one big controversially sleeved exception), though I'd go Stranded #1, For Your Pleasure #2, Country Life #3, Siren #4, and Roxy Music #5. The first side of the debut is BRILLIANT, the second side mostly a mess--similar to Manifesto, which only Dance Away redeems. Most underrated for me is Flesh + Blood, a potentially outstanding album almost ruined by its insipid, lame cover versions. Although any Roxy album without The Great Paul Thompson is going to be inferior to one with him.
Man..you obviously know Roxy really well!..all of your fave songs, per each album, I totally agree with.."Sirens" is a totally underappreciated album...,."Stranded " ,will always be my fave...Eddie Jobson is perfect!!...i, personally, only consider the first 5 albums, truly Roxy albums,as a band..the others are kinda Ferry solo stuff...thank you for your great review!!❤
My pleasure
Interesting choices. I saw the first tour they played the whole first album then Virginia plain as the encore and that was it, 50 mins! Tickets went from 60p to 75p when it charted!