Roxy Music - For your pleasure

Genere: Contemporary Rock, Proto Punk

Similar Artists: Japan, Be Bop Deluxe, John Cale

Recording Year: Virgin, 1973

Evolving from the late-'60s art-rock movement, Roxy Music had a fascination with fashion, glamour, cinema, pop art, and the avant-garde, which separated the band from their contemporaries. Dressed in bizarre, stylish costumes, the group played a defiantly experimental variation of art rock which vacillated between avant-rock and sleek pop hooks. During the early '70s, the group was driven by the creative tension between Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno, who each pulled the band in separate directions: Ferry had a fondness for American soul and Beatlesque art-pop, while Eno was intrigued by deconstructing rock with amateurish experimentalism inspired by the Velvet Underground. This incarnation of Roxy Music may have only recorded two albums, but it inspired a legion of imitators -- not only the glam-rockers of the early '70s, but art-rockers and new wave pop groups of the late '70s. Following Eno's departure, Roxy Music continued with its arty inclinations for a few albums before gradually working in elements of disco and soul. Within a few years, the group had developed a sophisticated, seductive soul-pop that relied on Ferry's stylish crooning. By the early '80s, the group had developed into a vehicle for Ferry, so it was no surprise that he disbanded the group at the height of its commercial success in the early '80s to pursue a solo career.



The son of a coal miner, Bryan Ferry (vocals, keyboards) had studied art with Richard Hamilton at the University of Newcastle before forming Roxy Music in 1971. While at university, he sang in rock bands, joining the R&B group the Gas Board, which also featured bassist Graham Simpson. Ferry and Simpson decided to form their own band toward the end of 1970, eventually recruiting Andy Mackay (saxophone), who had previously played oboe with the London Symphony Orchestra. Through Mackay, Brian Eno joined the band. By the summer of 1971, the group -- had originally been called "Roxy" but a name change was necessary after the discovery of an American band called Roxy -- had recruited classical percussionist Dexter Lloyd and guitarist Roger Bunn through an ad in Melody Maker; both musicians left within a month, but they did record the group's initial demos. Another ad was placed in Melody Maker, and this time the group landed drummer Paul Thompson and guitarist Davy O'List, who had previously played with the Nice. O'List left by the beginning of 1972 and was replaced by Phil Manzanera, a former member of Quiet Sun. Prior to recording their first album, Simpson left the band. Roxy Music never replaced him permanently; instead, they hired new bassists for each record and tour, beginning with Rik Kenton, who appeared on their eponymous debut for Island Records.

On Roxy Music's debut, the tensions between Brian Eno and Bryan Ferry propelled their music to great, unexpected heights, and for most of the group's second album, For Your Pleasure, the band equals, if not surpasses, those expectations. However, there are a handful of moments where those tensions become unbearable, as when Eno wants to move toward texture and Ferry wants to stay in more conventional rock territory; the nine-minute "The Bogus Man" captures such creative tensions perfectly, and it's easy to see why Eno left the group after the album was completed. Still, those differences result in yet another extraordinary record from Roxy Music, one that demonstrates even more clearly than the debut how avant-garde ideas can flourish in a pop setting. This is especially evident in the driving singles "Do the Strand" and "Editions of You," which pulsate with raw energy and jarring melodic structures. Roxy also illuminate the slower numbers, such as the eerie "In Every Dream Home a Heartache," with atonal, shimmering synthesizers, textures that were unexpected and innovative at the time of its release. Similarly, all of For Your Pleasure walks the tightrope between the experimental and the accessible, creating a new vocabulary for rock bands, and one that was exploited heavily in the ensuing decade.

Fields Of Haze.