Roxy Music - "All I Want is You" b/w "Your Application's Failed" 45 rpm Single, UK, 1974 (Island)

"All I Want is You" is the A-side, but of course what I'm interested in is the B-side of this single, the instrumental song "Your Application's Failed."   The beauty of the 45 rpm single are the b-sides that are not on an album.  Mostly they are a mere after-thought if anything else.  For whatever reason, Roxy Music usually put out interesting 'throw-a-way' songs on the b-sides, and "Your Application's Failed" is a small classic Roxy Music piece. 

It's a song by Roxy drummer Paul Thompson, and a great vehicle in exposing the band's talent and most important, a sense of play is on hand.  Most of the songs that end up on a Roxy Music album, or on their A-side singles, it's a very tight structure and there is a sense of seriousness on it all.  They're making commercial art.  Yet, the b-side songs are sometimes experiments or to see what happens, even if they allow their drummer to compose the song.  "Your Application's Failed" is fun.  The fact that Roxy Music or Bryan Ferry can show a lighter side of their record making is wonderful. One wishes that there were more pieces like "Your Application's Failed."  The classic Roxy is always great, but it's the B-sides that add the flavor or spice to Roxy Music. 

Roxy Music - "Country Life" Vinyl, LP, Album, 2009/1974 (Virgin)

The fourth Roxy Music album.  The band always has that sound, but each record is quite different from the other.   Perhaps due to the change of producer, but also I suspect that Phil Manzanera and Andy Mackay probably added new textures to the overall sound of Roxy Music.   John Punter co-produced "Country Life"  as well as it's engineer.  It's interesting that a few years later he worked with Japan, a band who I think was profoundly influenced by Roxy Music.  

The sound of "Country Life" is thicker and at times, mono sounding record-wise.  If Phil Spector was half sane, and still at full-power, I can imagine this being his production.  Compared to the previous Roxy Music songs, those on the album are very straightforward, and Bryan Ferry to my ears (and head) is losing his abstraction or New York school of poetry to focus on communicating on romance, and the world surrounding that emotional high.  In theory a more commercial approach, but perhaps the after effects of Ferry's various solo recordings at the time  - specifically his first two solo albums which are covers.   I sense Ferry chose those songs, not only because he loved them, but interested in its structure and what makes a song a song. 

"Country Life" is a great album.  It's not a masterpiece compared to "For Your Pleasure" or "Stranded" (and never compare their brilliance on that first album!), but still a remarkable set of songs.   The Jimi Hendrix inspired "Out of the Blue" is simply a magnificent guitar set-piece from Manzanera.   "The Thrill of it All," the opening cut and the end "Prarie Rose" are bookends that resemble a wild storm, but somehow controlled by Ferry and company.  It's a sandwich of sorts, with different tastes and textures between the opening and closing songs.  

Roxy Music - "Manifesto" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1979 (ATCO)

I think of Roxy Music in two stages.   Their first five albums are to me, the complete circle of that band.  After those five albums, the band kind of broke-up to focus on solo music.  Ferry at that time was still doing albums that were half original and the other half covers.  "In Your Mind" was the only Ferry album at that time where it was all original songs, written by Bryan.   Still, the truth is even the covers he did was a personal or even original statement by Ferry.   A cover is a cover unless it was done by Bryan Ferry and then it means something else.  "Manifesto" was the first Roxy Music album after they split up.  There's a four-year wait between "Siren" and "Manifesto."  There was a lot of activity in those four years by Ferry and company away from the Roxy Music world. What's interesting about this 'good' album is that it has nothing more to say. 

"Manifesto" is more about the craft of good songwriting and recording than inspiration. Emotionally, the songs sound post-depression has taken place.  It's interesting that this once radical band puts out an album in 1979, where there was a great landscape for the post-punk music world.  The title song "Manifesto" touches on that era music-wise but lyrically is rather dry.  

"Manifesto" is a very good album, but compared to the high standards of the first five Roxy albums, it's not that important of a work.  Still, commercially it did wonders for them through songs "Dance Away" and "Angel Eyes."  Those two are perfectly written pop, but sounds empty compared to something like "Virginia Plain."   For one, Ferry is now at this point writing very literal lyrics expressing sadness, romance, and so forth.   The surreal brutality of "Every Dream Home a Heartache" has been replaced by lyrics like :  

"Yesterday, when it seemed so cool

When I walked you home, kissed goodnight

I said, "It's love", you said, "Alright"

It's funny how, I could never cry

Until tonight, when you pass by

Hand in hand with another guy

You're dressed to kill and guess who's dying"

("Dance Away" Bryan Ferry)

Compared to something like: 

"Throw me a line I'm sinking fast

Clutching at straws can't make it

Havana sound we're trying 

hard edge the hipster jiving

Last picture shows down the drive-in

You're so sheer you're so chic

Teenage rebel of the week

Flavours of the mountain steamline

Midnight blue casino floors

Dance the cha-cha through till sunrise

Open up exclusive doors oh wow!

Just like flamingos look the same

So me and you, just we two got to search for something new"

(Virginia Plain" Bryan Ferry)

This is not bad Ferry writing, but a difference has taken place.  One can look at it as a maturity, but to me, I see it more of a convention or normalizing his world of writing.   The music also loses its innovative edge.  The arrangements are straightforward and to the point.  Still, the album is a delight on its own terms.  This is the first Roxy Music album that was self-produced by the band.  Manzanera is still a guitar demon on the album, and Mackay's Oboe and sax playing is textural and adds a lot to the mix.  The disappointment, especially if one is a long-term fan of Roxy Music that this could have been a better album.  At the same time, there is a seduction of Ferry's voice, which he can sing the alphabet if he wanted to,  and it can bring significant meaning to those letters.  That aspect of Ferry and company never fails.  Perhaps they looked at "Manifesto" as an experimentation to make a commercial album?   The technique is there, but not the spirit. 

Roxy Music - "Pyjamarama b/w "The Pride And The Pain" 45 rpm vinyl, 1973 (Island)

The b-side to "Pyjamarama" the great song by Roxy Music, is"The Pride And The Pain" which sounds like if Bryan Ferry left the band and was replaced by Ennio Morricone.  It took me awhile to find this recording because once I heard it, I loved it.  There is a CD version that is on one of their Roxy Music box sets put out some years ago, but finally, I have the single.  

"The Pride and The Pain" is written by Andy Mackay.  It features his distinctive oboe playing but mixed in with the minimal piano, Phil Manzanera's Italian sounding electric guitar, Eno's (I presume) sound of the wind and off-mike vocals or talking, and like the title, it does bring Morricone's great spaghetti western soundtracks from the 1960s.  This recording is too great to be lost in the heaps of b-sides that never made it onto albums. 

"Pyjamarama" is essential early Roxy.  The great guitar cords in the beginning, but before the melody and Ferry's voice kicks in - it's a natural music high at this point.  One wonders why this song is not on the "For Your Pleasure" album, but at the same time, it does exist quite well as a stand-alone single.  It's a classic Roxy piece, but again, the b-side "The Pride And The Pain" is really amazing.

Phil Manzanera - "Diamond Head" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1975 (Atco Records)

Roxy Music is not only a band, but also a foundation where some lived, and eventually explored the outer-world through various solo albums.   To be a Roxy fan was an expensive ride, because of not only the Roxy Music albums, but also purchasing the various Eno albums, the solo Bryan Ferry recordings, and then, of course, the Andy Mackay album, and then Phil Manzanera's solo album.  And even that, there are the Fripp & Eno albums, which means one should purchase a Robert Fripp album, and on and on it goes.  One thing I miss from the 1970s are the solo albums that came out of one band.   The only band I can think of in contemporary times is Radiohead because Thom York has various side projects as well as the other musicians in that group.  On the other hand, that is not a financial problem for me, because I don't really like Radiohead.  Roxy Music, on the other hand, is great, and therefore one needs to jump into the various solo recording of the current members of Roxy, as well as those who left the fold (Eno).    Which comes to "Diamond Head" by Manzanera.  

The role of Phil Manzanera in Roxy Music cannot be underestimated.   His guitar work is intelligent, masterful, and a perfect ingredient that's in the Roxy Music soup.  The same for Andy Mackay as well.  Here, Phil steps out of the Bryan Ferry world and makes his own statement with everyone from the Roxy world, except their lead singer.   It's a heady mixture of great talent:  Robert Wyatt, Eno, Andy Mackay, Paul Thompson, John Wetton, Eddie Jobson, Charles Hayward and Manzanera as the ring leader in this temporary circus.  

The beauty of "Diamond Head" is although there are many voices on this album, it is very much orchestrated by Manzanera, and he doesn't lose himself in the mix.  There are classic pieces here, like the title cut, his work with Eno, "Miss Shapiro," "Big Day," and the great opening song with Robert Wyatt "Frontera."  These are voices that are very distinct, and Wyatt/Eno don't hold back, but Manzanera can place himself in these guys without himself losing his identity.   The Manzanera guitar sound is a combination of classic Jimi Hendrix touches, mixed with his South American roots and one foot in prog.  It's a heady sonic experience.  It's hard to believe that this album is 42 years old.  As a solo artist, this is Manzanera's best album, as a guitarist who worked on many albums, he is still a fantastic talent.  When one sees his name in the credits, you're getting yourself into a classy world. 

Roxy Music - "Roxy Music" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Limited Edition, 1972/2008 (Virgin)

There are only a handful of albums that had such a powerful effect on me on the first listening of such a record.  I can still remember when I played "Roxy Music" for the first time.  It was in the evening at our home in Topanga, and on the first cut "Re-make, Re-model," I thought to myself that this is the sound of 1972.  By the time of the second song "Ladytron," it was like if someone brought a brand new language into my life.  I never heard anything like Roxy Music. 

"Roxy Music" is a combination of camp, serious noise in the avant-garde world, futuristic sounds, and a glance to the past.  Years later I can pick up on the influences of the album - vintage Hollywood cinema, Joe Meek recordings, 1950s kitsch aesthetics, a touch of prog-rock,  and an appreciation of artists like Marcel Duchamp.   It's a heady brew of images and sound, that to this day still gives me the kick that never tires.     The first thing one notices is Bryan Ferry's voice - a croon that seemed manufactured but with incredible lyrics that painted a picture in one's head.   Borderline outrageous, but with a firm footing on a foundation that is art, cinema and music history.  One can hear the traces of David Bowie's presence, but it's like Roxy Music was hearing Bowie, not at the present time (1972) but in a sometime way in the future.   

There is not a bad cut on this album.  One of the great strengths that are Roxy Music is that it is truly a band.  Bryan Ferry wrote all the songs/lyrics, but it takes someone like Andy Mackay, Phil Manzanera, Paul Thompson, Graham Simpson (one of many bass players in this band), and of course, Eno.  The electronics are all over "Roxy Music."  Through the sound of vintage synths, to the layered electronic sounds of treated guitars, vocals, and god knows what else on this album.   I can't say that this album changed my life, but for sure made me appreciate the layers of textures that make a sound, and that is what I heard on "Roxy Music."