Bryan didn't feel he was getting his stamp on the record, so he said, 'Look, can I just have a couple of days working with Rhett alone to try to write some songs and get some things down?'
"In those two days we wrote and cut 'My Only Love' 'Over You' 'Flesh and Blood' and 'Same Old Scene.' Bryan was just over the moon."
And well he should have been, because those songs are the backbone of an album of indelible beauty, poignancy and energy. Flesh and Blood is the nexus between the art-rock, jagged Roxy of the '70s and the smoothly romantic Roxy (and Bryan Ferry) of the '80s, bearing the best characteristics of each.
"Same Old Scene" grooves to Alan Spenner's thumping bass and Ferry's
keyboard wash, as Ferry scrambles to staunch the flow of viscera from the
"same old scene."
In "Flesh and Blood," Ferry addresses his own penchant for dangerous beauty (Jerry Hall, Lucy Helmore), and their respective needs (his - "You'd nail her if you could"; hers - "Love me for my mind") over his own monster guitar riff. "My Only Love" captures a suspended moment before love's loss becomes unbearable, and features pungent solos from Manzanera and saxophonist Andy Mackay.
"Over You" pours out after that moment is lost, and then tries to look to a hopeful future when "Some day, yes it might come babe/When I'll be babe - over you." In that future lies a stunningly simple, elegant piano line from Ferry and an aching, soaring sax solo from Mackay.
Avalon followed Davies' "groove theory" even more closely. "I would get to the studio about 10 in the morning and I would set rhythms up - get interesting grooves going, weird things happening, and have the keyboard hooked in, ready to go. Bryan would saunter through the door about 1 o'clock and this vibe would be happening already. Bryan would just come and sit down at the keyboard and work a chord progression, or whatever, to go with that.
"It was a fantastic way of working, and working down at Phil's studio was brilliant. They were paying for Phil's studio, but nowhere near top rates, so a looseness was there."
The perfect mate to Flesh and Blood, Avalon rides a midtempo groove through a world where love's death throes have given way to a languid acceptance of the inevitability of romantic failure. But the denizens of this Avalon (the isle of the heroic dead in Celtic legend) savor the temporary triumphs and meaning that romantic struggle brought to their lives and, as disembodied wraiths, twirl eternally together under a distant, shimmering pale moon.
Article comments
1 - Bill Sherman
Great piece: one of my personal fave Roxy discs has to be Stranded. It was the first of theirs that I heard, and I can still recall the chill of opening cut "Street Life," as Ferry cries out to be left alone. Later, the Brit punks would sneer at Roxy Music, but I've long felt that song had as much urgency and emotion in it as anything to come out of the punk movement. . .
2 - Eric Olsen
Thanks Bill, I think the first song I heard was "Do the Strand" from For Your Pleasure, but I immediately went back to the first album, which i think came out the same year, and was with them in real time from then on.
Cleveland was THE hotbed of Roxymania in the US. They were amazing, timeless, magical - I get bored very easily typically, but I can sit and listen to their entire catalog and just groove.
Another great sing: I think every one of their albums was my favorite at some point in time other than Manifesto, which I never really got into.
Much of the Ferry solo stuff is great also, but it's Roxy that encapsulates popular music for me, perhaps even better than the Beatles or Stones.
3 - Merv Black
Who is ever free from the pangs of deceit and love. I agree with Eric Olsen. For Your Pleasure started Roxy internationally and Bryan Ferry ended Roxy with Avalon.
Strange how Jerry Hall graced an album cover but nothing like that with Lucy
4 - Eric Olsen
Certainly no one is free from such things - thanks Merv.
5 - Mark Solomon
Merv:
Actually, the model on the cover of Avalon is Lucy Ferry who at the time was pregnant.
I think the cover photo was shot in the west of Ireland!
6 - Amanda
I saw Bryan live in Cardiff last year, he was amazing. I was right at the front,by the stage, and he looked the same as ever - like his music, he just doesnt age.The Roxy song I'm playing most at the moment is "If there is something", which is beautifully constructed - a mix of tongue in cheek upbeat humour, haunting romanticism and dark edginess.
7 - Eric Olsen
Amanda, sounds great! I haven't seen him in about ten years, glad to hear all is well. I love almost all Roxy, but "If There Is Something" is one of the greats. Thanks.
8 - Sarah
the comment in the piece about jerry hall having been bryan's wife is incorrect. they were engaged but never married.
9 - JOB
Bryan gets a bit of respect back after Jerry Hall's latest divorce. While vacationing in Mexico the press ask her who gave her the ruby ring she was wearing; she replies Ferry, a real gentleman. Now will Bryan get the energy to get rid of the 22 year old model girlfiends and give Jerry a call for a date?
10 - Eric Olsen
hmm, interesting info, thanks!