I get a new turntable and dust off some old records. Vinyl Tap #7:
The ol’ ennui never sounded so good than when coming from the dapper dandies Roxy Music, the arty-glam purveyors of languid and intense ultra-romantic despair and affairs of the heart.
I haven’t heard Siren, from 1975, in a least ten years, and the minute I spotted it I knew I had to play it right away, remembering how I almost wore out the grooves on this and the other post-Brian Eno, Brian Ferry-led Roxy albums, Stranded from 1973, and 1974’s Country Life. And I damn near committed such vinyl-cide again as I played Siren — with all its heart-tug melodic melancholy, steadfast and fast-paced hope against hope, and emphatic lush-life lyrics — three times in a row with more to go, reliving my mad impetuous foolhardy days of love and loss and love and loss and second verse same as the first.
Leading off with the seize-the-night hit, “Love Is The Drug” that’s “got a hook on me,“ the world-weary but ever-expectant vocals of Ferry announces: “Late that night I park my car / Stake my place in the singles bar / Face to face, toe to toe / Heart to heart as we hit the floor.” Or, as he declares later in another song, “I will dance the night away / Living only for today / Both ends burning while you're counting sheep” ("Both Ends Burning”). But by the reflectively resolute last song, “Just Another High,“ our commitment-phobic fop of a ladies man, tired of the singles scene and one-night stand-offs where “Playing at love was another high,” changes his tune as dire circumstance becomes dare-to-be realization:
Singing to you like this is
My only way to reach you
Though I'm too proud to say it
Oh how I long too see you
Shattered my dreams by your goodbye
Scattered my hopes — they fill the sky
Desolate am I
Just another crazy guy
Playing at love was another high
Such a crazy high
Maybe I should start anew
And maybe I should find someone who
Will maybe love me like I love you
Maybe I'm too stuck on you
Maybe I got stuck on you.
What happens in the tracks between, mixing the bitter with the sweet, is Ferry trying to resist — but not too much — the appeal and the peril posed by the siren song of entrancing infatuation and tender traps. The mournful and wee-small-hours melodrama of “End Of The Line,” in which he’s “Reached the point of no return” and where “The more I see the more I stand alone,” seamlessly segues musically and thematically into the second thoughts and introspective struggles that infuse the sinuously plaintive and increasingly propulsive “Sentimental Fool”:
Surely you cannot be leading me on?
Well if that's so,
Oh never again will I love
How could I believe again?
How can I hold on?
Sentimental fool
Knowing fate is cruel,
You ought to forget it.
Yes, I know it's true,
I've seen what love can do
But I don't regret it.
Oh, you silly thing
Can't you see what's happening?
You're better without it.
No, that's not the case
If you were in my place,
Then you wouldn't doubt it.
The hard-driving “Whirlwind” is a telling indication that, protestations and claims of sophistication aside, Ferry yearns for a force that’ll bowl him over so that “I'll change / Let me start again.” “How far is Shangri-la from here / And is it this way?” he eagerly asks, looking for the fast-track to happiness, but knowing the bewitched and bothered bewilderment entailed, the self-assurance no longer assured — as he admits in the jaunty “She Sells” wherein “She sells country and modern / Ancient western song / Of oriental confusion / You so right, me so wrong.” And while he’s casting off every shred of delusion, he must confess that it’s “getting rough / When my old world charm isn't quite enough (“Could It Happen To Me?”).
Article comments
1 - Triniman
Roxy Music are favorites of mine. They never seem to be out of date to me.
2 - Douglas Mays
Great album! Funny, I just happened to be playing it as I came across this article....
peaceloveguidance
3 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Thanks, Trinaman--I was thinking about that as I was listening to this again after a long time: I thought it might sound dated, but still sounded fresh.
4 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Douglas--that's quite a coincidence. Maybe the sudden resurgence is all somehow connected with what is supposed to be a new Roxy Music album out this year. I'll try to find out.
5 - Douglas Mays
Gordon, that would be cool...
6 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Douglas--a few things afoot: In the "neither confirm nor deny" category, there does seem to be a new Roxy album in the planning stages, and though those in-the-know are being tight-lipped about a date (maybe later than sooner) there are rumors that Brian Eno will join up again. I'm going to be watching this development.
What is certain: This year there will be a new album of Roxy Music re-mixes of back-catolog
songs, and a new Bryan Ferry "Best of" collection of ballads.
7 - zingzing
from what i know, eno is not going to be involved. while i think roxy and eno were better apart than together, roxy (these days) without eno just doesn't seem as interesting.
8 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
zingzing--agreed. The later Roxy albums, even Avalon, weren't as appealing to me as the earlier ones, especially Stranded, Country Life, and Siren (I do like parts of Manifesto). And I like solo Eno, but--as I remember--not terribly keen on the ambient releases. Thanks for the info.
9 - Eric Olsen
super job Gordon - I feel you. Roxy is my favorite group apart rom the Beatles. After the inexhaustible brilliance of the first four albums, this one is a bit uneven, but when it's good it's great: "Love Is the the Drug," "Both Ends Burning" are among their greatest.
We about wore out the 3-CD Bryan Ferry/Roxy Platinum set over Xmas vacation - too much Bryan and not enough Roxy but literally brings tears to my eyes in places.
It is a capital crime that Roxy isn't in the Rock Hall - fuckwads.
Many of my thoughts on Roxy are here
10 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Eric--thanks for the link. Good article--Ferry is indeed the tortured romantic. And good inside stuff--a disinterested drummer? That can't be good.
Anyway, I'm tempted to go ahead with articles on Stranded (just love "Street Life") and Country Life right away, make it a three-in-a-row Roxy-mania feature. So watch this space.--Gordon
11 - Eric Olsen
'twould be fitting!
12 - zingzing
avalon is wonderful! perfect sex music. or pre-sex music. corny, yet emotional. and beautiful.
13 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
"More Than This" is gorgeous--title song "Amazon" and "Take A Chance With Me."
Hard to believe RM isn't in Rock Hall of Fame--they are certainly eligible--25 years after first recording, I believe is the minimum.
14 - zingzing
WHOA! Eno has been in the studio with roxy. he was there for two days. wrote a couple of songs and did the synth stuff on some of the rest. not sure if he is all over the album or not, but whatever. it gets more interesting... check out pitchfork for details.
15 - um, land-shark...candy-gram...
thanks zingzing--interesting signs on the Roxy front. Will check pitchfork.
16 - er, Gordon Hauptfleisch, that is
thanks zingzing--interesting signs on the Roxy front. Will check pitchfork.