"…Swimming Pool Eyes…"
What clobbers you most about
re-listening to Roxy Music in this flash all-encompassing lump is the sheer
'quality' of what's on offer. They were good - I mean they were bloody good.
I'd suspect that most music lovers have forgotten just how innovative,
off-the-wall and downright sassy they were (and this is before we talk about a
peerless run of top notch chart-singles that only got better as they
progressed).
In amidst all 10
album-displays of glam, mascara and feather boas lurks CD2 - 1973's "For
Your Pleasure" - rather grandly announced on the inner glossy gatefold of
the original LP as 'the second Roxy Music Album'. Their June 1972 debut
"Roxy Music" had stunning tracks like "If There Is
Something" (used to such amazing effect in the Daniel Craig movie
"Flashbacks Of A Fool") – but the follow-up raised that high bar even
more. It's the kind of album that impresses all the way through - a
Side-to-Side experience. But what's the best way to own it?
In 2016 there's many ways to
get "For Your Pleasure" by ROXY MUSIC – the tasty stand-alone HDCD release from
September 1999 on Virgin ROXYCD2 (use Barcode 724384744922 to locate that
issue) with a John Anthony Remaster is a great buy (and cheap too).
But I'd
argue that this is a band worth a splash of your dodgy cash so splurge on the
2012 Remaster within ROXY MUSIC "The Complete Studio Recordings" 10CD
Box Set on Virgin 5099944021726 (use Barcode 5099944021726 to locate it). Here are
the details (42:25 minutes):
Side 1:
1. Do The Strand
2. Beauty Queen
3. Strictly Confidential
4. Editions Of You
5. In Every Dream Home A
Heartache
Side 2:
6. The Bogus Man
7. Grey Lagoons
8. For Your Pleasure
Tracks 1 to 8 are the
"For Your Pleasure – The Second Roxy Music Album" - released March
1973 in the UK on Island ILPS 9232 and in the USA on Warner Brothers BS 2696.
Produced by Chris Thomas and Roxy Music - it peaked at No. 4 on the UK LP
charts.
A little about presentation
first... The 6” x 6” Box is hard and glossy as are each of the gorgeous
gatefold sleeves contained within. Apart from basic credits on the rear -
there's little else by way of info. Each of the over-sized repro gatefold
sleeves within has a different coloured inner sleeve (with no info on either
side) and each disc is a picture CD reflecting he album's front cover artwork.
The "Singles, B-Sides And Alternate Mixes" 2CD set after the 8 albums
is housed in a gold-coloured hard card gatefold sleeve (with gold inners) with
the basic track lists on the inner gatefold and nothing else. No booklet.
To be clear about this - the
box set says nothing anywhere about mastering or remastering - but it seems to
be presumed that these are different from the 2000 HDCD remasters. They're supposedly
'flat transfers' and new 2012 versions. Whatever you look at it - they 'sound'
amazing - clean, full of presence and possessed of beautiful warmth that feels
close to the original analogue Island Records laminated gatefold sleeve marvels
we all so loved so much back in the day. Roxy Music were notoriously
'audiophile' in their Productions from the get go so the sound quality on these
CDs is pretty much reference.
"Do The Strand" is
so Roxy Music - mad sounds that somehow seem like a coherent Rock song with
Ferry's warbling vocals sailing above all and sundry. But true RM greatness
turns up with the wonderful "Beauty Queen" where Ferry sings
"...said you'll go far...maybe someday be a star..." You get this
plinking keyboard sound from both Ferry and Brian Eno while John Porter's Bass
anchors the song - but just as you think you know where its at - the tune goes
fast and nuts halfway through only to return to the slow crawl (lyrics from it
title this review). "Strictly Confidential" slinks in with a lone
Obie from Andy Mackay and again builds with Phil Manzanera's guitar going
bananas in some places. There can't be too many Roxy fans that don't chew up
the bopper "Editions Of You" and I always wondered why Island Records
'UK' didn't try it as a 7" single (Warners USA put it on the B-side of
"Do The Strand" in July 1973 on Warner Brothers 7119). Don't you just
love that guitar and keyboard racket they make as the song rattles to its final
note slide. Side 1 ends on the wickedly good and terminally cool "In Every
Dream Home A Heartache" where Ferry comments on 'Smart Town Apartments'
and 'Open Plan Living' - things he'd embrace himself quite soon.
Side 2 opens with the
relentless beat of "The Bogus Man" - nine minutes of pumping proto
rhythm – sinister and slightly icky. As Ferry’s treated double-vocals warble on
about someone “...at your heels...clutching at your coat...” and the guitars
flick and jerk - you're reminded of Talking Heads four years before their
American sound took the US New Wave scene by storm. After the lengthy drone of
the boogie man - "Grey Lagoons" immediately feels more lightweight -
both Mackay and Ferry letting rip on Saxophone and Piano (I 'think' that's
Eno's synth sounds treated to sound like a strangulated Harmonica). Island would
use the album closer and title track "For Your Pleasure" as the
B-side to the non-album "Both Ends Burning" single (Island WIP 6262)
in December 1975. Again it's one of those Roxy moments you can't quite
categorize as Ferry's 'ta ra' vocals skit in and out of the mix - floating
above all those musical soundscapes...
Packed with hits and
sleepers that deserve your dollar - "The Complete Studio Albums" 10CD
Box Set sports gorgeous sound and albums that are better than you remember
them. And as I read that Roxy's Make-up for the inner gatefold was done by
Antony Price and their Hair was done by 'Smile' - I raise a smile myself - them
was the days baby. Nobody made a sound like Roxy Music in 1973. Sure the Box
Set is a pricey way to acquire "For Your Pleasure" and the cube has
its flaws too (no booklet) - but like Brian Ferry's wardrobe - it still looks
the part and is always going to pull the girls...
Do The Strand and Do The
Glam Baby! And I wonder what happened to Amanda's tiger on the front cover -
probably in rehab for big cats sipping an iced Marguerita. I like to think
so...
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