The Album Review Club - Week #149 - (page 1963) - Every Picture Tells A Story - Rod Stewart

[threespires]

“Sentimental Fool” features an interesting musical introduction – the buzzing guitar over the soft piano chords – but when the vocals start, Bryan Ferry’s wobbly voice is a bit too weird for my tastes.

Bryan Ferry's voice is a bit of an enigma, it is odd and there's not really anyone who sounds quite like him. He's not a particularly brilliant technical singer and given he could be pretty pitchy even years ago, I'd be a bit fearful of going to see him live these days. However, his strange intonations and weird take on what a tenor voice should or shouldn't be doing means he's carved out a niche, there is nobody who delivers a love song in that slightly odd both simultaneously cynical and romantic fashion, as well as he does. He's basically the only singer I can think of who can do lounge lizard as vulnerable human being and pull it off. Normally I'd hate someone who appeared more art school style than substance but in Ferry's case he seems to have transcended his limitations and is pretty much a one off.

 

[OB1]

Bryan Ferry's voice is a bit of an enigma, it is odd and there's not really anyone who sounds quite like him. He's not a particularly brilliant technical singer and given he could be pretty pitchy even years ago, I'd be a bit fearful of going to see him live these days. However, his strange intonations and weird take on what a tenor voice should or shouldn't be doing means he's carved out a niche, there is nobody who delivers a love song in that slightly odd both simultaneously cynical and romantic fashion, as well as he does. He's basically the only singer I can think of who can do lounge lizard as vulnerable human being and pull it off. Normally I'd hate someone who appeared more art school style than substance but in Ferry's case he seems to have transcended his limitations and is pretty much a one off.

I do like Ferry's vocals even though they are not typical of the kind of sound I usually favour.

I decided aganst the most recent Roxy tour (last year) but did see the previous one and a Ferry solo show around the same time and both were excellent gigs, better than the 1970's ones I saw. Given that I decided to to the solo one following the Roxy reunion tour, Ferry must have been in good form: I know I chose to see him because I had enjoyed the Roxy show a lot (more than I had expect to).

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

He's basically the only singer I can think of who can do lounge lizard as vulnerable human being and pull it off.

This is the best possible description of what makes both his vocals and his lyrics so interesting to me. That said, a lot of folks believe "Avalon" is their best record, in which he effectively retires from the lounge lizard circuit. I liked his solo record "Boys and Girls", where the lounge lizard comes out of retirement (and some of "Bete Noir" too).

 

[mancity1]

The Album Review Club – Week #80

Siren – Roxy Music (1975)

Selected by FogBlueInSanFran

Well done to newcomer @Out on blue 6 who guessed Roxy Music’s Siren. To answer some of my other clues -- 5 of their records are in Colin (not Colon! LOL) Larkin’s top 1,000 including the four previous to Siren. Bryan Ferry and Andy Mackay are still in the band, with Phil Manzanera and Paul Thompson also drifting in and out. It was Brian Eno -- he of ambient music and hundreds of famous records-produced fame -- who left, and it’s Jerry Hall -- Bryan Ferry’s former girlfriend, later Mick Jagger’s and until recently Rupert Murdoch’s wife -- who graces the cover.

When I think back on my life as I near 60, there have only been three women who really swept me away totally. Each one has a record that reminds me of them. This record is the best of that lot and the most important to me because it reminds me the most of Wendy, my wife of 31 years.

It isn’t because she loves it, though she likes Roxy Music fine. We have a shared love of other artists (Sugar, Fountains of Wayne, Bruce Cockburn, The Roches, Tom Petty, Everclear) and some distinct differences of opinion on others (The Grateful Dead -- she loves, I don’t -- and Superchunk -- I love, she does not).

It’s just because the initial journey of our relationship mirrors the record -– we met, I fell in hopelessly love, she broke up with me, I was devastated and I mourned and went through the five stages of grief.

Very, very, VERY happily for me, later she “came to her senses” (LOL) and now we’ve been together for decades, raised two great kids and will be empty-nesters in a year or so, with an eventual retirement for me and hopefully a few more decades traveling and dinners and hiking and maybe grandkids and fun together for us.

Anyhow, beyond all that, I think this is Roxy’s finest and most interesting record anyhow. It stretches the boundaries more than their others. There’s pop, there’s balladeering, there’s alt noise, there’s pace, there’s rock and there’s a consistent theme right through from start to finish. I do love records that tell a story, and this one is of a relationship with all its ups and downs.

Like relationships, I love this record almost more for its collection of moments than for the songs. @threespires quite rightly pointed out the opening of “Love Is The Drug” with its footsteps, racing car and sax -- it starts the record like a relationship starts -- with a zoooooom. “She Sells” with its Broadway musical-like opening morphing into almost funk guitar. "Both Ends Burning" which really sounds like a firework fizzing out. "Sentimental Fool" going from feedback guitar to almost bluesy love ballad. "Whirlwind" doing a quite credible job emulating one sonically -- probably the most kinetic tune on the record. The swelling chorus of “Nightingale” is really uplifting too -- almost operatic. And the closer “Just Another High” does a classic Bryan Ferry job of both rationalizing away the pain, and admitting it still hurts like hell. And all along, like Foo Fighters' The Colour And The Shape, telling the story of a love affair, from explosive beginning to wistful end. This is the record heart-on-his-sleeve-but-outwardly-too-cool-for-school loverboy Bryan Ferry was truly born to sing.

Roxy came on the scene for me with Flesh + Blood (1980) -– I’ve always been a sucker for dance music, and “Same Old Scene” rang my chimes. Then Avalon followed (in 1982, I think), and while quieter, I liked it too, from “More Than This” on through the whole record. From there I went backwards and at one point I owned every record (or cassette tape in those days) they did.

There aren’t many bands I can point to where I own ALL the catalogue, and there isn’t a bad record in the bunch, not one. The fact that they didn’t make the Bluemoon poll of top 100 bands was IMO the most egregious (and dumb) omission by the hoi polloi (and a really surprising one given the Brit count here!). I’m the first to admit that unlike many Roxy fans, I like their later stuff more than their earliest, but I’d say that about Genesis too, and a few other bands. It doesn't matter the order -- this one sounds the best, and means the most to me.

Happy listening!

hoi polloi , haven't heard that one for many a year Fog , I trust you are referring to its literal Greek derivation and not the derogatory slant as there is no class structure on this forum (LOL).

Both Ends Burning is no doubt my favourite RM single and I have some affinity for BF and his out of step upper leg movement in the video released worldwide all those years ago.

Moments is an appropriate way to describe ones affinity with a record and an album .

What would Nights in White Satin for example be without its Coda knowing it has IMO one of the best ever put to record when it comes to symphonic rock.

Like you I as best as I could described music as what you could dance to or listen to and when they are done well both are equally enjoyable.

We all owe much to good dance music especially if you cannot connect with the opposite sex with words or humour.

FWIW I have Roxy Music in my top 50 bands of all time but I don't consider myself with any degree of comfort or sense of belonging to the hoi polloi or the contrary.

Again you have chosen well but this is no surprise as the more albums you bring to the table the more I find mysself joined to the hip to you musically which washes away our political differences perceived and real. This is my second favourite album of theirs behind Manifesto which song for song I find I have a stronger connection with. Meeting my first wife while I attempted clumsily to serenade her to Dance Away might prove to be more than a moot point though.

I probably would like the album more if Whirlwind was played at a faster tempo as the title suggests but each song deserves to be on the album.

As a bit of a fan of Rob Sheffield ( If you haven't read Dreaming the Beatles you should check it out ) and his willingness to describe the album as nigh on flawless you have to take stock and play this album many times over given his stature in critique.

8/10.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

hoi polloi , haven't heard that one for many a year Fog , I trust you are referring to its literal Greek derivation and not the derogatory slant as their is no class structure on this forum (LOL).

Both Ends Burning is no doubt my favourite RM single and I have some affinity for BF and his out of step upper leg movement in the video released worldwide all those years ago.

Moments is an appropriate way to describe ones affinity with a record and an album .

What would Nights in White Satin for example be without its Coda knowing it has IMO one of the best ever put to record when it comes to symphonic rock.

Like you I as best as I could described music as what you could dance to or listen to and when they are done well both are equally enjoyable.

We all owe much to good dance music especially if you cannot connect with the opposite sex with words or humour.

FWIW I have Roxy Music in my top 50 bands of all time but I don't consider myself with any degree of comfort or sense of belonging to the hoi polloi or the contrary.

Again you have chosen well but this is no surprise as the more albums you bring to the table the more I find mysself joined to the hip to you musically which washes away our political differences perceived and real. This is my second favourite album of theirs behind Manifesto which song for song I find I have a stronger connection with. Meeting my first wife while I attempted clumsily to serenade her to Dance Away might prove to be more than a moot point though.

I probably would like the album more if Whirlwind was played at a faster tempo as the title suggests but each song deserves to be on the album.

As a bit of a fan of Rob Sheffield ( If you haven't read Dreaming the Beatles you should check it out ) and his willingness to describe the album as nigh on flawless you have to take stock and play this album many times over given his stature in critique.

8/10.

Ha ha yes in fact I took (ancient) Greek (and Latin) in high school for and always loved it as an alliterative idiom in both the literal translation AND the more derogatory "great unwashed" usage but in this case I meant the former.

I love the story about Manifesto! I too like that record and think it's probably my second favo(u)rite of theirs. I also really like Country Life and Avalon. Flesh + Blood has some of their very best tunes and some really good covers but Ferry is always good for a awful croon every once in awhile and "My Only Love" kind of stops it dead in its tracks. For single songs on Siren I think I am most partial to "Whirlwind" and "Nightingale" on this record but I really like them all and they work together so well.

I have not read Dreaming The Beatles but looked it up and its just the kind of thing I enjoy so will definitely put that on the list.

Hope you're doing well mate!

 

[Saddleworth2]

When Roxy Music first arrived I loved them. They were one of a few groups that I can remember where and when I first heard them. Virginia Plain on a school coach to play Rugby in Leyburn. I thought their first albums were superb. So interesting musically. I started to fall out of love when Brian Eno left but For Your Pleasure remains one of my top 20 albums and I had given serious consideration to reviewing it on here. I haven’t listened to Siren other than one or two tracks. Love is the drug is a good single so I will enjoy listening and will try hard not to compare it too unfavourably to FYP.
I did like early BF when he was at his most idiosyncratic and at that time was truly unique and the band itself was made up of stunning musicians. Just think they lost some quirkiness and interest and became increasingly commercial.
will be back with thoughts.

 

[threespires]

Great review by Fog and nice as always to hear people’s personal stories and attachments to the music.

I’m glad he choose this album as, though it has crossed my mind to pick one of theirs, I probably wouldn't have actually managed to decide which one.

A bit like the 10CC pick, this one brings back happy family memories. My big sister and I didn’t have lots in common when it came to music, partly through age gap and partly sensibilities. She was however a Roxy Music fan, actually probably as much a Bryan Ferry fan as she was Roxy, but she had both his and their music. So, I heard both the band and his solo music growing up.

Though I would probably disagree with Foggy in terms of a favourite album and I do prefer their earlier albums versus Manifesto onwards, it’s very marginal preferences in the scheme of things because they didn’t really produce any duffers. For several years I didn’t really get the later Roxy albums, but as I got older their style grew on me albeit not enough to overtake the earlier stuff even though there are some great great songs on them.

That said I’ve never subscribed to the no Eno, no party, view of Roxy Music and certainly not the opinion that I’ve sometimes heard that they were a creative busted flush just because Stranded onwards were more ‘commercial’. The received wisdom was they’d gone a bit soft on the innovation front well before this came out and though its less obviously art rocky then some previous albums I think it’s more a case of restraint and refinement rather than completely chucking their earlier sound overboard and arguably it's all the better for it.

Anyway, this album gets off to a great start as pretty much all of their early albums did. For all of Love is the Drug’s drive and sexiness it’s also got a hint of desperation to it which sets the tone and then feeds through more obviously into subsequent tracks. Though there’s nothing as odd or unsettling on this album as the likes of In Every Dreamhome a Heartache from FYP, the sense of things going awry permeates many tracks and creates an overall mood that unifies a number of quite musically varied songs. I think all the tracks are strong, but I do think it’s an album you need to listen to a few times to really appreciate it as, apart from Both Ends Burning, nothing else has the same immediacy that Love is The Drug does.

My personal favourite is Both Ends Burning, a fantastic song that’s got a brilliant sense of last gasp defiance as things fall apart and career to their doom. The songs are strong throughout, sometimes I think it sags a tiny bit at She Sells and Could it Happen to Me? but even those songs have their merits.

The playing quality too is excellent throughout, as you'd expect by this stage of their career. That said, the air of relationship desperation that comes through on many of the songs might also be indicative of the band’s situation by that point. I think by the time they recorded this album Ferry was beginning to piss the other band members off a bit. Andy Mackay basically said that Ferry’s approach to writing was doing their head in and as Ferry had already started a solo career in parallel, the others thought they might as well do likewise. The suggestion was that Ferry’s inability to cough up the lyrics in a timely fashion resulted in over-elaboration of some of the music, but personally I have never found it either cluttered or overcooked. As an aside, I think Roxy are one of those bands where the production sounds as strong today as it did decades ago and this album is no exception.

Prompted by Foggy’s comment I had a look at the 100 bands poll, which I didn’t participate in. Frankly it’s bizarre that they didn’t figure somewhere especially as they clearly influenced a significant number of bands who did make the list.

Though I think on balance I might have gone with For Your Pleasure, I’m more than happy we had this pick as it’s one of four Roxy albums I would happily give 9/10 to.

So, 9/10 it is.

 

[OB1]

This is the best possible description of what makes both his vocals and his lyrics so interesting to me. That said, a lot of folks believe "Avalon" is their best record, in which he effectively retires from the lounge lizard circuit. I liked his solo record "Boys and Girls", where the lounge lizard comes out of retirement (and some of "Bete Noir" too).

I like all those albums.

 

[mancity1]

Ha ha yes in fact I took (ancient) Greek (and Latin) in high school for and always loved it as an alliterative idiom in both the literal translation AND the more derogatory "great unwashed" usage but in this case I meant the former.

I love the story about Manifesto! I too like that record and think it's probably my second favo(u)rite of theirs. I also really like Country Life and Avalon. Flesh + Blood has some of their very best tunes and some really good covers but Ferry is always good for a awful croon every once in awhile and "My Only Love" kind of stops it dead in its tracks. For single songs on Siren I think I am most partial to "Whirlwind" and "Nightingale" on this record but I really like them all and they work together so well.

I have not read Dreaming The Beatles but looked it up and its just the kind of thing I enjoy so will definitely put that on the list.

Hope you're doing well mate!

Cheers Fog.

Was really nice to hear some of your story and the way you alluded to some of the songs that reflect your values as much as your good taste and cavernous knowledge of all things melodic.

I cannot get to the forum as often as I would like and did in the past and while I am somewhat introverted when it comes to my health seeing you were kind enough to ask as you asked unfortunately I have not been in a good space on that score in recent times and cannot travel or do some of things I could in my younger days anymore.

Hospitals and myself are not a decent cocktail.

I have to look after my frail mother who moved in with me ( I have already reached empty nesting stage long ago ) after my father passed away too young and my better half who keeps me sane and off the things that would finish me off such was my addictions in my ragged youth and I have a lot to thank the both of them otherwise I probably wouldn't have had the pleasure of enjoying the simple things in life and the the things that make life worth living to the fullest in a positive sense.

FWIW I always enjoyed our robust exchange on other threads but for a number of reasons that is over for me now.

Unlike some you construct a view with aplomb and much thought and get the audience to think before they respond.

Look after yourself and those dear to you I am sure you will and keep on listening to the sweet and science ( not boxing no ) every moment you can again I am sure you will.

I can only think of one person with more passion for New Order than yourself although I could be wrong and happy say he is a musician in my extended family.

I still think The Replacements is head and shoulders the best album pick to date (LOL) and will be hard to toss but look forward to listening to some of the many fine albums chosen by many of the posters all of whom share a passion for one of the greatest gifts mankind can give to the world.

 

[denislawsbackheel]

I like Avalon.
I was knocked out the first time I heard Virginia Plain.
But everything else is, sadly for me, ruined by Ferry’s voice and ingenue posturing.
listening to Ferry is like listening to Bjork. Whatever the musical merits of the song the voice is unbearable.
Sorry, it’s a 4/10 for me.