Roxy Music have only ever appeared once previously on these pages and that was as far back as June 15 with a post about their debut album
They are another of those acts who started off good and gradually got worse as their career progressed. Maybe not as badly as Rod Stewart, Simple Minds or UB40 but you get the picture
Arguably, by the time they got to Dance Away the damage was done with Jealous Guy and Avalon being the final nails in the coffin.
Some of their early singles were not too bad though.
Here is Do the Strand which confusingly comes from For Your Pleasure as opposed to Stranded.
From 1975 Love is the Drug which peaked at number 2 in the UK singles chart was their highest ranking single until the aforementioned Jealous Guy made number 1 on the back of the death of John Lennon.
It's a tough one as to whether the original is better than the cover version by Grace Jones. I think that The Lounge Lizard just shades it over The Disco Diva.
How about you?
Roxy Music - Do the Strand
Roxy Music - Love is the Drug
Grace Jones - Love is the Drug
I can't think of the band responsible for 'In Every Dream Home A Heartache' as being the same one who put out 'Avalon', as you say. Two very different beasts!
ReplyDeleteI agree about Love Is The Drug, Grace's version seems a little 'colder' to me somehow.
By the end they were overtaken by Bryan Ferry's Lounge Lizard act and desire to be a modern-day crooner. Manzanera and Mackay always looked very uncomfortable decked in those pastel suits.
ReplyDeleteFor Your Pleasure (their last with Eno) is probably their best album, and Stretlife (from Stranded) my go-to Roxy track
I resolved a long time ago to treat Roxy Music as two distinct band (there's a point to be made for 3 distinct bands) and the point that it happens is with the release of Manifesto. I can appreciate both by divorcing the band from itself at this point.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely right. Roxy in their pomp were a magnificent beast, the downward trajectory starting when Eno jumped ship.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, I once had a rather nice bit of serendipity when my iPod randomly shuffled Do The Strand in to my lugholes when I was walking along The Strand. If only I'd spotted a rhododendron (which is, indeed, a nice flower) at the same time, I may have spontaneously combusted.