Bryan Ferry, Boys and Girls Full Album Zip: The Ultimate Collection of Pop Rock Art Songs

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Bryan Ferry, Boys and Girls full album zip

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On this, their first foray into the studio, many of the progressive flavours and shades are down to the presence of the great Brian Eno on synthesizers, tapes and effects. (Following Roxy's sophomore outing FOR YOUR PLEASURE, Eno would go on to a diverse solo career, and a series of ambient collaborations with Robert Fripp, before becoming one of the most influential, sought-after producers in rock.) Eno's visionary, irreverent handling of the synths, and Bryan Ferry's tremolo-laden warblings and croonings -- and artful pose of the jaded lounge singer from a near, dystopian future of empty liaisons and chance encounters -- impart an almost disturbing edge to ROXY MUSIC that would begin to fade by their third album, in favour of more straight-forward (but still quite original and good) rock.As the younger set say, "it's all good," but some tracks are special standouts: Album opener "Re-Make/Re-Model" gets things off to a rocking start, and Phil Manzanera and Andy Mackay really serve up some frantic, kick-ass licks on guitar and sax. Eno makes his presence felt in a big way with some bizarre synth breaks, and Ferry shows that he learned to rock before he could croon.Next up, "Ladytron" starts out spacey/medieval, thanks to synth and oboe, before Ferry brings the full band into one of their finest signature songs. There are definite "prog-friendly" moments in the heroic keyboard motif, and Manzanera's axe work."If There is Something" starts out as a quasi-country psychabilly number, only to gracefully morph into perhaps the best, most memorable track on the disc. Great lyrics, great singing, and some wonderful keyboard/piano themes. (Ferry supplies the piano.) The pounding, precise drums, courtesy of the great Paul Thompson, are notably good on this number. Sing along now: "Lift up your feet and put them on the ground -- the hills were higher, when you were young." Terrific, classic stuff.The later-added single "Virginia Plain" is good rocking fun, while the eerie "Chance Meeting" is very spacey, and very "prog." More wonderful weirdness follows, before the doo-wop-flavoured "Bitters End" brings this astonishing debut to a tragi-comic, haunting end. "Should make the cognoscenti think" indeed! Smooth on the finish, with a lingering, hard-to-classify, but bold aftertaste.Yes, ROXY MUSIC is the one that I would recommend curious prog fans to start with. It's a very good album, and provides an essential portrait of how the group that would later produce the slick, mega-selling AVALON started out. I find it difficult to compare the band (especially at this early stage of their career) to any other, so I won't attempt any "sounds like" comparisons. (This heady, hybrid sonic brew must be experienced to be understood!) Suffice to say that Roxy Music masterfully established their own sound, and staked out a unique place in the British rock scene of the time. If you've never heard early Roxy Music, or are fleshing out your collection of Seventies psycho-art rock, I whole-heartedly urge you to check out ROXY MUSIC. A must! Pass me another martini, would you? What did you say your name was again? Virginia? How very droll. Shall we leave this gaudy gathering, my dear? social review comments Review PermalinkPosted Friday, February 4, 2005 Review this album Report (Review #34003)

The album kicks off with the ambient sounds of a cocktail party (no doubt courtesy of Eno) before changing into a full-blown rocker, one of ROXY MUSIC's best songs. "Remake, Remodel" could almost be considered the definitive song by this band, as it features both their smooth glam-pop and vanat garde leanings. Each band members shines on this track, and McKay's and Eno's solos are especially envigorating. "Ladytron" is more in the ballad vein, but features a beautifully textural synth introduction, before Ferry's vocals come morphing it into a 50's style pop song/avant garde hyrbrid. This song has some of Eno's best electronics with the band. "If There is Something" is my personal ROXY favorite, and comes very close to traditional prog. It begins as a country tinged slow rocker, but slowly picks up speed, as Ferry's vocals become increasingly frantic (even frightening), before smoothly morphing back into its original form. Andy McKay, again, shines with several dissimilar but appealing sax solo spots. "Virginia Plain" is the song where ROXY MUSIC gives in wholeheartedly to its pop leanings. Nonetheless, out comes one of glam rock's best singles. Driven by an incredibly catchy and inventive melody, this short piece of glam was ROXY's first big hit, and deservedly so. Every band member contributes very well to this song, but Ferry dominates. Side One closes with "2HB", one of their most decidedly lounge room-ish songs. Ferry's smooth vocals amble through this wandering song, which just sort of rambles contentedly for about 5 minutes.While Side One packed a powerful punch, Side Two, while weaker has many classics as well. It kicks off with "The Bob", ROXY's most experimental song, (which unsurprisingly reeks of Eno). The song begins as a real hard rocker with crunchy guitar, before fading into an odd medley of World War II war sounds with sparse musical accompaniment. The song alternates between these war sounds and actual musical bits. (Manzanera's guitar is especially 50's styled on this song). [Note: the song is called 'the BOB' for Battle of Britain]. "Chance Meeting" is another Ferry ballad, but Manzanera has some real nice experimental guitar moments too. Overall, one of their weaker songs. "Would You Believe" is similar to "Chance Meeting", it is much stronger with some great jazz in the middle. Andy McKay's very American sax is wonderful on this song. "Sea Breezes" is a more ambient tune, which does have good moments but is a little drawn out and dull, despite its very avant garde arrangement. The album closes well with the short "bitter's End", a cabaret style song, (very 30's sounding) which returns to the cocktail party sounds of the "Remake, Remodel", and closes the package nicely. Bryan Ferry's voice is perfectly wistful and subdued on this wispy song. A fitting end to an excellent album. ROXY MUSIC's debut really is one of the finest rock debuts, and most innovative. They merge so many distinct sounds it is hard to compare them. At least in their early years, they fit just as nicely under the label prog as they do glam. They would get less experimental and more mainstream as Eno would leave, and Ferry would have complete control, but this 1972 album remains a timeless masterpiece. Extremely reccomended to all prog fans, as a symbol that prog does not just mean long, complex songs, it means Rock innovation. And ROXY MUSIC has it here in abundance. social review comments Review PermalinkPosted Monday, August 29, 2005 Review this album Report (Review #44731)

Right from the first second of the opener, we are hearing that Roxy is in a different world than most everything ever done before them, with those crazy Eno synths, Manzanera's Fuzz guitars, Mackay's inventive sax breaks, Ferry's good vocals (he was probably not yet fully aware of his crooner potentials). Roxy was clearly from another planet than GonG or any other usually frequented by progheads. But something was bound for these two universes (glam and prog) to collide, and Roxy was the one to do it - well they cheated as they use also some mellotrons, although sparingly. Ladytron with its weird synths and psychey fuzz guitars but also its lenghty mellotron-laden intro, Re-make/Re-model's wailing sax (you'd swear this was Lol Coxhill blowing it), Eno's Fender Rhodes (Ratledge-like) tape loops on 2HB, Eno's synths and loops and Thompson's drum heavy rolls in The Bob, all these might make you think that this is an experimental album, but do not be mistaken, we are firmly in pop-rock domain here. There are also some much less interesting tracks on the album as the semi-countryish If There Is Something, and the hit single Virginia Plain and the succession of shorter tracks on side 2 (tracks 6 to 10 - even if Sea Breezes has some charms that brings you back to the more adventurous spirits of side 1) until the aptly-titled closing track. As much as this album is original, Roxy Music will better themselves with the following For Your Pleasure, until Eno will leave after it and much of RM's soul with him. social review comments Review PermalinkPosted Wednesday, February 8, 2006 Review this album Report (Review #68737)

Roxy Music are primarily known as a singles band, having enjoyed great success in that market with what seemed at one time to be a never ending stream of hits. They were one of the major bands of glam rock, their image appearing at times to be as important to them as their music. The imagery can sometimes mean that the substance of the band is overlooked. Perhaps history has therefore been unfair to Roxy Music, as their early albums in particular demonstrate that there was often more to their music than "Do the strand" or "Dance away".The line up here includes many highly gifted musicians, most of whom would go on to become highly respected luminaries both within prog, and in music as a whole. The roll call includes such names as Phil Manzanera, Brian Eno, and Andy Mackay plus of course Bryan Ferry, all of whom were full band members of early Roxy Music. The signatures of the band are Ferry's unique, tremulant vocal style, and Brian Eno's synthesised processing of the guitars and wind instruments. All the compositions are credited to Brian Ferry, although the reality is clearly that the entire band were involved in the arrangment and development of the songs. The album was produced by Pete Sinfield, whose involvement appears to have been relatively low key, giving Eno all the flexibility and space he needed.After the rather wandering introduction to the album with "Remake/Remodel", things slip quickly into gear with "Ladytron". If nothing else, the track serves as an early reminder of Roxy Music's prog influences. They may not have looked like a prog band, but they were quite prepared to draw from whatever sources were necessary at the time. The track has some wonderfully futuristic sounds, especially bearing in mind the album dates from 1972. Eno is clearly already experimenting with sounds and distortions causing the more traditional instruments to take on new forms of life."Is there something" starts off as a more orthodox blues rock song with twanging guitar and rudimentary piano, but develops nicely through some sax and oboe. The latter half has some good old fashioned mellotron sounds complementing emotional vocals. "2HB", which completes side one, is a downbeat, rather meandering affair which borders on the ambient.Side two opens with "The Bob" (nice title!), a piece which is either extremely complex in structure or completely lacking in structure, depending on your perspective. It certainly changes style with admirable regularity, but the end result is a disjointed, unsatisfactory piece. "Chance meeting" slows things right down again, being essentially a piano and vocal piece with sundry guitar effects. "Would you believe" sounds at first like a drunken ballad, before the pace is suddenly lifted and an echoed straight rock'n'roll number pounds forth. At 7 minutes, "Sea breezes" is the longest track on the album. The title is poetically appropriate, the track being mainly soft and peaceful. It's another rambling piece with little to make it memorable. The album closes with the brief "Bitters end", another soft, downbeat number with lounge bar sound effects. As I have the original LP version, the superb single "Virginia plain" does not feature in the track listing, something which would be addressed once it had become a surprise hit.Bearing in mind this album was recorded some 35 years ago (at time of writing), it is remarkably forward looking while paradoxically drawing in many retrospective influences. The unique sounds and styles it presents can be challenging even now. While the album does not really work for me as a whole, it does have its moments. There is no doubt that this is the album which put the Art into Art Rock.Being the band's first album, it was also the first to feature a glamorous model in a seductive pose on the sleeve. Such images would become the trademark of the band's albums, and a familiar indication of the product. social review comments Review PermalinkPosted Friday, August 10, 2007 Review this album Report (Review #132557) 2ff7e9595c