On Roxy Music's sixth album Manifesto – their first album since 1976's live Viva album and their first studio album since 1975's Siren, the band has refined their sound. The rough, more-experimental edges have been smoothed-over and Bryan Ferry's lyrical concerns are now a smidge more direct. They actually sounds more like the bands that would later emulate them (Duran Duran, Japan, the entire new romantic movement) on this album. The songwriting is slightly more inconsistent than on previous releases, however there are also more subtleties as well to be enjoyed. Manifesto boasts three excellent singles; the lamenting “Dance Away”, the resigned “Angel Eyes” and arty new-wavey “Trash”.
The album tracks “My Little Girl”, “Still Falls The Rain”, “Spin Me Round” and the title track are all fine additions to the Roxy Music catalog. Guitarist Phil Manzanera and saxophonist Andy MacKay are given a few moments here and there, but this is definitely the first Roxy Music album where Bryan Ferry leads the band as his own. By no means a bad album, Roxy Music made far better albums than this. Half of this album is great, half of it is not. Not a great starting place (for that I'd recommend Country Life, Avalon and For Your Pleasure) but not bad once you've heard their best work either.
Here's the video review:
No comments:
Post a Comment