In the comments from yesterday's post, reader philT said he thought that Manifesto was Roxy Music's "last great album". Another regular reader, Paulo X, said that he didn't agree, citing their next album Flesh + Blood as the last great album. I fall squarely into that camp too. In fact I might even go as far as to say that this one is my personal favorite. It's got a beautiful cover, and I like all of the songs on it, originals and covers. There are two cover versions on it - one is a very groovy take on Eight Miles High, the other a typically Roxy-fied version of The Midnight Hour. It's true that this album marks the spot where Roxy's edge began to wear off. By the next album Avalon, slickness had prevailed and all the edge was gone - not that I minded, because I enjoy that album too. But back to Flesh + Blood.
Same Old Scene picks up the dance factor considerably. I love this tune, from the opening's simple drum machine to it's fanstastically spongy bass lines, the guitar riffs, the slick vocal performance from Ferry and the sax solos. This tune still gives me gooseflesh today. So does Over You. The big twangy guitar breaks are super cool, and I dig the cheesy new wave keyboards. I also love the melody, and the sense of space in the instrumental passages that lead to the end of the song. It was really hard for me to pick tunes from this album because I like all of them. And much like Manifesto, I'm amazed at how good this record still sounds, where so many of it's peers sound dated.
No comments:
Post a Comment