Stegzy's Music Project

A commentary on Stegzy's album collection

Heart Still Beating – Roxy Music [#574]

Roxy_Music-Heart_Still_BeatingBryan Ferry and chums sleaze their way through an hour and 8 minutes of live music recorded in Frejus, France, 1982.

This is Roxy Music’s third live album complete with saxophone fellatio from Andy Mackay and guitar wanking from Phil Manzanera though surprisingly it was not released until 1990.

I think by this time Ferry’s pals had had enough of the whole lounge lizard vibe and were starting to look at future career prospects. Indeed, the album Avalon, the promotional tour from which Heart Still Beating is a recording, was to be the band’s last. Although technically, they did what most successful bands do and they did release several live and best of compilations after. Indeed, Ferry had only just got started and he wanted to stay afloat and even at the grand old age of 71 (at time of press) Ferry still oozes across the stage with his performances like some leery lecherous old granddad who’s got his eye on your twenty-year-old daughter. And not just for the job as his secretary.

Heart Still Beating as an album covers a nice range of Roxy Music’s work while also focusing on their more relatively modern love songs compared to their saxophone riddled earlier works. A good start for those unaware of Roxy Music’s historical bag of tricks and those wanting to see what that old rascal Ferry has to offer.

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For Your Pleasure – Roxy Music [#485]

Roxy_Music_-_For_Your_PleasureRoxy Music’s second studio album brought to me by a hard drive dump from a former work colleague.

When I obtained this album, I was at a point in my life where my interest in Roxy Music consisted of Flesh and Blood, a live video of Bryan Ferry in concert and a selection of the band’s Best of albums. So having heard tracks from this album such as Do the Strand and In Every Dream Home a Heartache ad nauseam from my prior trove, it’s no surprise that this album gets little in the way of air time through my collection.

Shame really, some good music on it.

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Flesh & Blood – Roxy Music [#481]

Flesh_and_Blood_album_cover-1In an effort to destroy good music, my eldest brother made me a copy of this on a home taped cassette. If he hadn’t perhaps the music industry would still be around today.

At the time of the cassettes issue, I was in my late teens and my main interest, as for most boys, was girls. Sarah Bamber was the then girl of my dreams but my interest was spurned regularly. So, like all good teen boys, I found solace by moping about listening to music, an activity spearheaded by the music of Chris Isaak and this album.

Songs from the album such as Oh Yeah and Running Wild featured heavily in my life soundtrack of the time. I still remember trying to garner attention by listening to the album sat on the veranda at Keswick Youth Hostel during a walking holiday with the church choir.

As I grew older and I realised that a moody male attitude alone didn’t get you laid. Nor did an interest in an American guitarist (Isaak) or a wrinkly lothario and his band. My appreciation of Flesh and Blood waned and the album became just another in my vast collection. Indeed, Sarah’s interest only piqued when I became unavailable and she later ended up having a brief fling with who she thought was my best friend as a way of getting back at me
for spurning her affections. Oh how I laughed as he drew her into his own world of despair, womanising and mysogyny.

This is Roxy Music’s seventh studio album and was my introduction to Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music and originally featured on the B side of a 90 minute cassette with the A side consisting of a collection of songs by The Tubes.  Happily I now own the full album on digital media.

Which is a good thing as since home taping killed music.

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Concerto – Roxy Music [#300]

Roxy_Music-ConcertoI had hoped that the three hundredth album in this project would have been a monumental one. Sadly it’s another best of/Live/compilation. It’s like all the albums this month have been compilations. I know they haven’t but it really seems like to be a successful musician you have to write about 20 songs on about 3 albums then release best ofs, lives and cover version albums for a few years then make a come back or reform.

Bryan Ferry is the master of come back. Concerto is the twenty somethingth release by Roxy Music and the sixth live album by the band. It is also noted for the fact that it was released in 2001 and is a recording of a concert in performed in Denver made in 1979.

Talk about milking your back catalogue and fans for everything they have!

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Bête Noire – Byran Ferry (#178)

Bête Noire - Byran FerryBête Noire – Byran Ferry

At last, our journey through the “best of” has come to an end and the first album we arrive at is Bête Noire by Byran Ferry.

This is Ferry’s seventh solo studio album dating back to 1987. Ferry is still doing his lounge lizard thing but this time he’s seasoning with dark juju. French Afro-Carribean influences percolate through the album like well ground coffee.

Surprisingly, I’ve not listened much to this album. I was bitten by the Ferry bug a few years after this album was released and missed its passing in the shops. In fact it was not until I was making a Ferry compilation for the car that I realised I’d heard many of the tracks before. It’s funny when that happens.  Since then, the album has had a bit more playtime on my iTunes.

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#111 – Avalon – Roxy Music

Screen Shot 2014-08-17 at 18.34.49Avalon – Roxy Music

If you survived the brain mashing of the last two Les Joyaux de la Princesse, albums you’ll be pleased to know they won’t resurface until we get to C.

Like a refreshing aural drink, Bryan Ferry oozes cool swarveness through your speakers and leads you into a seedy world of lounge bars, loafers and broken hearts.

I’ve got a thing for Bryan Ferry’s Roxy Music work. It just sounds and feels so sophisticated. Like a white suit and black shirt on the morning after a rather sensational party when you have stayed up all night with a bottle of Bolly stinking of tobacco and still not pulled the foxy chick who may or may not be a high class prozzie dressed in a red short dress.

Avalon is no exception. Listen to it, let it seduce you, have its wicked way with you and leave you with a feeling like you’ve just been used by some knob head in a white suit who stinks of cigarettes, has a nasty rash and is carrying a bottle of Bolly with some Asti decanted into it…..

 

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