We're Not Who You Think We Are
Single, 1964
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Inspired by an off-hand comment Roy Orbison’s co-writer, Bill Dees, made about Oribison’s wife, “Oh, Pretty Woman” is an absolute masterclass in how to pare a song down to the absolute basics. In this case, the basics are a dynamite corkscrew guitar riff, the simplest of drumbeats, and of course, Orbison’s voice, which mostly mitigates the somewhat problematic lyrics.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2128: Roy Orbison – “Oh, Pretty Woman”
Single, 1963
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With his utterly soaring voice and flare for big arrangements, Roy Orbison was an absolutely key figure in the post-Elvis, pre-Beatles era, and also a key figure in the sub-genre of rock ‘n’ roll made by nerdy looking dudes.
And while — with the exception of the eternal marvel that is tomorrow’s song — he’s probably best known for his ballads, I prefer Orbison the rocker, and nowhere does he rock harder than on his cover of Claude Demetrius’s “Mean Woman Blues,” a bit of proto rockabilly that features a clever turnaround on the lyric.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2127: Roy Orbison – “Mean Woman Blues”
Album: Live
Year: 2001
Roxy Music broke up after Avalon, Ferry wanting to try the solo career again. While he had some success in the U.K.- – you know what happened in the U.S., of course — the other guys did other things, though drummer Paul Thompson (who had left after Manifesto) played with Concrete Blonde and when their song “Joey” made the top 20, it was the best that any Roxy-associated person (unless you count Eno’s production of U2 or, er, Coldplay) had ever done on the Billboard singles charts.
Oh, that is also if you don’t count that Eddie Jobson was in the original version of the “Owner of A Lonely Heart” video as the keyboard player for Yes, even though he never actually played a note of music with the band. Which is something I just learned doing my half-assed research for this piece.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2126: Roxy Music – “Oh Yeah (Detroit, 2001)”
Album: Manifesto
Year: 1979
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In 1975, after Siren, Roxy Music essentially broke up because Bryan Ferry wanted to concentrate on his solo career. However, because they issued the live Viva! Roxy Music in 1976 and my beloved Greatest Hits album in 1977, when they regrouped in 1979 — the solo career going nowhere (at least in the U.S.) — and put out Manifesto, most folks could be excused for not knowing that they’d been gone at all.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2125: Roxy Music – “Dance Away”
Album: Siren
Year: 1975
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One of Bryan Ferry’s great lyrical talents was taking phrases that were otherwise cliches and making something original out of them: “All I Want Is You,” “The Thrill of It All” are two prime examples, as is the majestic “Both Ends Burning,” the final single from Roxy Music’s early run.
After the initial attention-grabbing sound effects, “Both Ends Burning” explodes from the speakers led by Andy MacKay’s sax and a soaring swirling Eddie Jobson synth part over a straight-up disco groove from bassist John Gustafson and drummer Paul Thompson.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2124: Roxy Music – “Both Ends Burning”
Album: Siren
Year: 1975
For their first four albums, one of the contradictions inherent in Roxy Music was the contrast between Bryan Ferry’s incredibly put together style and the crazed anarchy of many of their songs. And given that Roxy Music was Ferry’s band — especially after he canned ol’ sourpuss Brian Eno a couple of years prior — it was inevitable that they drift in his direction. And in retrospect, it’s surprising it took them this long to do it.
“This long” of course, being three years, as while Siren was their fifth album, it was still only three and a half years after Roxy Music. As a contrast when the Arcade Fire went all disco sleek on their fourth album, it was nearly a decade after their debut.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2123: Roxy Music – “Love is The Drug”
Album: Country Life
Year: 1974
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Opening with a massive Phil Manzanera guitar fanfare that sounds like an entire village’s church bells ringing out in celebration, “All I Want Is You” is Roxy Music yet again in big-ass rock mode — every one of their early singles were bangers — and in fact, could almost be dismissed as being formulaic except they were still killing it by finding new variants on that formula.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2122: Roxy Music – “All I Want Is You”
Album: Country Life
Year: 1974
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So while “Editions of You” is always going to be my favorite Roxy Music song, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that “The Thrill of It All” is the greatest Roxy Music song, and I’m not sure it’s even particularly close. If ever a song lived up to its name, it’s this one.
After putting out three albums in about 18 months, Roxy Music took their time with the fourth, the band line-up having solidified with Eddie Jobson on synths and electric violin and John Gustafon on bass, Country Life was incredibly focused, and the ensemble playing was out of this world.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2121: Roxy Music – “The Thrill of It All”
Album: Stranded
Year: 1973
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I’ve mostly stayed away from the long artier cuts, mostly because I think Roxy Music as an all-time great singles band — at least partially because until the end, all of their singles were absolute bangers — and because most of the long artier cuts were also slow, which I just don’t think they pulled off as convincingly as the fast ones.
There were exceptions, of course: the spooky “In Every Dream Home a Heartache,” the trippy “For Your Pleasure” and the anthemic “A Song For Europe” all had their moments, but for me, the tie they well and truly nailed it was “Mother of Pearl,” which with 40+ years of hindsight seems like a fractal of their entire career, going from gloriously crazy to gloriously beautiful in the space of 6:53.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2120: Roxy Music – “Mother of Pearl”
Album: Stranded
Year: 1973
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Even though Stranded was Roxy Music’s second album in 1973 and third in an eighteen month period, things had changed pretty radically in the Roxy camp since For Your Pleasure came out eight months prior. The main thing of course, was the sacking of ol’ sourpuss himself (or maybe given his reputation at the time, ol’ pussy hunter) Brian Eno, whose popularity was rivaling if not overshadowing that of Bryan Ferry.
And so in a classic act of passive-aggressiveness, Ferry had his manager do the actual firing, and poor Brian Eno was never heard from again.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2119: Roxy Music – “Street Life”