11. Roxy MusicFor Your Pleasure
It could have been the first Roxy album but what I love about this is that there’s something darker going on. You have staples like ‘Do The Strand’ which is what we’ve come to associate with Roxy Music but then you have ‘Strictly Confidential’, ‘In Every Dream Home A Heartache’ and ‘The Bogus Man’ and that’s where they really begin to explore a darker side of Bryan Ferry and I think that was probably prompted by the tensions between him and Brian Eno.
I get the sense of his narcissism, if that’s what it was, being projected outward into these different situations so ‘The Bogus Man’, he probably thinks that it isn’t about him but it is. I find it fascinating. There’s a garish thing going on and there’s that false self – in ‘In Every Dream Home A Heartache’, the false self is a blow up doll, and ‘Strictly Confidential’ this weird love letter so it’s interesting to see where they where at.
It would’ve been easy to have gone for the first album because as soon as ‘Re-make/Re-model’ starts and you’re off. You think, welcome! Fantastic! But even on ‘Grey Lagoons’ that goes on for like, hours, where they’re going, ‘Ta-ra! Ta-ra!’ and he’s going, ‘Welcome! Welcome!’ and then that woman goes, ‘Don’t ask why’, right at the very end of the record which is a bit like 10cc’s ‘I’m Not In Love’ where she says, ‘Big boys don’t cry.’ It’s very ominous.
