7. Roxy MusicFor Your Pleasure
When I was around 14 or 15 a sibling had a best of Bryan Ferry album that I listened to, and I was influenced by certain tracks, which all happened to be the Roxy Music tracks rather than the solo stuff. Then that led me to see what albums they were from. This is one of the best albums ever for loads of reasons. The song structures which aren’t the norm, the long introductions before the vocal stuff that would have been anti-radio… I love the ‘colour’, I suppose that’s the best way I could describe Roxy Music. It’s just the perfect blend of instruments and early electronics. And I love the fact that it’s early electronics, that they sound sort of naked, almost vulnerable. And there’s loads of Farfisa organ, which I’m obsessed with. All my favourite records have a certain amount of Farfisa organ, whether it’s Oxygene, Tubular Bells or this. All the colours and ideas then culminate for me with ‘In Every Dream Home A Heartache’, which for me is the best artistic statement that they ever made, lyrically, sonically and arrangement-wise. There are loads of Brian Eno albums that I could have picked for this, and I’m just as passionate about them, but I only have 13. And there’s something about the Roxy Music stuff where he had something to prove. He was just a guy called Eno in the band, the eyes were still on Bryan Ferry.
