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Pop: Get on Down: Roxy Music

by Dan Cairns

Sunday Times, 9th July 2006

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Underrated? No. But Roxy are often forgotten when arbiters of music's biggest influences draw up their lists. The Eno era, a collision of art and artifice, style and substance, shattered rock's template. And the three Roxy albums from Manifesto on raised the bar of sophisticated songmaking so high that few have come close since. The band play Rock the Dock in London on July 22.

1 Do the Strand
Propulsion, dissonance, hooks, snags and possibly pop's sole use of the word "quadrilles".

2 Dance Away
"You're dressed to kill/And guess who's dying?" The master of the perfect turn of phrase spins a beauty.

3 Editions of You
A Weimar cabaret croon set to a musical meltdown.

4 Street Life
Their first post-Eno release, ostensibly pop-bright but with a core as black as night.

5 In Every Dream Home a Heartache
Love with an inflatable sex toy, as Ferry critiques luxury's hollow promise.

6 A Song for Europe
In Paris, with a broken heart, Ferry decries European unions.

7 More Than This
Late-period Roxy: existential, romantic '" perfection.

8 Virginia Plain
Quintessential Bry, the indulgent but detached observer.

9 Oh Yeah
Few songs nail the heat and torment of summer-in-the-city romance as completely as this track from 1980's Flesh + Blood.

10 To Turn You On
Over four seasons, in New York, Ferry does it again.