FLESH + BLOOD

"Flesh + Blood" is the seventh studio album of Roxy Music and that was released in 1980. After the release of "Flesh + Blood" the band toured extensively until 1983, when Bryan Ferry dissolved the group and the band's members devoted themselves to personal projects. The more straight forward and commercial direction that the band took on "Manifesto" continued on "Flesh + Blood". The art cover was conceived by Peter Saville and was photographed by Neil Kirk. It features three young women holding javelins, two are on the front cover and one is on the back. Saville worked with no input from Ferry or the rest of the band, but continued the tradition for Roxy Music albums to feature images of women.

After touring their previous studio album "Manifesto" and before recording "Flesh + Blood", the original drummer Paul Thompson have abandoned the band because the broke of a thumb in a motorcycle accident. He later left the group permanently. So, the line up has only three original members of the band, Bryan Ferry (vocals, keyboards, piano, synthesizer, guitar and strings), Andy MacKay (oboe and saxophones) and Phil Manzanera (guitar and bass). The album has also the participation of Neil Hubbard (guitar), Paul Carrack (strings), Alan Spenner (bass), Neil Jason (bass), Gary Tibbs (bass), Allan Schwartzberg (drums and percussion), Andy Newmark (drums) and Simon Phillips (percussion).

"Flesh + Blood" has ten tracks. The first track "In The Midnight Our" written by Wilson Pickett and Steve Cropper is a song originally performed by Wilson Pickett in 1965 and released on his 1966's album "The Exciting Wilson Pickett". Sincerely, I don't know the original song, but from what I've read, this version is completely different. It's a very good song with a cool sound that has become a cult classic Roxy Music's song. The second track "Oh Yeah" written by Bryan Ferry was one of the songs chosen to be released as a single and is a big hit of this album. It's the second single released from the album and hit the UK singles chart. This is a very catchy pop song very well made which improves in general the commercial quality of the song writing of the album. This is a perfect pop song. The third track "Same Old Scene" written by Bryan Ferry was another song chosen to be released as a single and also hit the UK singles chart. It's a song with a strong bass line, nice vocals, great keyboards and specially a fantastic saxophone work by Andy MacKay. This is another great Roxy Music's song. The fourth track with the same name of the album, "Flesh and Blood" written by Bryan Ferry, is also a good song but is a little bit inferior to the other previous songs. It has a good bass line and a nice guitar sound but the melody is repetitive. It's a pity that they didn't develop the song a bit more. The fifth track "My Only Love" written by Bryan Ferry is, in my opinion, a type of song that pushed Roxy Music into lush soundscapes. It's a song with a very simple and catchy melody and wistful lyrics and also with nice guitar and saxophone sounds. This is another great pop song. The sixth track "Over You" written by Bryan Ferry and Phil Manzanera is the first song chosen to be released as a single and has also hit the UK singles chart. It's a song with high melodic guitar accompanied by pulsating drums and bass. This is another catchy pop song very well made reaching its objectives perfectly well. The seventh track "Eight Miles High" written by Gene Clark, David Crosby and Roger McGuinn is a song of the American rock band The Birds. The original version was first released as a single and was also included on the band's third studio album "Fifth Dimension", in 1966. As with "In The Midnight Hour", I also don't know the original version. So, the only thing I can say is that this is an interesting song, nice and enjoyable. The eighth track "Rain, Rain, Rain" written by Bryan Ferry is another calm, good, nice and enjoyable song with good and powerful line rhythm. The ninth track "No Strange Delight" written by Bryan Ferry and Phil Manzanera is one of the highest points of the album. This is the only song that probably reminds us the old sound of them. It has some decadent magic of the old days. The tenth and last track "Running Wild" written by Bryan Ferry and Phil Manzanera is a very calm, melodic and beautiful ballad with a very special feeling. This is a good mellow ballad in which Ferry exells. I think this is a very nice way to close this album.

Conclusion: Roxy Music was always a very special band for me and I always loved "Flesh + Blood". I know this album isn't progressive and has a pop/disco sound. I also know that many people consider this album more a personal musical project of Bryan Ferry than a Roxy Music's album, specially because was for the first time that a band's album have songs that weren't written by the members of the band. That was only usual on Bryan Ferry's solo albums. Still, I always considered "Flesh + Blood" a better album than "Manifesto". "Flesh + Blood" is almost a perfect album because is better balanced, cohesive and consistent than "Manifesto" is. However, since I'm on a progressive site I can only rate it with 3 stars. It lacks to it a touch of progressiveness to be a great progressive work. Like Genesis, Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music succeeded where other bands like Renaissance, Gentle Giant and Emerson, Lake & Palmer failed and wheren't able to achieve and sustain a commercial success in those difficult days of the 80's for the prog rock music.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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