FOR YOUR PLEASURE

Certainly the apex of Roxy Music's experimental phase. In fact, it serves as a great example of British art rock as a whole. Released in 1973, promoted by the single 'Pyjamarama' (not included here) and the band's last album with Eno, it expands on the ethereal soundscapes explored in the band's debut, but in my opinion the examples on this album are further developed and not as rambling as they may sometimes come across on the debut. Stylistically, FYP has a much more menacing and decadent sound than Roxy's debut, but the debut's up-beat moments are also replicated here to great effect!

The album begins with the fan favourite "Do The Strand" - the world needed a song about a weird dance, and Bryan Ferry was nice enough to fill that void for us. Deliciously fun and frollicking, it features rather psychotic vocals from Ferry, excellent keyboard, guitar & sax work, but the highlights for me are indeed the drumming and the weird lyrics - "Wary of the waltz, mashed potato schmalz, rhododendren!". Slightly ridiculous, but that's what the band's all about :). A great fun listen, but not the best song on the album.

Ahh, "Beauty Queen". At first I thought it was too weird to warrant attention, but this was one of my weaker moments. The song is characterised by an interplay between Ferry's crooning and Eno's synthing. The song happens to be about a model from Newcastle in the late 60s/early 70s, named Valerie. Judging from the fantastic vocals, she obviously means a fair amount to Mr Ferry. The song is fairly low key for the first half or so, but then it segues into a nice 50s-ish rockfest before closing out. Certainly representative of the early Roxy sound.

Next we have "Strictly Confidential", which once again took a while to grow on me. A slow atmospheric song, it is driven by Ferry's vocals, and some great keyboards with some supporting sax. What stands out for me is the song's ambience - it begins quietly, gathers momentum, gets rather desperate, and rather strangely...ends quiet again. It certainly holds one's attention. Even though it's the shortest song on the album, clocking in at 3:48, it's one of the songs which I don't think would suit single release at all. That means, it 'ain't poppy ladies and gentleman, and it's probably too dark and brooding for all the little single buying kiddies anyway.

Probably one of Roxy Music's better "rock" moments, "Editions of You" is a great slice of mad Roxy art-pop. It only lasts just under 4 minutes, but what an engaging 4 minutes they are: the instrumental solos leap from Andy Mackay's frantic sax, to Eno's positively beserk synth (maybe he pushed the wrong button?!). Add to that some great guitar breaks from Manza, and some silly organ towards the end, and you have a sure fire winner! No self-respecting fan of early Roxy would be able to go without listening to this song. "Don't play yourself for a fool....too much cheesecake too soon!" Yes indeed.

"In Every Dream home a Heartache"...well it's probably the best song on the album, if you could call it a song - I'd describe it as Art/Decadence/Sci-fi Rock. In essence, it's a poem where a rich rich rich man chortles on about how fantastic his inflatable doll is (certainly a celebration of the whole "money can't buy you happiness" maxim), set to some fluid synth-treated guitar...all very low-key until about 3 minutes in, when the guitar and synth are unleashed and play merry hell with one another, with Ferry chanting "Dream home heartache" as if someone's torturing him with a screwdriver. And then it fades out....but comes back! One of rock's only songs to feature a false ending, the song makes a fantastic return, again with the guitar and synth fighting for prominence. One of Roxy's greatest pieces of art rock - even if you only have a passing interest in the genre, you must treat yourself to it at least once!

Roxy's longest song, "The Bogus Man" is a favourite of drummer Paul Thompson's, and so happens to be about a rape. As you may expect, being a favourite of the drummers means it has quite a funky beat in the background - no disappointment here. Great drum beats plodding along with some sax in the background are certainly engaging. Ferry's mad vocals are a highlight too. The song creates some vivid mental imagery and a menacing atmosphere, which is certainly appropriate. My one criticism of this song (and consequently the entire album) is that I feel like it's a little mini TFTTO...it could perhaps be condensed a little. Still, too long is better than too short in many ways.

Next up we have "Grey Lagoons", which is a nice stab at some Neo-50s kitsch...almost. It's certainly different! It has quite a fast beat set down by the rhythm section, but Manza's scorching guitar comes to the fore, as does Andy Mackay's sax. Manza's aforementioned guitar is the highlight for me: the song is one of Roxy's happier, up-beat moments, which are certainly sparse on the album and thus it is well placed.

The album concludes with "For Your Pleasure", one of the great title tracks. Quite slow, with everyone in the band contributing excellent parts - but the prize goes Eno. Ferry's vocals are a marvel, but the song is created by Eno's synth treatments, which will close out the song in one of the band's more esoteric/avant-garde moments. I believe this to be one of Roxy's most prog songs...it simply needs to be heard to be believed (incidentally, Judy Dench can be heard saying "you don't ask why" 6:26 into the song).

To conclude, "For Your Pleasure" is a masterpiece of progressive music - no question. It expands on the debut's high points whilst minimising it's low points, and therein lies the key to its success as an album. It is certainly representative of Roxy's earlier period, and is highly recommended to fans of art rock or simply highly imaginative and atmospheric rock music.