COUNTRY LIFE

Second album without Eno for Bryan Ferry & Co. and in fact the sound is now quite different from the debut album, which is only two years distant. With the addition of Eddie Jobson the sound has become languid, glam-rock and decadent (and even less experimental).

The first song, "The Thrill of It All", as always, is a rave up that follows the heat of the openings of the first three albums: it's better than Street Life, but is less inspired, too mechanical in comparison of ReMake ReModel and Do the Strand - although it's a song with a beautiful effect (Rating 8).

The second song is a rather glossy and harmless romantic ballad, where a country harmonica appears, Perhaps too relaxed. Rating 7+.

The third song is the faded copy of Virginia Plain, played with enthusiasm, reproducing Manzanera's rattling guitar, which seems to follow a trajectory all his own, separated from the rest of the group. The song is not entirely successful but it has a lot of potential, and an overwhelming rock rhythm. Rating 7.5 / 8.

Out of the Blue tries to reproduce a ballad with a vaguely electronic background, as Brian eno did, and manages to create a very refined, almost thriller atmosphere, with a great work on percussion and bass (Thompson and Gustafson). The music flows pleasantly, and if it is not entirely a new sound (it recalls that of the previous albums), it remains a music of master class. Excellent instrumental coda with solo by Manzanera and Gustafson. Rating 7.5 / 8.

The first side ends with a typically English vaudeville, very ironic, a catchy country-pop with a very inspired Ferry on the singing. Unpretentious commercial music but beautifully arranged and performed perfectly. Rating 7.5.

Second side.

It begins with Bitter Sweet, the disc's masterpiece. Refined ballad where Gustafson and Ferry make a great contribution with the sound of their instruments, it turns into a neurotic German cabaret with Manzanera's rattling guitar. The pathos does not reach that of A Song For Europe, but we are at very high levels, which other groups can only dream for an entire career. Ferry is now an experienced and wonderful crooner. What class Roxy Music has! Rated 8.5 / 9.

The album, however, no longer reaches these peaks and ends in a dignified but not exciting way. The masterpiece of pathos is followed by three short songs, Tryptich, a ballad with an almost Renaissance arrangement and a goliardic chorus (ratings 7+), Casanova, another danceable rave up with rattling guitar arrangements by Manzanera (rating 7,5)

- once again there is a neurotic sound that overlaps the elegant architecture of the song, and this is exactly the peculiarity that makes the first 4 albums of Roxy Music great: when only the sense of elegance and decadence remains, you can see the class but not the talented inspiration, as in the case of A Really Good Times, an elegant piano ballad, arranged as always very well but not so inspired ( Rating 7+).

The end: a long final song that, however, fails to capture the atmosphere it pursues, perhaps the least inspired of all, rating 7.

Thus closes an album of rare elegance, with an exceptional care of the arrangements (better than Stranded), played by a band of virtuosos (Gustafson, Manzanera above all) - in which Mackay's sax is heard too little - and sung magnificently by one of the greatest British crooners, Country Life is not a real successful album. What Roxy Music have acquired in skill and experience, they have lost in inspiration and innovation, so the result is a refined and pleasant music but largely heard in the previous albums.

Anyway, it maintains a high level of quality: the final judgment is 8 or 8+/10 that is between three and a half stars and four stars.

Let's go with 4 stars. We are in front of a talented band!