COUNTRY LIFE

By this, their fourth album, Roxy Music were well on their way away from the quirky, odd art rock of the first two albums, and toward the smooth lounge style music they mastered on the last few. One big step in the process is Bryan Ferry getting much better at singing notes, as opposed to singing around them.

The first half of the album is much more traditional rock/pop than the second, but it also contains the two best songs on the album. The Thrill Of It All and Out Of The Blue are some of the best songs of this stage of Roxy's music. Casanova, from the second side of the album, is not far behind, however, later live performances of this song far outshine this version.

Bitter-Sweet is the most artsy sounding song on the album. It almost sounds like an imitation of the Brecht/Weill songs that The Doors once played. Triptych also sounds a bit like the early Roxy Music sound, but doesn't stay interesting.

So this is a mixed bag. It has some interesting songs, but is no way a necessity.

then again, it does have that soft core porn cover.