COUNTRY LIFE

I knew the band from the famous Bryan Ferry not from their music but from his consistent appearance in local music magazine, Aktuil, which was popular in the 70s in the small town where I lived, Madiun, East Java at that time. I did not have any cassette collection on this band because some friends told me that this band was weird and the music was not good. I could understand that especially by that time only Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and the like who were quite popular. And then I started to know Yes, Genesis and the like. I once listened to the cassette of Roxy Music and I was not impressed at all as the music was quite having a sort of rock'n'roll type to my ears.

This Country Life I only listened to it not a long time ago and I can understand now why I did not like Roxy Music kind of music as the style is quite different from the rest. But having been explored to many kinds of genres I can now understand how the music of RM is performed like this. This Country Life album resembles the combined music of pop, rock'n'roll with some progressive elements in it with the opening track The Thrill of It All (6:24). I can enjoy this type of music actually. One chief reason I could not like it at that time was the kind of vocal style that did not seem like a rockin' one compared to Ian Gillan and Robert Plat or David Byron. Nope, I did not expect something like them ...in fact Paul Rodgers never or seldom sung in high register notes but he was rockin' with his Bad Company. But Roxy Music is different, really.

The composition of this album is good as it demonstrates the different style of playing music compared to other heavy metal bands. Right here the musicians worked their talents on the basis of rock'n'roll music combined with the heavier part of rock - or in a way the music is somewhat similar with the kind of David Bowie even though not really alike. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW