I know that a lot of reviews said this one was a tired, lack-luster and unimpressive album, but I have to disagree. They weren't the proto-Punk of their previous incarnation in the early 70s, but they had a lot of talent and ideas still in them, and I think their sound, especially from this album, helped establish a style for all artists and bands that stretched well into the mid to late 80s. And the album sold like fuckin' hotcakes even with the poor reviews, anyway.
As all of their single sleeves were ugly, I didn't want to use one for the cover, and the existing Seville cover is fantastic enough, so I left it alone. There were two b-sides and two remixes, but then also the wonderful Dreamtime mixes, as well. Favorite tracks are Oh Yeah, Same Old Scene, Flesh+Blood and Over You.
Dude... you have been on a roll so far this week. Fantastic posts!
ReplyDeleteI've tried to manage this thing in waves. I realized if I did nothing but kick ass albums out of the chute forever, then I would firstly run out of kick ass albums quicker, and be left with nothing but mediocre albums. Plus, if I did nothing but kick ass albums, it would diminish the quality of those albums and you'd be less impressed with each post as all the posts would be good. So, unfortunately, there is some filler.
DeleteLOVE this album. It doesn't touch "Avalon" for me, but it's close. I'm not crazy about the cover songs either, but I will always, always, ALWAYS maintain that "Same Old Scene" is one of their very best songs. The opening scene of Tim Curry's film "Times Square" will always be one of my all-time favorite movie scenes just because it uses that song.
ReplyDeleteFor some bizarre reason, "Lover" turned up on the second "Miami Vice" soundtrack. (I bought the damn thing just for a new Roxy song.) Still can't quite figure that one out. If ever a band was misplaced on a soundtrack, that was it.
The cover versions felt like Ferry's solo career bleeding into Roxy, so I concur with the accepted wisdom, like Bowie's Lodger, the album sometimes seems to be less than the sum of it's parts & when you listen to the songs individually, you think 'these are great, why do I not love this album?' The answer, of course, is the cover versions, they just don't sit with this version of Roxy's sound, signposting where they'd go with Avalon.
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