Product Description

Roxy Music began to reign in its unsettling, quirky art rock on STRANDED, the band's third album. Without keyboardist/idea man Brain Eno in the band any longer, vocalist Bryan Ferry assumed full control of Roxy Music's musical direction, moving toward a less overtly experimental, yet still progressive and eccentric style. Ferry still sings in a camp-styled croon, part Noel Coward, part Lou Reed, yet his songwriting is sharper and more nuanced here, as the enigmatic "Psalm" and the multi-part "Mother of Pearl" convey.
STRANDED introduced violinist Eddie Jobson, whose contributions slotted in perfectly alongside reed player Andy Mackay and guitarist Phil Manzanera. A sense of cohesion permeates the set, groupmembers contribute lyrically, but there was no denying thatthis incarnation of the band represents Ferry's vision. Melodically strong, the album provides an ideal structure for Ferry's quirky intonation, resulting in a heady mix of experimentation and commercial acumen.

Track Listing

1. Street Life
2. Just Like You
3. Amazona
4. Psalm
5. Serenade
6. Song For Europe
7. Mother Of Pearl
8. Sunset

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5035 in Music
• Released on: 1999-09-13
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered

Customer Reviews

Watershed
The third Roxy Music album and also a watershed. This album marks the beginning of the movement towards mainstream commercialism. That is not to say that this album is bad. Far from it. This album contains some of Ferry's best songwriting and his voice is stronger too. The band sound more mature along with the production that compliments these great songs. 'Street life' still sounds like an out-take from the previous album, 'For your pleasure', with its distorted intro and Manzenara's blistering guitar. For me though , 'mother of Pearl' is the highlight of the album and marks Ferry's maturity as a songwriter. Another little gem on this album is 'Sunset' - Ferry's slow homage to the sun - wonderfully sad and thought provoking.
With Eno gone and Eddie Jobson taking his place (and adding his violin) the band moved on with this album. Although the previous two albums are my favourite, this comes third on my list! Great stuff!

Beauty and the beastly
The peaks of this third album soar higher than anything before or since from Roxy: Mother of Pearl,Song for Europe, Sunset, Just for You. But there is no getting away from the weaknesses, and this is the first Roxy album which showed the feet of clay which would stomp so ploddingly on later albums like Manifesto.
It is a crossroads album; Eno had left, and Ferry was now the tuxedo-wearing crooner of "Another Time, Another place".
The beautiful lyrics and perfect playing remained; but the humour and the fun had gone from Roxy. From now on, songs like "Psalm" would re-appear on each album which Ferry produced;as if he had to tackle serious themes to be taken as a serious artist.
The creative tension which existed between the two Bry/ians on the first albums had been removed, but with it had also gone the spark of brilliance. It is as if Eno gave something special to every songwriter he worked with, and Ferry was the first in a long line.
The album is worth having, for the four great tracks; but be prepared to skip through "Amazona", "Street Life" (a poorer verison of the classic "Do the Strand"), Psalm and (perhaps) "Serenade", to get to the gems.
After this, Roxy were strictly a singles band, and Ferry became the Rudolf Valentino of seventies rock; easy on the eye, but little worth listening to.

There's nothing much like this
Roxy's self-titled first album, although containing some of their strongest songs, is too poorly produced in parts to be considered their classic. ''For Your Pleasure', the follow up, tends to claim this accolade but for me 'Stranded' is the epitome of Roxy Music.

Coming as it did, smack bang in the middle of their glorious early/mid period, it contains songs that could easily belong on any of those records. Included is all the wierdness, exotica, brooding beauty and surprise that you would associate with the band across those first five albums. That's not to say the album is at all diffuse, various would best describe it, with every song sounding very 'Roxy-like' without ever really sounding like the last.

If 'Stranded' is Roxy Music's finest album, then, in 'Mother-of Pearl', it contains their finest song. From it's strange and original uptempo opening to it's delightfully sad/joyous main section this song just screams Roxy Music and never more so than in it's flowing, opaque lyric. I've never heard anything quite like this and that is part of Roxy's brilliance and appeal: they are not really Rock N' Roll at all but at the same time they aren't anything else.

Roxy, for me at least, are one of those few bands you may be lucky enough to hear in your life, whose music, for a time, obssesses you. There's something you love and admire about some bands without quite putting your finger on what it is. You feel really thankful that this band existed and whether you were there or not (In Roxy's case I'm only 32 and first listened to them in my early twenties) you can still feel excited by the fact that they happened; that they did what they did.

A truly underrated band and one of Britain's best kept musical secrets (everyone's heard of Roxy Music but who still plays this stuff?). Start here!