“Country Life” by Roxy Music - album review

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TJR says

The first post-Eno Roxy Music set was stylish, peppy and imaginative, if not quite as off-the-wall as previous efforts. Straight from the off, “The Thrill Of It All” sets the tone – where previous Roxy albums have notoriously kicked-off with a breath-taking blast of future-pop, this time the opener rawks more conventionally. “All I Want Is You”, which was sitting in the Top 20 as the album was released, is the first “New-Waver” to appear, and sounds fresh and exciting. Eddie Jobson, Brian Eno’s replacement, makes his presence felt on “Out Of The Blue”, a New Wave rocker laced by swirling, psychedelic production and strong violin. “It Takes All Night” surprises greatly in that it comes on all Status Quo, three-chord blues-rocking which puts a smile on the face. It’s exceedingly quirky with Bryan’s wavering vocals on top – this is when they’re at their best, being slightly wonky. The album highlight, “Bitter-Sweet”, opens up side 2. This veers between the sweetness of Carpenters “Superstar” territory and some sort of sinister German oom-pah band theatrics! Bitter-sweet indeed; this is the stuff I want from my Roxy, weird and wonderful. Alas, nothing else from here-on excites anywhere near as much; by and large, Roxy remain in good shape, although I can’t help feel a certain regret that they’re heading in a more conventional direction than their earlier LPs had promised.

The Jukebox Rebel
18–Mar–2011

Tracklist
A1 [06:24] 6.6.png Roxy Music - The Thrill Of It All (Bryan Ferry) Cerebral Pop
A2 [04:04] 5.9.png Roxy Music - Three And Nine (Bryan Ferry, Andy Mackay) Cerebral Pop
A3 [02:53] 7.2.png Roxy Music - All I Want Is You (Bryan Ferry) New Wave
A4 [04:46] 6.9.png Roxy Music - Out Of The Blue (Bryan Ferry, Phil Manzanera) New Wave
A5 [03:12] 7.7.png Roxy Music - If It Takes All Night (Bryan Ferry) Blues Rock / Soul Rock
B1 [04:50] 8.5.png Roxy Music - Bitter-Sweet (Bryan Ferry, Andy Mackay) Songwriter
B2 [03:09] 6.4.png Roxy Music - Triptych (Bryan Ferry) Songwriter
B3 [03:27] 6.1.png Roxy Music - Casanova (Bryan Ferry) New Wave
B4 [03:45] 6.5.png Roxy Music - A Really Good Time (Bryan Ferry) Songwriter
B5 [05:12] 6.0.png Roxy Music - Prairie Rose (Bryan Ferry, Phil Manzanera) Cerebral Pop

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