394 - Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
Jun. 28th, 2011 12:49 pmI listened to this album a lot last week. It really had me puzzled. At first, I really disliked it. But the more I listened to it, the more interesting I found the music. I went into this album familiar with Bryan Ferry's crooning voice from the 80's incarnation of the band and his vocals were a source of frustration while listening to For Your Pleasure. As of today, I wouldn't replace the vocals on this track with someone else, no matter how much I'm still befuddled by some of the choices Bryan made. "Do the Strand" sounds like a song that was cut from the Rocky Horror Picture Show with its half-sung, half-spoken lyrics. "Strictly Confidential" has Bryan sounding somewhere between Michael Crawford in Phantom of the Opera and the vampire puppet from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. And on "Editions of You," I thought Bryan sounded like Jello Biafra with a fuller voice.
I guess my affection for these songs has more to do with the rest of the music, a likely affection I've gained for the Brian with an "I" - Brian Eno. The songs can sound very conventional at times, but quickly get quirky with the tempo or instrumentation. "The Bogus Man" is like a glam rock Pink Floyd song.
Songs I knew I liked: None
Songs I didn't know but now like: I honestly am going to have problems answering this field. While I've grown more interested in the album with more listens. There still aren't any songs that I think to myself, "Oh, I wanna listen to that one if I can only hear a couple of songs." If anything, I've been more attracted to the songs I don't like just to figure out what it is about them that rubs me the wrong way.
Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: I wouldn't say no to listening to this album again. I guess my interest is mostly academic, in a way, and am just as interested in listening to songs I don't like on this album as much as songs that I enjoy hearing.