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Album Reviews
Falling halfway between musical primitivism and art rock ambition, Roxy Music's eponymous debut remains a startling redefinition of rock's boundaries. Simultaneously embracing kitschy glamour and avant-pop, Roxy Music shimmers with seductive style and pulsates with disturbing synthetic textures. Although no musician demonstrates much technical skill at this point, they are driven by boundless imagination -- Brian Eno's synthesized "treatments" exploit electronic instruments as electronics, instead of trying to shoehorn them into conventional acoustic patterns. Similarly, Bryan Ferry finds that his vampiric croon is at its most effective when it twists conventional melodies, Phil Manzanera's guitar is terse and unpredictable, while Andy Mackay's saxophone subverts rock & roll clichés by alternating R&B honking with atonal flourishes. But what makes Roxy Music such a confident, astonishing debut is how these primitive avant-garde tendencies are married to full-fledged songs, whether it's the free-form, structure-bending "Remake/Remodel" or the sleek glam of "Virginia Plain," the debut single added to later editions of the album. That was the trick that elevated Roxy Music from an art school project to the most adventurous rock band of the early '70s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
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Run Leona Lewis |
| What started life as a Radio 1 Live Lounge performance, has ended up as a clever instrument for world domination by Simon Cowell. The Snow Patrol cover hasn't officially had a UK singles release, instead it's been added to the Christmas re-released 'Deluxe' Edition of the album, with a brand new artwork, just to tease us all a bit further into forking out again for the CD. It seems to have worked as it went to number one the week after her amazing X Factor appearance and even managed to hold off Dido's comeback record. Having said all of that and without meaning to sound like Mr. Cowell himself, it's all about the music, right? And despite the plethora of low notes she has to contend with at the beginning of the song, there is enough soaring moments later in the piece to showcase her wonderful voice beautifully. It packs a huge emotional punch and, for once, a gospel choir kicks in at the right place, without being cliche. There are not too many Leonas around and love or hate her style, you cannot fault her vocal range, effort and the team behind her choosing the right songs and producers to work with. 'Run' is pretty faultless, but it's new material we want from her and to that end wish her all the best for 2009. ©2008 Shazam Entertainment Limited. All rights reserved. | |
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