Roxy Music - Manifesto (1979)



I have to admit that I never knew who they were when I first approached the album.  The band has been in existence since 1973.  They put out a couple of albums before disbanded in 1976.  The leader of the band, Bryan Ferry, has released several solo albums parallel to Roxy Music.  The album came out at the height of the post-punk / new wave music scene.  Quite a handful of musicians cited Roxy as one of their main influences (and also reason for forming a band), so the first album after they have regrouped showed lots of anticipation.  This album was on Mr. Sam Jor's top 10 list of 1979.  On his review of the album, he wrote something bold like, "you're not qualified to be a fan of the new wave music if you don't give yourself a chance to listen to this album".  As I was just becoming more interested in music, I had to find out what all the fuss was about. 

The album was split into two sides (so were the days of vinyl records), with one side labelled as "East Side" and the other as "West Side".  All sorts of musical influences showed up on the album - rock, power pop, disco, dance, funk, and even hints of punk rock!  The album version of "Angel Eyes" was more rock than disco (which the band later re-recorded to put out as a single).  The album version was later replaced by the single version in later pressings of the album as it became a huge hit.  Other niceties include "Still Falls the Rain", "Trash (extreme power pop!)", "Ain't That So", "Cry Cry Cry", and the album's other hit "Dance Away".  "Dance Away" was probably showing signs of where the band was planning to head to - witness the later hits of "Oh Yeah", "More Than This", and "Avalon".

The band passed the mustard on this one -  it didn't convert me to go back to their earlier and more successful albums which defined their sound, though.  "Manifesto" stands on its own - it has its own glorious moments.  This album signified that they're back on the scene - again.  Enjoy!