Roxy Music

British glam rock band Roxy Music’s eponymous debut album was commercially successful in the UK, where single “Virginia Plain” became a #4 hit.

Interestingly, the hit song was not part of the original album produced by King Crimson’s lyricist Peter Sinfield). Finished in just one week, given the band hadn’t been signed yet, the recording was enough to cinch a deal with Island Records in May 1972. The first pressing of the album excluded the hit song, subsequently recorded and released in August 1972.

The album’s music and lyrics are an eclectic mix of moods, genres, which often puts the “prog” in music dubbed progressive rock; being produced by a member King Crimson, it could have easily been embraced as “prog” by default. By design, the record showcases the raw talent and musical contributions of each band member, and yet all songs were written exclusively by Bryan Ferry. And quite by design, the band were dubbed “glam”, driven more by the visual spectacle of the band’s threads and stage presence than the music itself, not to mention the album’s cover is graced by a drag queen; was this controversial or even known in 1972?

Musically, “glam” was never a genre of sound, ranging from punk to metal to folk, and other genres, which is progressive, and theatrical by design. A drag queen?

Bryan Ferry would become a notorious and/or romantic lady’s man, suave and crooning, the antithesis to Mick Jagger’s “bad boy” appeal. And although Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music heavily influenced Bowie, the reverse was never the case.

The release upon inception was well-received by critics and consumers, and has been since, with and/or without Virginia’s plain. But as an album, without the hit single it would not have become Top tenner (in the UK).

Many iterations of the album have been released by various labels since the original June 1972 record, and Bryan Ferry, the frontman, didn’t hesitate to release solo albums during Roxy Music’s decade spanning of eight studio albums along with additional live recordings. Roxy Music itself shifted musicians often, and Bryan Ferry often enlisted Roxy Music “members” for his solo work, and was never satisfied with the production of his band’s debut. His re-recordings of four of the songs eventually landed on his 1976 album [Let’s Get Together].

Of course, this album is noteworthy being the debut musical output by Brian Eno, who was tolerated by Bryan Ferry only through the next album, the far more critically acclaimed [For Your Pleasure], or was the intolerance mutual?

And of course, which is only “of course” to certain music aficionados, it is not off-course to note that Eno went on to record his own “seminal” solo albums, is the father of ambient music (a statement so stated it’s not worth a reference or a fact check, so it’s a matter of factual opinion), not to mention one of the most groundbreaking and sought-after producers on the planet (from a cumulative perspective, since sometime in the late 1970’s to the present, but not presently, no). And without Eno’s soundscapes, Virginia’s plain would sound flat (which, depending on any listener’s ears, would make it somewhere in between worse to better, depending on earfuls of landscape/soundscape preferences).

“Cinematic” is another ubiquitous adjective attributed to the album and/or any given song on it, musically and lyrically.
Five years later, so was Bowie’s seminal work with Eno; but that’s another plot line. Then again hindsight is in cinema-spoke; the movie, a “major motion picture”, “Velvet Goldmine” (named after a Bowie song) cross-references all artists above, and then some (and no, it does not cross-dress any of them, it’s about the era and the music, and for Roxy Music? This was the beginning. Of their music, that is). Not interested? Then consider Radiohead’s contribution, or rather Thom Yorke’s.

Any edits? Cut.