Roxy Music - Siren

Released before Roxy Music became a de facto Bryan Ferry project, but after their Brian Eno-influenced art-rock stage, Siren is a snapshot of a band in flux, and loving it. There's little of the boundary-pushing primitivism that marked their self-titled debut. Still, Ferry's youthful edge and the band's rough-hewn melodicism will shock those expecting to hear the adult-contemporary silkiness found on 1982's massive-selling Avalon. Both camps should nevertheless admire this record for so recklessly and beautifully straddling that massive stylistic gap. Featuring their first modest hit in the U.S., "Love Is the Drug," the record overflows with choruses that reveal their hooks slowly while drawing on sunny, spare instrumentation and Ferry's loopy, still-developing croon. As the band wrestles between glam-pop, sleek dance tunes, and shiny, Moody Blues-esque rock & roll, they don't sound at all like a band running from its past. Ferry and his cohorts are just taking back the reins, revealing the brisk melodies and strong songwriting that were the one constant in Roxy Music's lifespan. --Matthew Cooke Amazon.com

Every album has it's fans and I'm not one of this ones

I've not played this album in a while, I haven't wanted or cared to. I did play it about fifteen times when I first bought and basically came away feeling indifferent to it's charms with the exception of "Love is the Drug" and "Both Ends Burning", which I can hear on almost any compliation that has ever been issued.
I don't hate this album but it never seems to catch fire and it didn't particularly reward actively giving it my undivided attention with the above noted exceptions. It was quite a let down after "Country Life".
I wish I had seen the review by Ira Robbins in The Trouser Press first before buying it on spec. He thought it was "disappointingly dull", which I basicly agree.

It is probably the last Roxy Music album I would buy a CD copy of.

Well, maybe before "Viva!" which is a more dynamic set of performances ruined by shrill, loud female backup singers. April 22, 2008

Actually quite good

I was hesitant to get this album because I knew that it was the beginning of Roxy's less interesting years - which it is. It's no Country Life by any stretch of the imagination but it's still a really great, solid album. If the very same release had any other band's name on it I would probably rate it higher, which says more about their previous albums than this one.

Alright, so it's fairly lightweight as far as artistic achievement goes but that shouldn't take away from the fact that the album is very, very good.

Besides it being a little more on the easy listening side, other changes that stand out are the production. Ferry's voice is doubled very often with a tight harmony that, along with his crazy vibrato, make for a sound that is somewhat addictive. There's also more room to breathe in the instrumentals, even though there are more actual instruments being played. It sounds like Phil Manzanera learned to be a part of the show, rather than a nuclear weapon. Whether that's good or bad is up to the individual listener. I love his freakout solos but it's nice to hear him calm down a little bit.

I guess the point here is that if you are like I was and are being somewhat scared away by the mixed reviews, don't be. It gets mixed reviews for very good reasons but if you like Roxy Music you'll most likely enjoy this album. It's just a different direction, not a bad one.

Now on to give Manifesto a try... November 30, 2007

"Siren" is still alluring!

"Siren," the fifth Roxy Music album is my personal favorite. Although not thought of fondly, in retrospect, my many of the band's members, "Siren" offers ten excellent songs- all of them worth listening to.

"Country Life," a personal favorite of many Roxy fans, left me slightly dissatified. I always thought "Bittersweet" was a less than succesful effort to rewrite "A Song for Europe," from the thrid album, "Stranded." Also, the kitschy ending song, "Prairie Rose," ended the album on a slightly goofy note. "Siren," on the other hand, maintains a cohesive thread all the way through. Of the first five Roxy Music albums it is the most like a "concept" album. "Love is the Drug," the opener illustrates the theme of the album- love IS a drug... addictive and capable of producing euphoria or intense pain. Ferry, whose vocals are wonderful throughout the album, sings of his addiction to love, the giddiness and excitement of finding it, and the unhappiness and disillusionment of losing it.

"Just Another High," the closer, sums up Ferry's dilemma succinctly. He's left seeking the thrill of it all... and yet is hoping to find someone new who might love him as much as he loved the woman he lost.

"Siren" is an underrated masterpiece. I would suggest this album as a great place to begin your Roxy Music collection. It features everything that is great about the band.

November 26, 2007

The Excellent Siren Album

I am very pleased that I decided to buy this album. Amazing to think that it came out in 1975 and yet the music is ageless. It remains an outstanding work by Roxy Music, for me I think maybe their best. July 8, 2007

The 1970s SIREN song is alluring you

There is no deadly crash on the rocks listening to ROXY MUSIC'S masterpiece SIREN (and that is 1970s top model Jerry Hall posed on the cover as the siren of the title). It is simply one of the most superbly realized Pop Rock albums ever, with 9 perfect songs, including ROXY MUSIC's only USA charting top 40 hit in 1976, "Love Is The Drug" which presages the New Wave as viable product for general consumption by at least three years. Interestingly, that disturbingly insightful tune is without doubt the weakest track on this wonderful album, which says a lot. Followed by "End Of The Line" an unintended and ironic comment upon the band's measured success and eventual decline, that tune subtly segues into the eerie opening of "Sentimental Fool," more Bryan Ferry ennui, which is sumptuously distracting, and then the stunning guitar slash of "Whirlwind" or for that matter "Both Ends Burning" (heavily borrowed by the one-hit-wonder STARBUCK for their huge hit "Moonlight Feels Right" in 1976.) All these songs are tied together thematically in an unprecedented and unexpectedly sleek production that ROXY MUSIC as a band had every right to expect would finally crack the USA market that nonetheless, and unfortunately, went largely overlooked stateside.
Including stunners like "She Sells," the heart-breaking "Could It Happen To Me," and just plain gorgeous "Nightingale," SIREN is a treasure trove of some of Bryan Ferry's best tunes that does lack the unique artiness of earlier ROXY MUSIC releases, and perhaps has a kind of weird, polished desperation to its commercialism. But nonetheless the record demonstrates a band working in the context, and confines, of its era, and exceeds any and all expectations, to yield a finely crafted album that was immediately recognized as a pop masterpiece by those in the know. Ending with "Just Another High," which this album was, ROXY MUSIC never again attained the glories of this record or their earlier releases. Bands simply do not anymore make records as precise, tuneful, and catchy as this landmark album.
February 28, 2007

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