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Flesh and Blood

By: Roxy Music
Label: Virgin
Released: 01 Nov 1999
RRP: £13.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

This is the one that saw the change - By: Magic Rat, 31 May 2007
Many observers have their own opinions with regard to exactly when Roxy Music "changed" from the innovatve, ground-breaking early to mid 70s art school band to purveyors of hotel lounge bar low volume background music. For some, "Country Life" was the one, for others it was "Siren". Some feel the "comeback album" of "Manifesto" saw the biggest change. For me, it has always been this release, in 1980, that saw the end of Roxy Music as we knew them.

"Flesh And Blood" & it's follow-up "Avalon" have a strong case to be considered Bryan Ferry solo albums. The former even includes two cover versions in "The Midnight Hour" & "Eight Miles High" (always a trademark of Ferry solo offerings). Despite the presence of Phil Manzanera & Andy Mackay, drummer Paul Thompson having left after "Manifesto", this still has the laid back feel of a Ferry album, alll syncopated quasi-bossa nova rhythms, gentle congas & lilting guitar. Tracks such as "The Same Old Scene", while atmospheric & eminently listenable, are of the kind that Ferry trotted out in his sleep on albums such as "Boys And Girls", "Bete Noire" & "Mamouna" in the 80s & 90s. The path was now clear. No edgy guitar stuff from Manzanera, no wailing sax from Mackay, no bizarre lyrics & no tape loops ! Invention & innovation had given way to solidity & reliability.

This is not to say that in any way this is a bad album. It is actuallly a very good one (before you alll start clicking your "unhelpful" buttons !). "Oh Yeah" is up there with any of Roxy's other singles with its supremely catchy chorus part & "Over You" was another worthy big hit. The overalll feel is of mid-evening, dimming light & laid back easiness. Nothing like the 1972 debut album. Nothing at alll. Roxy Music in alll but name. However, times moved on & Roxy moved with them in the way they saw fit & were extremely successful in doing so.
Roxy Music at their best - By: , 23 Jun 2004
This being the 2nd to last Roxy album is an absolute classic. Followed by "AVALON", this album has alll my favorites. "My Only Love" sound like tracks from Ferry's "Boys & Girls" album. "Oh Yeah" & "Over You" make me wanna go hug someone & seranade to them!! They don't make crooners like Ferry anymore.
The seventh studio album… - By: Milt Ingarfield, 15 Mar 2004
With the release in May 1980 of the seventh studio album from Roxy there was a difference with this collection, the band had the American market in mind in my opinion, & this I think because for the only time in their back catalogue they recorded cover songs.
The songs they recorded where by 2 American artists both from different genres of music, one from soul & the other from rock.
The band itself was reduced to 3 original core members, Bryan Ferry, Andy Mackay & Phil Manzanera.

The first cover version being the soul classic “In the Midnight hour made famous by the soul legend Wilson Pickett.
For their version Roxy added some of their touches to make the song their own firstly footsteps can be heard just the early Roxy track “Love is the drug” & Bryan Ferry can be heard counting from 1-10 with the main theme of the song being played on Andy Mackays saxophone, with the crooning voice of Mr Ferry adding the right touch of smooth to the song.

The next track “Oh Yeah” is a song written by Bryan Ferry & was the second track to be taken off the album to be a single, but when the track was released as single the title was “Oh Yeah (on the radio)” the song itself has a piano intro playing the main theme of the song, with lush sounding strings giving the song a rich full sound that is a perfect backdrop for the lead guitar of Phil Manzanera which is the perfect counterpoint to the signature vocals & the silky smooth sound of Andy Mackays saxophone.

For the last single release from this album “Same old Scene” the title was changed to “The Same old scene” & had an outtake on the B-side callled “Lover”. The song itself has a drum & percussion introduction that gives it a slight rock sound, with the smooth guitar sound & vamping piano, along side the powerhouse bass & synthesizer solo in the middle 8 making it a perfect choice as a single, but still with the warm & full production touches that the whole album has.

The title track of this album “Flesh + Blood” has Bryan Ferry playing guitar on it along with keyboards & his crooning vocals along with full sounding bass played by Allan Spenner & drums played by Andy Newmark with percussion fills by Allan Schwartzberg.

The song “My Only Love” is a bit of a personal favourite from the later catalogue of the band, this is another love song from the pen of Mr Ferry that alll 3 of the original members reallly shine on. The song has a full sounding string section that along with the piano plays the main theme of the song; this is blended with the lead guitar & vocal & the saxophone solo in the middle section is just superb & as the track fades out Mr Ferry repeats the title of the song.

For the first track to be released as single the band chose the break-up song “Over You” that has a bass intro with smooth crooning vocals that are underpinned by guitar, with the saxophone punching out lines of the song. The piano solo in the middle section played against the sax gives the song that Roxy sound that was ideal for this song to be used as a single, as this song fades the next tracks intro is interwoven to the fadeout.
The second track to feature on this album that wasn’t written by the band is song callled “Eight Miles High” & this was written by 60’s band The Byrd’s. This time along with the usual sound of the band the track is given a slightly funky sound this put across by the theme being played on the saxophone & dub effects used on the main vocal in the middle section along with superb guitar playing from Mr Manzanera & percussion adding texture & atmosphere to the song as the main vocals echoes the song fades out.

For me this next song “Rain Rain Rain” is a highlight as it features Andy Mackay playing the oboe adding a sense of the spinster, the track starts drums & percussion with keyboards being played in the minor, with the oboe sound at the back of the keyboard a real feeling of menace is put across, the track also has a very strange sounding fade-out.
For the following song “No strange Delight” which has the opening lines “So there goes your life, Disappeared from ever loving friends, & now a slave to obsession, Your strange delight” along with the guitar parts of Mr Manzanera, who has added rhythm guitar as well as lead guitar, he also co-wrote the song along with Mr Ferry. This song too benefits from the sound of the oboe playing of Mr Mackay; this gives the track along with other aforementioned elements a very disturbing theme.
The last song on the album is another Ferry/Manzanera composition “Running Wild” closes the album perfectly as it’s a another love song but with twist, for as well as piano playing the main theme the track features for the first time on the album organ that is played at the back of the saxophone solo to fill the sound & give a rich warm texture to the song, Ferry sings “running wild again” then a fade out & the album quietly finished.

This a superb example of the later works of Roxy Music & the voice of Bryan Ferry.
This version of the album has been re-mastered to HDCD standard by Bob Ludwig & was released in September 1999, a few weeks earlier the mini-Lp version came out.

Easy on the ears. Ferry at his finest - By: J. Milner, 02 Jul 2002
This album gets unfairly placed towards the bottom of the Roxy Music pile probably because it is considered commercial. So what? This is what makes it a great album if you accept that it's a totallly different Roxy Music to the Eno days. The hit singles Over You & Oh Yeah are absolutely cracking & 22 years after their issue they remain a joy to listen to. Great Roxy renditions of The Midnight Hour & Byrds classic Eight Miles High show Ferry in fine form, choosing varied material which is performed with the usual class & integrity.
This is a very easy album to like & remains my favourite Roxy Music CD, now even better with the HDCD remastering.
The album does tend to tail off a little towards the end with the cream of the crop definitely being the first 6 songs.
It's a highly polished & superbly presented body of work. OK, so it's not trendy to like this era of Roxy but then who sets the trends anyway? Real music will always defy the trends & live on.
Classic Roxy music from 1980 - By: , 14 Oct 2001
This is a great album by roxy music with some great tracks , with 'over you ' being the best of the lot. The album also kicks off with a brilliant version of 'the midnight hour '. Roxy music were a superb group with a unique sound that has not been repeated since . What a pity that there is very few groups with the talents they had in the pap charts today. Bryan Ferry had a wonderful voice that was capable of sending you into dreamland. The group is much missed. This will not be everyones cup of tea , but if you love Bryan Ferry or roxy music , I advise you to purchase this album now !