To me, Brian Eno has always been a person associated with producing other people’s music, not making his own. And all I know about Bryan Ferry is that he has one of those voices that’s so unique and iconic, decades of impressions and references meant I knew exactly what his signature warble sounded like without ever actually consciously listening to any of his music. And despite the reverence given to the name Roxy Music, I’d never actually made a point to listen to any until today, when I gave For Your Pleasure a spin.
Early track Beauty Queen sounds like the music from the overture of a camp rock opera. While Strictly Confidential made me wonder, what happened to the saxophone in rock and roll? In the 70s and 80s, the sax seemed as prominent as the electric guitar. Like Grey Lagoons, the vocals on this piece of rock melodrama really made me wonder if this how Ferry really does convey deep emotion and passion, or if he was pulling the piss, doing an over the top impression of himself and all his worst tendencies.
Editions of You is contagiously fun and upbeat, declaring “Well I’m here looking through an old picture frame, just waiting of the perfect view”. In unskilled hands, lyrics like that could sound like bad teenage poetry, but when delivered by Ferry, they just sound cool. Sax solo into synth solo into guitar solo into drum break… Yep this is 1976. And it sounds awesome.
Then there’s In Every Dream Home a Heartache. A weird combination of eerie Brian Eno synths, thin John Porter bass and trippy, life’s-great-questions Ferry lyrics, before launching into pounding Paul Thompson drums and a shredding Phil Manzanera guitar solo.
The title track closes things out perfectly with its piano infused trippiness that works as a nice ease out. Despite the driving drums, it’s almost like if you were to doze off while listening to the album For Your Pleasure, the song For Your Pleasure< is a nice ending to gently hypnotise you into a deep sleep…. Before the last 60 seconds turns your sweet dream into a horrendous, dystopian nightmare.
Bored and Dangerous 