STRANDED

There must be some kind of twisted connection between the growing nudity content of Roxy's artwork and the diminishing quality of the actual music. Brian Eno had left the band and I can only conclude that he is clearly missed here.

Things kick off in great fashion as if Eno never left. Street Life is a sharp dressed rocker with great keyboards and the typical artsy Roxy vibe. Also Just Like You is a winner. I's a beautiful lyrical ballad with a tender and subtle emotionality. From then on the inspiration seriously dwindles and the band seems to hesitate between bland classic rock, pop balladry and contrived experiments. Nothing is really bad, but with the exception of A Song For Europe and Sunset maybe, nothing is either memorable or very interesting.

This doesn't rate as a very convincing 3 stars, but given the continued downhill slope on the ensuing albums, 2 stars would probably be too low.