FOR YOUR PLEASURE

Darker, goofier, richer and better than the debut, that's what this is. Well, better must be qualified; few things on here reach the level of the first half of Roxy Music, but except for some of the excess of "The Bogus Man" (an atmospheric, fairly hypnotic jam that would probably be best at six minutes but is stretching things a bit at nine) and a few other bits here and there, this doesn't have any of the lows of that album either. Plus, it actually kinda works as a moodpiece, which can hardly be said about the first album.

Besides, this is the album that has my absolute favorite Roxy Music song in the world, "Editions of You," the one that first really grabbed me. Granted, this is partially because of my fond memories of hearing this the first time, listening to it in a car with Rich Bunnell, Mike DeFabio and Mike Pap Rocki during a dark driving rainstorm and watching Mike D put on the greatest "air-knob-twiddling" performance ever during Eno's synth noisefest in the middle. But even beyond that, this thing rocks like nobody's business; along with Eno's own "King's Lead Hat," this is the greatest example I can imagine of futuristic sci-fi 50's piano boogie, with wailing knob-twiddling and guitar and sax madness over a relentlessly pounding beat prefaced with an awesome electric piano line. And Ferry? "And as I was drifting past the Lorelei, I heard the slinky sirens wail, *WHOOO*" "Learn from your mistakes is my only advice, and stay cool is still the main rule. Don't play yourself for a fool; too much cheesecake too soon; old money's better than new; no mention in the latest Tribune; and don't let this happen to you." MAN.

I'm also thoroughly in love with the opening "Do the Strand," which features an awesome creepy nagging piano line and Ferry growling out some lyrics about the new dance, the "strrrrrrrraaaand." This song is also notable for, except for "EofU," being the only start-to- finish uptempo song in a sea of dark atmospheric numbers. "Beauty Queen" is a nice eerie number that would actually bore me were it not for Ferry's terrific delivery and the echoey processed-guitar sound that pop up in the background from time to time, "Strictly Confidential" is more dark atmosphere saved by Ferry, "Grey Lagoons" is dancey but not that enjoyable, and the closing title track is just strange. It's this fascinatingly bizarre mix of Ferry vocals coming and going and weird chanting voices far in the back and weird synth noises and piano notes bouncing around and holy cow is it interesting.

That leaves us with "In Every Dream Home a Heartache." It's amazing to me, really, that Ferry and Eno are able to make this thing sound so dreary and stately and dark, and make it seem at first that I'm about to take in something very deep, what with the serious "atmosphere," and then *keep* this atmosphere going even as Ferry keeps rambling and you start to realize with horror just where he's going with this. Man, any band that can make a song about *this* (and if you don't know what it is, I'm going to make you look it up) so majestic right up to the moment where the music stops and Ferry goes "...but you blew my mind" is alright by me. And dig the "majestic" guitar soloing in the coda!

Man, this album is great. It might seem like I brushed over a good chunk of the album a little too casually, and thus perhaps don't care for it, but that's not really true; it's just that I kinda see those songs as "tablesetters" for the main reasons to buy this. And believe me, you should buy this if you have any interest in Roxy and/or Eno (who would leave right after this album).