I tend to agree with the previous post; it's not a question of being stuck in a time warp (although 1973 was arguably the group's absolute creative peak), it's simply that for most Roxy fans of a certain age (say, late forties and upwards) the post-1976 stuff is "Roxy lite".

Manifesto, Flesh & Blood and Avalon were important in broadening the group's fan base (and consequently increasing its income), but just do not generate the freshness and excitement of the earlier songs.

For me, broadly the same is true of post-Bride BF; Boys & Girls, Bete Noire and Mamouna are too laid back, although, unlike some members here, I viewed Frantic and Dylanesque as something of a return to form.

If i could have another Manifesto/Flesh + Blood/Avalon or a Boys and Girls come along then I would be one happy guy..

Surely any Ferry/Roxy fan would?
And it was good but I don't know if Frantic was THAT good.

I was never a big fan of Frantic, maybe 1 or 2 songs. In Your Mind and Another Time Another Place are my least favourite BF solo albums. Take Ferry's voice off those records and they could be anyone's albums. Dylanesque has not been played by me for about 2 years. Having said that, there is no Roxy or Ferry album that doesbn't have at least one gem that the purchase of the album isn't worth it for. Hiroshima, Love Me Madly, Another Time Another Place (the song) and Gates Of Eden are examples of that.

I may be one of the few but prefer Mamouna, Bete Noire, even Taxi etc as they are more uniquely Ferry. No one else makes records like that. Although he multi layers etc it is not as if at any given point there are 25 people playing at once to make it all muddy. I think that the production on these albums is very clear and crisp despite the plethora of musicians. Take Ferry's voice off those albums and you still know it is a Bryan Ferry album.

On listening to Olympia I keep thinking that who of Ferry's contemporaries would make such challenging and experimental music as this? Can you imagine Elton John attempting the grooves and textures of BF Bass, You Can Dance, Shameless, or the melancholy and atmposphere of Me Oh My and Song To The Siren? What would we get in 2010 from say Mark Knoplfer/Dire Straits, Rod Stewart, Rolling Stones, Chris Rea, Eric Clapton etc. ????

You don't have to like Olympia but you have to admit that someone 21 albums, 38 years down the line is still attempting to experiment and make music in his own unique way that will have something to offer that you wont get on other people's records. And that ethos began in 1972 and is still there.

J.O'B.

you put things into perspective well John. I think maybe i've started to benchmark bry's output too much with peak Roxy and peak Bowie...and have lost a bit of perspective in the process

Nicely stated JOB

I might well be one of the posters who people think is too negative about BF and Olympia (at least those parts presently available on-line). But here's where I'm coming from: I'm first and foremost a Roxy Music fan and am most interested in hearing what PM and AM and TGPT and BF have created in the studio since 2005. It's not that I don't like BF as a solo artist, it's that I wish we could hear him in a real Roxy collaboration (not some contrived collaboration like Song of the Siren where - after several listens - I have no real idea what PM and AM and Eno are doing on the track).

First Dylanesque and now Olympia seem to me to be projects that BF has assembled because of some strange inability to commit himself to completing/releasing the new Roxy album. Sigh. Yes I am exasperated by BF in this regard (and I can't believe that PM and AM and TGPT aren't MORE exasperated than I am at this point!). And if this exasperation leads me to be less than excited (i.e. negative) about Olympia then so be it. To this I plead guilty.

Talking about Elton John, he's releasing an album with Leon Russel in october also a quite different sounding one than usually... Just saying!
And indeed what Bryan is doing at 65 is remarkable, the groovy dancy funky stuff is usually not made by people of his age.
So I'm really looking forward to this album.
And I LOVE mamouna and bete noire. So it may sound like those...please
From what I've heard till now I quite like it. Even my best friend who's a Madonna fan and like electro and remixes is excited about it and wants to buy his album. That says something!

I am certainly one of those who have been one of those pretty critical of BF's posturings over the last few years particularly with regard to the Roxy 'reunion'.

My real objections to 'Olympia' are not really about the music but the way it has been sold as a Roxy reunion of sorts - it plainly isn't - but that's enough of that.

I have listened quite few times to Olympia now and it seems to be growing on me as a complete piece of work rather than any particular tracks standing out.

Every listen reveals new colours, textures and details and it is a beautifully put together record.

In places it contains everything I look for in music - great feel, superb playing, yes those famous Ferry details and of course a vocalist who conveys something meaningful.

The problem I have with it - so far, and that may change come next week - is that it is overblown in a lot of places - there is too much going on and some of the beautiful stuff gets lost among a barrage of vocalists and guitarists.

There is also a tendancy to remain rooted in the 80's in key places - Heartache By Numbers - which is a great song - ruined by little sections showing off bass players and choirs and half time beats - its too long

Overall though it is a more pleasureable experience than I though it would be.

But it ain't Roxy.....................it aint concise enough

What I fear is perfectionist machine-funk. Interestingly, Roxy`s “The Space Between” was not that. To make albums that you have to listen to through head-phones, is a complete “turn-off” to me. I`m also shit-scared of Bryan`s whispers. It seems that even Bryan admits that a Roxy album has to be a huge lot better than a solo album of his. This means that we are deprived of a whole lot of good music since the Roxy split in 1983. (I`m a family man now). It also seems that Phil and Andy are no more willing to do straight Ferry songs. I think we are met by “fronts” and half truths, both from Bryan and the boys, that conceals the fact that there are whole lot of stuff being made.

£9.99 lighter, and still a bit underwhelmed, I'm afraid. Reason or Rhyme is probably the only good song (and the instrumental fill in the middle is a bit too long). The rest, I'm sorry to say, sound a bit like Mamouna outtakes (and there's nothing as good as The Only Face or Your Painted Smile). Those chattering women in the background here and there don't add much and are a pure Mamounamannerism. And the "funky" bass sounds terribly dated.

Still, at least it's an album, and I would imagine his last solo album featuring original work, given the obvious nightmare it is to come up with tunes. So we should be pleased about that.

Lyrically, crikey, my cheapo version doesn't have lyrics but I'm afraid one song features the phrase "Mise-en-scene". Pretentious, moi?

Still love the old boy for the fun he's given me, but you do start to wonder whether the musical taste has finally gone.

And this is supposed to be a fan site...what a bunch of depressed pessimists...
My Oh My and Song to The Siren are 2 absolute classics with beautiful melodies and fantastic guitarwork. I just wished My Oh My went on for 12 mnutes with BF's tinkering piano .........
A beautiful album, some of the best guitar work on al album ever.
Truly amazing album for someone 65!