An interesting recent blog singing the praises of Stranded (it's a tough call, but personally I wouldn't argue with the assertion that it's their crowning glory):

http://theafterword.co.uk/content/stran ... ning-glory

Also from Uncut magazine on the making of Street Life/Stranded:

http://www.uncut.co.uk/roxy-music/the-m ... fe-feature

Thanks for that India, a nice start to my day, I really enjoyed both articles. Stranded was definitely my favourite Roxy album for many years; looking back I found it...."sultry" (!)

Part of the problem now is, with age, and the fact we are looking at a catalogue of work/box sets, we fall into the trap of putting albums into "this is the best, this is the next best, etc.," and this unfairly dismisses the emotions each album gave us. FYP has been my favourite for a long time now, but I love Avalon for a boatload of different reasons. I couldn't part with any of the albums.


Thanks again.

I remember being given Country Life as my first Roxy album; I'd bought Pyjamarama & Street Life (and had Virginia Plain on a K-Tel compilation!), but my pocket money wouldn't stretch to LPs!

However, on the back of Country Life I immediately saved up for its immediate predecessor, Stranded, from the local record store, then bought used copies of the debut LP & FYP by mail order (anyone else remember Reddingtons Rare Records of Birmingham?!).

I think FYP will always just edge it for me, but there's no doubt that BF's lyric writing was at its peak around '73.

Nice articles, especially the Uncut one; thanks for posting.

Great articles...especially the Uncut one. Thanks for posting the links India.

Both interesting reads - thanks.

I agree with rendezvous, it's incredibly difficult to categorise an album as 'the best' because each resonates for different reasons at different times. But additionally, how do you make that sort of distinction from a body of such disparate work?

For me, Stranded has a number of unique qualities - it marked a real change in musical direction, probably more so than RM - FYP. It placed a far greater emphasis on melody and the lyrics became just that little more mainstream. Some might argue that wasn't a good thing, but I'd hate to think what would have become of Roxy had they not developed musically and changed direction. I'd rather have the eight albums we do have than the first two followed by six variations on them.

Stranded was Roxy growing up, as we all were, and taking their audience along with them. I'm sure it's that consolidation and maturity that was fundamental to it being their first number one and paving the way for the continued success that followed.

I couldn't agree with you more UKRichard (and rendezvous). It's great that Roxy made the musical journey they did, giving us such a range of high-quality albums to suit different moods. I also wouldn't want it any other way. If I could only take one of them I think that Stranded would probably edge it for me (by virtue of containing SFE and MOP) but that is in no way meant to dismiss the merits of the other albums. I think the first four and Avalon are all great albums (and the other three very good too).

I think it probably is. I like the first five and have difficulty to say which is best. FYP, is great but I don't like Bogus Man. The first one is so "new" and all of them (to me) sound fresh today. Each one has a much different feel to it.
Timeless masterpieces, all of them.

My favourite would be a combination of side 1 of FYP and side 1 of Country Life. On saying that a list of my favourite tracks would include 4 from Stranded, Street Life, Song for Europe, Mother of Pearl and the underrated Serenade
In truth there are not many songs Roxy made that I don't like.

my sentiment exactly. impressive canon of work. when i compare this to other (multi-album legendary) artists i like, the standard is pretty consistent...and varied. I love Bowie, but there's quite a bit of duff stuff in there (and he and bry, IMO are nearly in a league of their own when thinking of british "art-rock" or whatever we call it nowadays). even if we broaden the scope to include "bryan ferry written material on either BF or Roxy albums", it's still impressive.

Hipsters,
When you have a canon of work as impressive and as progressive as this, the "best album" debate is always more than difficult.
That said, there is something about "Stranded" that just makes it push itself out slightly in.
For me its about MOP, SFE & AMAZONA. Three simply perfect songs that never fail to make those hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Love them to bits!
Regards,
Windswept