POLLed to Kill: The Roxy Music "Manifesto" Poll

Considering how much I lived/breathed Siren when it came out I really didn't like this record at the time. By 1979 I was all about the twitchy new wave of Talking Heads, Devo and B-52s, and only "Trash" and maybe "Angel Eyes" satisfied that urge. "Dance Away" sounded to me not too far removed from something like "Baby Come Back" by Player (I now adore both.)

This thread inspired me to listen to the album for the first time in a long time, and it all sounded pretty ace (save maybe "Cry Cry Cry," which is kind of a limp Stax pastiche that might have worked better on a Ferry solo album.) Love the droning opening and closing numbers of side one, great bass playing throughout. And "Spin Me Round" is a lovely way to end the record, if kind of a rewrite of "In Your Mind."

I'd probably give "Cry Cry Cry" a modest nod as Ferry's best "roots" original (unless "End of the Line" counts). "My Little Girl" doesn't have much to distinguish it beyond Manzanera's riff.

oh boy we don't agree about Roxy, I see

"Dance Away" yearns to be "Baby Come Back" but the dissonances work against it: the bass rumblings, Manzanera's guitar peals after each line.