For Your Pleasure

For Your Pleasure is the second album by the English rock band Roxy Music, released by Island Records in 1973. It was their last to feature synthesiser and sound specialist Brian Eno, who would later gain acclaim as a solo artist and producer.

This article is about the album. For the TV show, see For Your Pleasure (TV series).

For Your Pleasure
Studio album by
Roxy Music
Released23 March 1973 (1973-03-23)
RecordedFebruary 1973 (1973-02)
StudioAIR Studios, London, England
Genre
Length42:16
Label
Producer
Roxy Music chronology
Roxy Music
(1972)		 For Your Pleasure
(1973)		 Stranded
(1973)
Singles from For Your Pleasure
  1. "Do the Strand"
    Released: July 1973[1]

Production

The group was able to spend more studio time on this album than on their debut, combining strong song material by Bryan Ferry with more elaborate production treatments. For example, the song "In Every Dream Home a Heartache" (Ferry's sinister ode to a blow-up doll) fades out in its closing section, only to fade in again with all the instruments subjected to a pronounced phasing treatment. The title track fades out in an elaborate blend of tape loop effects. Brian Eno remarked that the eerie "The Bogus Man", with lyrics about a sexual stalker, displayed similarities with contemporary material by the krautrock group Can.[2]

Of the more upbeat numbers on the album, "Do the Strand" and "Editions of You" were both based around insistent rhythms in the tradition of the band's first single "Virginia Plain". "Do the Strand" has been called the archetypal Roxy Music anthem, whilst "Editions of You" was notable for a series of ear-catching solos by Andy Mackay (saxophone), Eno (VCS3), and Phil Manzanera (guitar).

Eno is very present in the final song from the album, "For Your Pleasure" making it unlike any other song on the album. The song ends with the voice of Judi Dench saying "You don't ask. You don't ask why" amid tapes of the opening vocals ('Well, how are you?') from "Chance Meeting" from the first Roxy Music album. A live recording of the song has been used in 1975 as a B-side to "Both Ends Burning".

The original UK LP cover credits "Produced by Chris Thomas and Roxy Music" for the entire album, but only the side one label repeats that; the side two label credits "Produced by John Anthony and Roxy Music." Various foreign editions and reissues have confused the matter with random variations.

Promotion

As with the debut Roxy Music album, no UK singles were lifted from For Your Pleasure upon its initial release. A non-album single "Pyjamarama" b/w "The Pride and the Pain", was issued in advance of the album in Britain, making #10. "Do the Strand" b/w "Editions of You" was released as a single in the US and Europe; it was finally issued as a UK single in 1978 to promote Roxy's Greatest Hits album, released in December the previous year.

The cover photo, taken by Karl Stoecker, featured Bryan Ferry's girlfriend at the time, singer and model Amanda Lear, who later became Salvador Dalí's muse.[3] Original pressings of the album (by Island Records in the UK, and Warner Bros. Records in the US), featured a gatefold sleeve picturing all five band members posing with guitars.

Critical reception
Retrospective professional reviews
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Christgau's Record GuideB[5]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[6]
Pitchfork (2012)10/10[7]
Pitchfork (2019)9.5/10[8]
Q[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[10]
Select5/5[11]
Spin Alternative Record Guide6/10[12]

For Your Pleasure made No. 4 in UK charts in 1973. In 2000 Q magazine placed it at number 33 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 1973, Paul Gambaccini of Rolling Stone gave it a mixed review, and wrote that "the bulk of For Your Pleasure is either above us, beneath us, or on another plane altogether."[13] However, by 2012, the album was ranked number 396 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[14] It was one of four by the group that made the list (Country Life, Siren and Avalon being the others). It placed at 87 on Pitchfork's Top 100 Albums of the 1970s.[15] The citation notes that Morrissey told the British press that "he could 'only think of one truly great British album: For Your Pleasure."[15] Classic Rock named the album in their list of "10 Essential Glam Rock Albums".[16] NME ranked the album at 88 on their list of 500 greatest albums of all time, and called it "the pinnacle of English art rock."[17] Happy Mag named the album in their list of "10 records to introduce you to the world of art-rock" and called it "an art-pop, glam-rock masterpiece."[18]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Bryan Ferry.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Do the Strand"4:04
2."Beauty Queen"4:41
3."Strictly Confidential"3:48
4."Editions of You"3:51
5."In Every Dream Home a Heartache" (LP editions of the album incorrectly listed the song's timing as 4:25, due to its "false fade" referenced above)5:29
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."The Bogus Man"9:20
2."Grey Lagoons"4:13
3."For Your Pleasure"6:51

Personnel

Roxy Music

Additional personnel

Production

  • Chris Thomas, John Anthony, Roxy Music – record producers
  • Roxy Music – musical arrangers
  • John Middleton – sound engineer
  • John Punter – sound engineer
  • Jennings – crew
  • Bryan Ferry – art direction, cover art concept
  • Karl Stoecker – photography
  • Nicholas Deville – art direction, photography
  • CCS – artwork
  • Antony Price – clothing/wardrobe, make-up, hair stylist
  • Smile – hair stylist
  • Amanda Lear – cover star
  • Bob Ludwig – digital remastering

Charts
Chart (1973) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[19] 9
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[20] 28
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[21] 15
UK Albums (OCC)[22] 4
US Billboard 200[23] 193
gollark: ~play lasers
gollark: ~play crabs in a bucket
gollark: ~play incoherent screeching
gollark: This is glorious
gollark: no.

References
  1. Strong, Martin C. (2006). The Essential Rock Discography. Edinburgh: Canongate Books. p. 930. ISBN 1-84195-860-3.
  2. Stump, Paul (1998). Unknown Pleasures: A Cultural Biography of Roxy Music, Quartet (UK)/Thunder's Mouth (US), ISBN 1-56025-212-X, p. 82.
  3. Nick March. "Bryan Ferry retrospective at Dubai museum showcases his art and music". The National. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  4. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "For Your Pleasure – Roxy Music". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  5. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Roxy Music: For Your Pleasure". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the '70s. Ticknor and Fields. ISBN 0-89919-026-X. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  6. Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  7. Ewing, Tom (13 August 2012). "Roxy Music: The Complete Studio Records 1972–1982". Pitchfork. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  8. Tannenbaum, Rob (13 October 2019). "Roxy Music: For Your Pleasure Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  9. "Roxy Music: For Your Pleasure". Q (156): 122–23. September 1999.
  10. Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Roxy Music". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 705–06. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  11. "Roxy Music: Roxy Music / For Your Pleasure / Stranded". Select (112). October 1999.
  12. Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig, eds. (1995). "Roxy Music". Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. p. 337. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  13. Paul Gambaccini (5 July 1973). "Roxy Music For Your Pleasure Album Review". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  14. "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 31 May 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  15. "Top 100 Albums of the 1970s". Pitchfork. p. 2. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  16. Fortnam, Ian (21 August 2016). "The 10 Essential Glam Rock Albums". Classic Rock Magazine. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  17. Barker, Emily (25 October 2013). "The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time". NME. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  18. Saunders, Luke (12 March 2020). "10 records to introduce you to the world of art-rock". Happy Mag. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  19. "Austriancharts.at – Roxy Music – For Your Pleasure" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  20. "Offiziellecharts.de – Roxy Music – For Your Pleasure" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  21. "Norwegiancharts.com – Roxy Music – For Your Pleasure". Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  22. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  23. "Roxy Music Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.