Roxy Music is the debut album by art rock band Roxy Music, released in June 1972.

Track listing:

All songs written by Bryan Ferry.

Re-Make/Re-Model – 5:14

Ladytron – 4:26

If There Is Something – 6:34

2HB – 4:30

The Bob (Medley) – 5:48

Chance Meeting – 3:08

Would You Believe? – 3:53

Sea Breezes – 7:03

Bitters End – 2:03

Personnel

Bryan Ferry – vocals, piano, Hohner Pianet, Mellotron

Brian Eno – VCS3 synthesizer, tape effects, backing vocals

Andy Mackay – oboe, saxophone, backing vocals

Phil Manzanera – electric guitar

Graham Simpson – bass guitar

Paul Thompson – drums

The opening track is Re-Make/Re-Model, which starts with a musique concrète introduction, a short collage of cocktail party noise, before launching into a stereotypical 1950s song structure. Whilst the basic backing track of guitar, acoustic piano, bass guitar, tenor saxophone and drums is relatively straightforward and traditional in form, other elements of the arrangement are quite bizarre and futuristic: Eno plays continual squalls of atonal oscillator noise from his Electronic Music Studios VCS3 synthesizer, whilst Ferry’s lead vocal style is strikingly distraught and anguished in tone, as befits the lyric: I tried but I could not find a way/ Looking back all I did was look away. The lead guitar and saxophone solos in the middle of the song also tend towards cacophony. At the end of the song, each instrument is allowed a short solo break in turn; the guitar mimics Duane Eddie’s C’mon Everybody; the bass guitar solo mimics the riff from the Beatles song Day Tripper. The lyrics describe a man who is afraid to approach a woman he’s attracted to. Ferry explained in an interview that Eno and MacKay’s backing vocal chorus of CPL 593H was the number plate of the car in which the woman is riding. Ferry took inspiration from a personal experience – the number plate CPL 593H belonged to a car he previously owned. After he’d sold it, Ferry saw it parked in a street, and observed an attractive young woman get into the car and drive away. To immortalize the moment, he wrote the song.

Ladytron is the album’s second song. It has distinctive instrumentation, including an oboe solo, liberal use of the mellotron’s famous ‘three violins’ tape facility, and much processing of the other instruments by Brian Eno via his Electronic Music Studios VCS3 synthesizer and tape echo. The eerie sounds at the start of the song were created by Brian Eno, after Bryan Ferry asked him to produce something reminiscent of the Lunar Landing. Lyrically, it presents Ferry as a Casanova-style seducer of women, whilst being simultaneously enraptured by them. Another interpretation is that the Ladytron is a female robot (hence the name) that is being seduced by Ferry. According to The Times, Ladytron is one of Roxy Music’s ‘best loved songs.’

If There Is Something is the third song on the album. The song begins in a rather light-hearted, jaunty fashion, a slight pastiche of country music, with honky-tonk style piano and twangy guitar. Ferry’s singing is nonchalant and jocular. However the mood of the song builds with a repeated instrumental motif played between guitar and saxophone, Ferry’s vocals re-entering to provide a fraught vocal climax, the lyrics including a reference to a passion for secrets, roses, and (bizarrely), growing potatoes. The instrumental motifs then return, finally giving way to an emotional end section where Ferry’s impassioned and melancholy vocals are set on top of a lush blend of backing vocals and the mellotron ‘three violins’ tape set. The song is tripartite in structure and it has been suggested that the first part of the song is a youth wondering about love, the second part is an adult in the heat of passion and the third part is the singer in old age thinking about his past love. The song features in the 2008 film starring Daniel Craig entitled Flashbacks of a Fool – where a young Joe Scott and Ruth Davies dance in Ruth’s living room to it; Joe dressed as Bryan Ferry.

2HB is the first of the songs that are thematically linked to films/movies. The title of 2HB is a pun – the song is not in fact about pencil lead, but is actually Ferry’s tribute to Hollywood film star Humphrey Bogart. (2HB = To Humphrey Bogart.) 2HB quotes the line ‘Here’s looking at you, kid’ – a famous line from the Bogart classic, Casablanca (1942). The song is gentle and mellow in tone, evoking a smoky cabaret atmosphere and classic black-and-white films. The song is dominated by Ferry’s Hohner electric piano, and features a sax solo in the middle where MacKay’s playing is treated with tape echo effects by Brian Eno.

Chance Meeting was inspired by David Lean’s Brief Encounter (1945), and includes lyrics inspired by the film/movie’s dialogue: I never thought I’d see you again/ Where have you been until now?/ Well how are you?/ How have you been?/ It’s a long time since we last met/ It seems like yesterday/ When I first saw you/ In your red dress smile/ How could I forget that day?/ I know that time spent well is so rare…

The Bob (Medley) is the next track. The song was inspired by the war film/movie, The Battle of Britain (1969), the song’s title (BoB) being an acronym for Battle of Britain. The sound of gunfire and explosions from the battlefields can be heard throughout the instrumental refrain.

Would You Believe? is an elegant, delicate and anguished lament to an inscrutable, elusive someone. Would you believe in what I do/ When the things that I make are all for you?… Ferry sings forlornly, before adding cynically: Well I’m sure I’ll love you all my life/ And in the morning too….

Sea Breezes is the penultimate song on the album and is a clear precursor to Song for Europe: We’ve been running round in our present state/ Hoping help would come from above/ But even angels there make the same mistakes/ In love… and is Ferry at his most quaveringly anguished…

Bitters End is the final song on the album. The song is based on a group vocal arrangement done in a satirical 1950s doo-wop style. In the middle eight, the band sings ‘bizarre’, which seems to sum up the initial impact of the first listen to the album.

Discussing the album’s music, Andy Mackay later said: ‘We certainly didn’t invent eclecticism but we did say and prove that rock ‘n’ roll could accommodate – well, anything really’.

The band’s penchant for glamour was showcased both in the lyrics and in the 1950s-style album cover, with photography, hair dressing and art work credits detailed on the sleeve. The photographer, Karl Stoecker, shot the cover featuring model Kari-Ann Muller, who later married Chris Jagger, brother of Mick Jagger. The album’s original cover, as issued in 1972, featured a gatefold sleeve picturing the band in stage attire designed by Antony Price.

The entire album was recorded in a single week. This was necessary because the group had no record deal and their managers at EG were financing the sessions themselves. The album was produced by King Crimson’s lyricist, Peter Sinfield. In May 1972, a few weeks after the recording sessions, a contract was signed with Island Records and in June, Roxy Music was released.

Roxy Music was generally well-received by contemporary critics and reached #10 in theUK charts. It is now considered by many to be Roxy Music’s best album.

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Here is R J Dent’s latest short story Towards the Finish Line.

R J Dent says: Towards the Finish Line is a short literary experiment – although hopefully it is entertaining too.’

If you enjoyed Towards the Finish Line, you can find other stories by R J Dent at http://www.rjdent.com/shortstories.htm

Towards the Finish Line

(c) R J Dent (2011)

www.rjdent.com

Flaubert was born in Rouen, France on 12 December 1821, the fifth of six children in a family of doctors.

In the 1830s Flaubert attended the Collége Royal de Rouen, writing for its newspaper, reading Shakespeare, travelling extensively and beginning his own writings.

His first finished work was November, a novella, which was completed in 1842.

In September 1849, Flaubert completed the first version of The Temptation of Saint Anthony. He read the novel aloud to Louis Bouilhet and Maxime Du Camp over the course of four days, not allowing them to interrupt or give any opinions. At the end of the reading, his friends told him to throw the manuscript in the fire, suggesting instead that he focus on day-to-day life rather than fantastic subjects.

In 1850, after returning from Egypt, Flaubert began work on Madame Bovary. The novel, which took five years to write, was serialized in the Revue de Paris in 1856. The government brought an action against the publisher and author on the charge of immorality, which was heard during the following year, but both were acquitted. When Madame Bovary appeared in book form, it met with a warm reception.

Flaubert embarked on a trip to Egypt and the Far East with fellow writer Maxime Du Camp in 1851, sending home a varied assortment of exotic souvenirs. Nearly thirty years old he then took the next five years to write Madame Bovary, working mostly at night, having it published in six instalments by Du Camp’s literary journal Revue de Paris. The ensuing moral outrage in 1857 caused him to be (unsuccessfully) prosecuted on moral grounds.

In 1858, Flaubert travelled to Carthage to gather material for his next novel, Salammbô. The novel was completed in 1862 after four years of work.

Drawing on his youth, Flaubert next wrote L’Éducation sentimentale (Sentimental Education), an effort that took seven years. His last complete novel, it was published in 1869.

Flaubert then published a reworked version of The Temptation of Saint Anthony, portions of which had been published as early as 1857.

Flaubert wrote the Three Tales in 1877. This book comprised three stories: Un Cœur simple (A Simple Heart), La Légende de Saint-Julien l’Hospitalier (The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaller), and Hérodias (Herodias).

After the publication of the stories, he spent the remainder of his life toiling on the unfinished Bouvard et Pécuchet, which was a grand satire on the futility of human knowledge and the ubiquity of mediocrity. It was posthumously printed in 1881 and received lukewarm reviews.

Le Dictionnaire des idées reçues (The Dictionary of Received Ideas) is a short satirical work collected and published in 1911-3 from notes compiled by Flaubert during the 1870s, lampooning the clichés endemic to French society.

At the time of Flaubert’s death, it was unclear whether he intended eventually to publish it separately, or as an appendix to his unfinished novel, Bouvard et Pécuchet. In some of his notes, it seems that Flaubert intended the dictionary to be taken as the final creation of the two protagonists.

Flaubert’s letters have been collected in several volumes.

Gustave Flaubert is buried at Rouen Cemetery in Normandy, France.

Works:

November

Madame Bovary

Salammbô.

Sentimental Education

The Temptation of St. Antony

Three Tales

Bouvard and Pécuchet

A Dictionary of Received Ideas

Letters

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Relativity and the Lobster - www.rjdent.com

Here’s a short story I’ve written entitled Relativity and the Lobster.

I was inspired to write  Relativity and the Lobster after reading a story by Samuel Beckett.

If you enjoy reading  Relativity and the Lobster, then there are more of my short stories available to read at http://www.rjdent.com/shortstories.htm

www.rjdent.com

Here’s a short story I’ve written. It’s called The Origins of Goatboy.

I’ve always wanted to write a Pan story, and The Origins of Goatboy really gave me the opportunity to examine the mythical origins of the goat-boy in a semi-humorous way, but without having to gloss over the serious and brutal aspects of the era Pan was starting to have an influence on.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading The Origins of Goatboy. I certainly enjoyed writing it.

There are several other short stories of mine available to read at http://www.rjdent.com/shortstories.htm

Enjoy.

The Origins of Goatboy

© R J Dent (2011)

Website: http://www.rjdent.com/

Blog: http://rjdent.wordpress.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/RJDent

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The House of Asterion

Walk through the coolness of my ancient house;

reflect on how I’ll be the death of it

one day. We are not one; each of us is sought out

for what we can – uniquely – give the world.

Such obvious wealth assaults the more refined.

The plane trees do not deflect the sea-spray

that lashes the courtyards; that stings my eyes,

extinguishing the sights that were on fire…

My patience is a thread at breaking point…

I rule my lands with velvet-covered fists.

I’m going to kill the chosen one and leave

the bones strewn as a sign of what’s to come…

The House of Asterion

© R J Dent (2011)

info@rjdent.com

www.rjdent.com

Here is a psychological urban horror story I’ve written, entitled Marksman.

I wrote Marksman because I wanted to examine the role of the psychoanalyst in the 21st Century – and to juxtapose it with the role of the 19th Century sin-eater.

I hope you enjoy reading Marksman. I certainly enjoyed writing it.

If you enjoyed reading Marksman, then several more of my short stories are available to read at: http://www.rjdent.com/shortstories.htm

Marksman

(c) R J Dent (2011)

Website: http://www.rjdent.com/

Blog: http://rjdent.wordpress.com/

twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/RJDent

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/R-J-Dent/344369095423?v=wall

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/rjdent69?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/CmnYHWJqQK4

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/R.-J.-Dent/e/B0034Q3RD4/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_nty_author_2gf4mb19VD5NN

The San-Zhi pod village is an abandoned pod hotel/ housing development/ apartment complex in the small town of San-Zhi (三芝) on the north coast of Taiwan.

It is unclear as to whether San-Zhi was meant to be a hotel or a housing development.

It was constructed in the 1960s.

It included a dam to protect it against the sea.

Its floors and stairs were made of marble.

It had its own small amusement park.

The site was commissioned by the government and local firms.

Unsurprisingly, there is no named architect.

Inexplicably, the project was abandoned and the complex was left in its unfinished state.

It was demolished in 2009.

About fifty photos and a few videos are all that remains of the pod village of San-Zhi.

Photographer Craig Ferguson has an online archive of his photographs of San-Zhi:

 http://www.filemagazine.org/projects/taiwan/

 And here is the wikipedia entry for the San-Zhi pod village:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanzhi_UFO_houses

The San-Zhi Pod Village, Taiwan

(c) R J Dent (2011)

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The complete Poems & Fragments of Alcaeus are now finally available in R J Dent’s sensitive modern English translation.

Alcaeus was a fellow countryman and contemporary of Sappho, and his beautiful and delicate poetry is often overshadowed by Sappho’s reputation. R J Dent has now translated all of Alcaeus’s Poems & Fragments from ancient Greek into lively modern English in an attempt to rescue Alcaeus’s ethereal poetry from obscurity.

There is no other published translation of Alcaeus: Poems & Fragments in existence.

R J Dent’s translation of Alcaeus: Poems and Fragments is now available as a Kindle book at: Alcaeus: Poems & Fragments

Product Details:

Title: Alcaeus: Poems & Fragments [Kindle Edition]

Translator: R J Dent

© R J Dent (2011)

Format: Kindle Edition

File Size: 95 KB

Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited

Language English

ASIN: B004NIFSPM

Kindle Price: £6.46 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet

R J Dent’s published works include a novel, Myth; translations of Charles Baudelaire’s The Flowers of Evil & Artificial Paradise; of Le Comte de Lautréamont’s The Songs of Maldoror; of Alcaeus’s Poems & Fragments; a Gothic novella, Deliverance; a poetry collection,  Moonstone Silhouettes, and various stories, articles, essays, poems, etc, in a wide range of magazines, periodicals and journals, including Orbis, Philosophy Now, Acumen and Writer’s Muse. 

R J Dent’s Amazon page can be found at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/R.-J.-Dent

Details of R J Dent’s other works – novels, novellas, translations, stories, poems, essays and songs – are available on www.rjdent.com

Follow R J Dent’s work on:

website: http://www.rjdent.com/

blog: http://rjdent.wordpress.com/

twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/RJDent

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Translated by R J Dent



Here is Headstone – a short psychological horror story I have written.

The first part of the story is based on several real childhood events, but the second part of the story is pure fiction.

If you enjoy(ed) Headstone you can find some more of my short stories at http://www.rjdent.com/shortstories.htm

Details of my novels, translations, poetry, stories and essays are at www.rjdent.com

Headstone

© R J Dent (2010)

website: www.rjdent.com

twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/RJDent

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/R-J-Dent/344369095423?v=wall

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/rjdent69?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/CmnYHWJqQK4

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/R.-J.-Dent/e/B0034Q3RD4/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_nty_author_2gf4mb19VD5NN