{"id":41727,"date":"2009-10-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-10-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/country-life\/"},"modified":"2009-10-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-10-09T00:00:00","slug":"country-life","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/country-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Country Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toning down his eccentric vocal stylings quite considerably, Bryan Ferry eases into Roxy Music\u2019s fourth album Country Life <\/i>like a warm mink coat. The punch of the music is what dominates this time around. On \u201cThe Thrill Of It All\u201d and \u201cAll I Want Is You,\u201d there is so much going on in the arrangements that you almost forget about Ferry\u2019s lyrics entirely. Somehow they make it all work, each song flowing sweetly into the next. The denser material is balanced with the freer flowing stuff, allowing for a magnum opus like \u201cOut Of The Blue\u201d to shine brightly and take its time to unfold.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

After a heady, psychedelic ride provided by the first four tracks, we are treated to \u201cIf It Takes All Night,\u201d which is an unexpected, honky-tonk number that is something of a novelty \u2013 especially coming from Roxy Music. This track proves how comfortable the band is in its skin at this point. Clearly on top of their game and having a ball, they have never sounded better.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

So does Country Life <\/i>have any clunkers in the mix? The answer is yes and it\u2019s called \u201cBitter Sweet,\u201d a ponderous, heaving mass of ridiculousness. Not only does Bryan revert back to Count Chocula mode, but the demented minstrel band \u201coompah-oompah\u201d thing results in one of the biggest, most tragic misfires from Roxy Music to date. If they had only stuck to the slower, gentler tempo of the verses, the song would have been just fine. This was one time where going experimental simply didn\u2019t make any sense.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Despite the criminal disruption of that wretched belch, the proceedings get back on track nicely for the remainder of the record. My two favorite cuts on Country Life <\/i>are \u201cTriptych\u201d and \u201cPrairie Rose.\u201d The former has the trademark Roxy multi-arrangement and it is a home run. Bryan Ferry\u2019s love for his Texan girlfriend Jerry Hall (yep, Mick Jagger\u2019s soon-to-be wife) is all over \u201cPrairie Rose,\u201d with Hall returning the compliment by posing on the cover for RM\u2019s next release, Siren<\/i>.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

As a cohesive artistic statement (racy nude cover photo included), this disc has ample material to satisfy every corner of the critical music world. It\u2019s got enough rough edginess (\u201cCasanova\u201d) and suspense (\u201cA Really Good Time\u201d) to keep the listener engaged and wondering what else Roxy Music can possibly pull out of their bag of tricks. Four albums in and still four more to go \u2013 this is one goup that is never short on ideas. Their willingness to take creative risks is something that always endeared themselves to their fans and critics alike. That\u2019s just not something you see every day, especially now.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It might take some time for the songs on Country Life <\/i>to take hold, but when they do, I promise that you will be positively swooning and begging to sound the Siren <\/i>for more.<\/o:p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":30090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5714],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-41727","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-roxy-music","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41727"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}