After writing about the most representative Beach Boys song yesterday, I thought I'd continue in that vein today with the equivalent from the Roxy Music canon. "A Song for Europe" would have to be the choice. The romance among the ruins epic with its continental setting and theme of doomed beauty, and which includes sections sung in Latin (!) and French, is a pretty fair encapsulation of the Roxy world-view. And the music is halfway between the inspired wildness of their earliest stuff (an influence on the Sex Pistols' sound through Steve Jones, in fact) and the glossed poignancy of their later work. Both sides of the band are equally appreciated by fans, and on this one we get both. Here's the original: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u47h9fDGKxg), and here's a live version from a 2010 performance that features a splendid solo from saxophonist and co-writer Andy Mackay: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HqUW_OahuI&feature=related).

Radiohead's Thom Yorke is probably the most interesting singer in rock, and has been for some time, in my opinion. His work ethic is what makes him so; the fact that he has spent so much time writing music using piano, guitar and voice is one factor that gives him a sound that's sensitive and subtle, but also very powerful. It's also clear that he's learned a lot from great singers of the past and present. In an earlier post, I mentioned how he's indebted to John Lydon, a fact that's particularly evident on the more manic material (like "Bodysnatchers", for example), and Neil Young is also a big influence, and there are several great videos on YouTube of him and Radiohead doing Young songs. Here's a version of "Tell Me Why" that is terrific (despite the crowd noise): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHIJcx9EB94. Another singer that can be heard in Yorke is Bryan Ferry, and the version of "2HB" from the soundtrack of Velvet Goldmine, a 1998 film, is quite surprising for Yorke's uncanny impersonation of the Roxy frontman. It's definitely worth a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxcDwzsx8OQ

Roxy Music's Siren (1975) is one of my very favourite recordings. It can be seen as a quasi-cinematic depiction of a love affair that goes wrong, but memorably so. The album begins and ends with songs that are clearly meant to show the effects of experience on a single theme: romance as narcotic. "Love Is the Drug" is quintessential Roxy - all the glamour and thrill of nightlife in a modern cityscape. The opening footsteps and engine roar are the perfect dramatic introduction to the band playing at the best level they had yet achieved on record. The track (and the entire album) features the virtuosic and rhythmically powerful bass-playing of Jon Gustafson, and the others show that they are capable of supporting him (which sounds easier than it is). It is probably one of Ferry's great vocals as well - his blue-blood persona capable of combining passion and humour - something Elvis could do too, although in a different way. The next track, "End of the Line" features an astonishing melody (Ferry as a writer reminds me of Smoky Robinson, who also finds unusual and beautiful melodies in seemingly simple harmonic settings), stirring violin by the multi-instrumentalist Eddie Jobson (who was twenty at the time) and a lyric that perfectly describes the emptiness left when sex turns to unrequited love, as it often does.
The segue to the next track, "Sentimental Fool", is a feature for the thoughtful and original guitarist Phil Manzanera, who once joked that he'd made a career out of making the guitar sound like everything but a guitar. The opening line ("Surely you cannot be leading me on...") is another melody worthy of note which leads quickly to the second section of this through-composed tripartite song ("through-composed" means that the song is not "strophic", i.e. it doesn't have choruses or repeated sections). The lyrics show an internal argument as the narrator alternately berates and absolves himself:

Sentimental fool
Knowing that fate is cruel,
You ought to forget it.
Yes, I know it's true,
I've seen what love can do,
But I don't regret it.
Oh, you silly thing--
Can't you see what's happening?
You're better without it.
No, that's not the case--
If you were in my place,
Then you wouldn't doubt it.
Sentimental fool
Who broke the golden rule,
You couldn't resist it.
Though it's all in vain,
I'd do it all again
Just to relive one minute.

The song is a masterpiece. And so it continues, each song as distinctive and beautiful as the one before, leading to the album's climax: "Just Another High", the inverse to "Love is the Drug" and an ambivalent, heart-breaking ending to the story and the album. The song's honesty and exploration of real experience and emotion is a splendid example of the Roxy Music difference - by which I mean the qualities that distinguish them from those who would cover the same territories in less thoughtful fashions. Did I mention that they're touring again?

Big news: Roxy Music are touring (Europe only, so far) and Bryan Ferry has got a new album coming out in October. Ferry is another of the great songwriters whose beginnings were influenced by disciplines outside of music - in this case, visual art. He studied with Richard Hamilton (who's been called the English Warhol) at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, but eventually opted for music, luckily for us. Of course, his work is deeply rooted in the visual: glamour, style, and the emotions that they simultaneously express and mask. Perhaps no recording artist has ever explored romance, in all its facets, as deeply as Ferry.
I mentioned on Sunday that Ferry (like Lou Reed and Ian Hunter) was greatly influenced by Bob Dylan, as both a writer and a vocalist. Of course, he's made no secret of the fact - recording cover versions of many Dylan songs and eventually releasing an entire album of them: Dylanesque (2007). You can clearly hear a similarity in tone (by which I mean attitude) to Dylan on many of his performances, especially the early ones. As well, many of his early lyrics feature a relentless verbiage that is, well, Dylanesque. Check out "Do the Strand", for an example. As time went on, he became more economical with his language. A good example is "Avalon", where a fairly innocuous story of romantic indecision is punctuated with the single word from the title, which opens a window into a world of romance (in its broadest sense) and imagination.
Over the past few years, Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry have finally received some of the credit they've deserved for a long time: some writers have said that they're second only to The Beatles in terms of influence on British rock music, which sounds about right to me. But there's one thing that always bothers me when I think about Ferry and Roxy: when people are asked to name their favourite album, no one (that I know of, anyway) ever chooses mine - Siren from 1975. Tomorrow, I'll try to explain my reasoning.

Bob Dylan, as a vocalist, is hugely important. First of all, his rhythmic delivery is awesome. Listen to "Like a Rolling Stone", for example, where his singing is easily the most powerful timekeeper in the group. Also, the melodic contours that he finds are not the usual ones. Try singing "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", and you'll see what I'm getting at. Third, he makes us consider what we are getting from listening to a singer. For instance, many people who see him in concert are astonished at how he changes the phrasing and melodies of his songs, almost to the point where they are unrecognizable - one of the main reasons that he does so is a simple one: he doesn't want the crowd singing along with him. And finally, in terms of influence, leaving aside the obvious examples (virtually any "singer-songwriter"), the rockers Lou Reed, Ian Hunter and Bryan Ferry are directly and deeply in his debt as vocalists. Listen to "Prominent Men", "Sweet Angeline", and "Virginia Plain" for evidence. I don't know about you, but I don't even want to imagine a world without The Velvet Underground, Mott the Hoople, and Roxy Music. Could these groups have existed without Dylan? The answer, my friend... (Suggested listening: "Queen Jane Approximately")