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This record is for the fan of ROCK and ROLL who loves immediately memorable hooks accompanied with amazingly hard driving Pop Rock. No one who LOVES rock and roll couldn't love "The Thrill Of It All" or "Casanova" or any other song on this superb album. This is the hot whip crack ROXY MUSIC; the band that does not have a bad album, but despite the bickering between fans that occur due to allegiances to particular incarnations (all the way through AVALON) COUNTRY LIFE is undoubtedly one of their very best. Brian Ferry could not stop writing wonderful, masterful, Rock and Roll songs, exploring all of their roots, which come to fruition with this album and Roxy's next masterpiece SIREN. COUNTRY LIFE is one of the 1970s most fun, resonant, compelling, and, well, offensively wrapped albums...please note only BLIND FAITH's eponymous album cover was presumed more scandalously overt (okay, maybe LENNON and ONO's TWO VIRGINS which was, however, sold in most places in a plain brown wrapper.) I expect Brian Ferry did not mean to offend, but merely to lampoon his lusty ideals. One cannot listen to this album, look at that cover, and not love the 1970s and ROXY MUSIC, and this HOT as HOT POP ROCK CAN GET record album. And ROXY MUSIC, at that point, would apparently do nearly anything ("All I Want Is You") to chart a record in the USA...and they did, with those booby models on the cover, this record album peaked in March of 1975 at number 37 on the BILLBOARD Top 40 Albums chart with a mere 3 weeks on that chart (and there were still no USA single hits at this point). There were a lot of great albums out there in 1974 and 1975. Even with its scandalous (so to speak) cover, COUNTRY LIFE was overlooked in the USA, yet, relentlessly, has slowly floated to the surface, elbowing its way past contemporaries to be recognized as one of the VERY BEST of that year and that decade. You can hear everybody who was influenced by it...just listen to it!!
Ferry switching from a Nashville informed (or is it California?) Country Pop on "If It Takes All Night," finds the true venue for some of his most artistic predilections on "Bitter Sweet" which gets challenging in a theatrical kind of way, but is played with such humor it wins one over (Roger Waters favorite Roxy tune? Sounds much like very late PINK FLOYD). "Three Of Nine" is an unexpected marvel. And I'm terribly fond of the instant classic "Out Of The Blue" and "All I Want Is You" and the 16th century stylings of "Triptych" (a little PHYSICAL GRAFFITI anyone? In all fairness, I think it goes both ways. I hear a bit of HOUSES OF THE HOLY from '73 here as well.)
A lesser band would have saved the epic scorcher "The Thrill Of It All" for the close, but this band had more and more tunes to boggle their listeners with. "Casanova" is postured a supremely smarmy rock song, self conscious, revealing more than the narrator intends. The majestic second to the last track, "A Really Good Time" defines this album. How did ROXY MUSIC keep it up? So many wonderful songs so beautifully produced, so financially unrewarding in USA sales including concert tickets. I know when you listen close, that you won't miss the inspiration and influence of the last and perhaps best track "Prairie Rose" and it's subtle progression and beauty. Brian Ferry is a master, and had for a brief moment assembled around him the best Rock and Roll band in the world.
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Robert Rocks
Another lovely collection from Roxy Music
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 5, 2015
