Country Knife

Overall Album Score: 8.6 out of 10

Ooo... see thru underwear ... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Alright ... our favorite weird group put forth their fourth album. And they still have it! This is still a bizarrely wonderful album and everything! Unfortunately, however, they're now showing surefire signs of growing normal. I'm a little bit surprised at the All Music Guide's assessment of this album. They call it the perfect blend of the weird stuff of Roxy's early days and their future poppy days. While this is certainly a blend, I definitely wouldn't call it perfect! In fact, I think Stranded illustrated that blend perfectly! I mean ... with Eno safely out of the picture, it was perfectly accessible, yet they wanted to continue in that weird direction. So yah! THAT was a good blend between weirdness and poppiness.

Now, even though Country Life, isn't as weird as Stranded, it is still fairly weird. And, of course, it is a perfectly enjoyable record ... it's just not nearly as amazing nor really as classy as the predecessor. Nevertheless, every song has at least something or other to offer. There's a beautiful moment to be had in almost every moment! Country Life remains a must for fans of Roxy's other stuff. (And it still sounds like something a bunch of rich liberal-heads would take to a party where they wear white and black and drink a lot of champagne. ... And they never invite me.)

Turn on the fast forward button to Roxy's follow up, Siren, you'll find that it is more poppy and less artsy ... and then a few years after that, they turn into an almost average Disco band. Oh how grim. And I'm still not doing Barbara Streisand's taxes.

Overall Album Score: 8.6 out of 10 (Oh! This is still a fine album! It's just not quite up to that high standard they set for themselves. At any rate, if you enjoyed Roxy's other albums, you'll probably enjoy this one as well. Just keep in mind that it isn't quite as tasty!)

Average Song Score: 8.8 (This is another fine set of tunes from Roxy Music! There is not one bad moment!)

Album Tilt: 8.5 (I'm a little bit underenthused in this category, but this is a fun album, and there is a lot to like about it!)

Artist Rating: 8.5 (Yes ... I know this is still an art album, but Roxy Music is slowly getting away from being daring and closer to being a pop band ... unfortunately.)

Track Reviews

The Thrill of it All 10/10

This one certainly starts up as being fairly decadent and strange! The tune is wonderful, the song has that layered personality that made Stranded such a delight ... it doesn't sound as classy, however (the piano isn't even in sight). The melody of this song ... the riff ... the background instruments are all memorable and fun. Overall, this is one wonderful track that has a lot of ELECTRICITY! So never listen to it in the shower.

Three and Nine 9.5/10

I can see the "country life" in this song, if the only justification for that is the use of the harmonica. This track is a very smooth one that has a nice beat (...and, shockingly, this sounds like something Duran Duran or somebody would be doing seven years from now!) It's wonderful and classy!

All I Want is You 8.5/10

This track is slightly lesser on the melody front. It still has fairly decent arranging and track layering, but here it goes a little bit higher on the flooded noise and a little bit lesser on the class. Aw. Nevertheless, it's still very fine.

Out of the Blue 8/10

On Stranded, a song that suffers on melody like this one might have been made intensely interesting through its magical track layering. The instrumentation is still fairly interesting and lush, it's just not amazing. Oh well. I still altogether enjoy this track. Alright! Next!

If it Takes All Night 8/10

This song doesn't strike me as amazing, either. It has a sort of jerky, trashy quality that proves once and for all that Roxy Music is and always has been a heckuva lot better than Gary Glitter. (Though, I do suppose it's not that trashy.) It's another fine track if I feel a little bit underwhelmed about it.

Bitter Sweet 9/10

This one is quiet, sad, and beautiful. The track layering on this is still fairly lush and extravagant, but it's much quieter. It also gives Bryan's crooning a little bit more to do with everything! The atmosphere is nice and, overall, this is quite a memorable track!

Triptych 7.5/10

This sort of Medieval tune is slightly sloppy, but it still remains to be tasteful and fine. I'm not a huge fan, though. Its melody isn't the greatest thing on the planet ... while the instrumentation would take one back to the Medieval times, it fails to make the song intensely interesting like it could have been. Oh well.

Casanova 8/10

This is a little bit improved on the track layering part ... that doesn't make it an intensely interesting song, however. It's a little bit of a mess, but not enough to make it count.

A Really Good Time 9/10

Okay! Roxy Music gets more beautiful on this one! The instrumentation is right-on ... and the song just overall seems much more dynamic than we've been seeing in their songs as of late. A beauty!

Prarie Rose 10/10

And they exit with a bang! The final track of the album is SUPER! The melody is very nice ... but it's the track layering that really gets the goat here. Super catchy, super innovative ... the solo performances by the guitar player and the horn player and who knows what else just has the electricity flowing off of it! Wonderful!!!! (Who the heck cares about stupid Texas, though? Nobody!)

That country knife cut the tails of them three blind mice by my country wife. How's that for a country life? Leave your comments here!

fhrunobulax@hotmail.com (Andreas) received Feb. 14, 2006

Dude, get the !@#$ off the cover, OK?

Don Ignacio: The church lady told me it was OK. So I did. Promptly afterwards.