Here's a fun little read. In two parts, it's an X-ray examination of Roxy Music's "For Your Pleasure", the song, with a little about For Your Pleasure, the album. Rich topics, both.
The song is the final track on the album, and For Your Pleasure, the album is one of only two RM albums to feature Brian Eno, the other being their self-titled debut. That means this is the very dramatic end of Eno's tenure.
Why did he leave? Or alternately, why did Ferry fire him? The anonymous author cites the theory that "Eno’s super-hyped sex life" was responsible, but he rejects it himself. And rightly so. That seems like it would only be an issue for Ferry if Eno hit on Ferry's girlfriend, successfully or not. And do you think everyone could have kept dish like that to themselves for all these years?
No, the divorce was more likely caused by the parties no longer seeing eye to eye. Roxy had started as a certain kind of band, one that Eno could claim involvement in despite his rawness as a musician. (If a good musician is defined by what he can do and a great one by what he's willing to try, Eno was great a long time before he was good.) But the band changed, and he changed, becoming less the wild showman of Roxy and his solo debut Here Come the Warm Jets. If it's a sad ending, it might be a necessary one for both.
Now what's not addressed in these essays at all is the role of Judi Dench, whose voice is the last one heard on the song and the album. When the album was recorded she was mostly known as a TV and theatre actress, although a few years earlier she had played Titania in Peter Hall's film of A Midsummer Night's Dream, as seen here.
2 comments:
For a 'fun little read' that was a pretty exhaustive account of the album in its entirety. Don't get me wrong, it was a great album and very unique at the time (except for David Bowie) - especially when Eno was with the band. Listening to 'For Your Pleasure' again my thought was that it always seemed more like a Brian Eno in the way it was arranged even though Ferry wrote and performed it. There were such intense electronic parts, including the drifting drum sounds and the multi-tracked background vocals. 'In Every Dream Home a Heartache' is still a favourite of mine. I loved Roxy Music right from the start and the three following Eno's departure were all pretty good.
I did find this pretty succinct version of why Brian Eno left the band, but overall you're right that being part of a touring band, even a successful one wasn't how he saw his future developing. I watched part of the reunion video 'Live at the Apollo' linked from the article and it just looked kind of sad. Once a band is done I think it best to let the whole thing fade into a fondly remembered past.
That was cool learning that Judi Dench was the one speaking at the end of 'For Your Pleasure'. She was always very interesting looking and it's wonderful just how gracefully she aged. A few years ago I found some pictures of her stage performance as Sally Bowles in 'Cabaret' in 1968. Liza Minelli and Joel Grey were great in the film version but this one must have been amazing to see.
That blog is pretty exhaustive, I'll grant that. It should take him a while to get through all their albums, at this rate, since he's only on Stranded still. One of these single-artist music blogs I enjoy is this one about David Bowie, but he's just about done with Bowie's major works. I get what you mean about "For Your Pleasure" (the song) feeling more like an Eno song. The song itself, I'd say, is Ferry's, but the deeply weird ending wouldn't be out of place on Eno's solo albums. For Roxy after he left I'd up it to four. Manifesto was pretty cool. The two after that they seemed to be playing catch-up with younger bands they'd influenced.
I'm glad Brian Eno makes clear in that link you provided that he respects Ferry. I believe they worked together again years later on one of Ferry's solo albums. Seems strange that Ferry would be shier in interviews since he seems so confident onstage and on-record, but it's not unprecedented. When you see bands in reunion shows it does hit home that they're no longer remotely in the same place. Of course the Rolling Stones have never broken up, and they still seem to have largely divorced each other.
I was pretty surprised to find that tidbit out too. She's always been an interesting performer. I managed to find footage of her as Sally Bowles. The video isn't great and the audio cuts out at points, but you can see why she was cast. Don't know who the MC is. Joel Grey certainly made an impression in that part.
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