In its early years, Roxy Music came across as decadent dandies disguised as avant-garde rock revolutionaries (or maybe vice versa). The band's gorgeously garish recordings wrapped irony-laced love songs in abrasive and unsettling instrumental textures. 1973's For Your Pleasure, the group's second album, was among their most challenging works, sparked by the creative tension between singer Bryan Ferry and synthesizer wizard Brian Eno. Its tracks twist song structures and invert emotions into exotic aural art pieces. Some tunes, like "Do the Strand" and "Editions of You," are unadulterated blasts of frenetic rock. Others, such as "Strictly Confidential" and the title number, are more darkly atmospheric, showcasing Phil Manzanera's guitar explorations and Eno's tape "treatments." Ferry's purple-bruised croon fills "In Every Dream Home a Heartache" and "Beauty Queen" with obsessive intimations of debauched desire. These extremes of sound and feeling make For Your Pleasure a rare delight.
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