Roxy Music: Bryan Ferry (vocals, piano); Phil Manzanera (guitar); Andy Mackay (oboe, saxophone); Brian Eno (synthesizer, tapes); Graham Simpson (bass guitar); Paul Thompson (drums).

Falling halfway between musical primitivism and art rock ambition, Roxy Music's eponymous debut remains a startling redefinition of rock's boundaries. Simultaneously embracing kitschy glamour and avant-pop, Roxy Music shimmers with seductive style and pulsates with disturbing synthetic textures. Although no musician demonstrates much technical skill at this point, they are driven by boundless imagination -- Brian Eno's synthesized "treatments" exploit electronic instruments as electronics, instead of trying to shoehorn them into conventional acoustic patterns. Similarly, Bryan Ferry finds that his vampiric croon is at its most effective when it twists conventional melodies, Phil Manzanera's guitar is terse and unpredictable, while Andy Mackay's saxophone subverts rock & roll clich‚s by alternating R&B honking with atonal flourishes. But what makes Roxy Music such a confident, astonishing debut is how these primitive avant-garde tendencies are married to full-fledged songs, whether it's the free-form, structure-bending "Remake/Remodel" or the sleek glam of "Virginia Plain," the debut single added to later editions of the album. That was the trick that elevated Roxy Music from an art school project to the most adventurous rock band of the early '70s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The self-titled first Roxy Music album opens with what seems to be a ambient recording from a cafe--glasses clinking, low talking, and so on. It sets up a mood of casual elegance that the band explored throughout their career, from sophisticated glamour all the way through decadence. The first song, "Re-Make/Re-Model" becomes, after the cafe introduction, a punchy rock track that mixes an insistent rhythm section, Andrew Mackay's saxophone playing, and Bryan Ferry's unmistakable voice into a cultured warble (the song's "chorus," by the way, is "CPL 593H," the license plate number of a car).

Roxy Music's early work is a strange hybrid of glam rock, cocktail jazz, and English music hall. The band has a joke at the expense of each, and is clearly enjoying themselves. Other standouts include the classics "Virginia Plain" and "2HB." The first was the band's first single and arguably the most successful song from their early period, with catchy lyrics, a fabulous bridge section, and a beat you can dance to. The second is a ballad inspired by the film CASABLANCA featuring a bubbling synthesizer and saxophone under Ferry's "Here's looking at you, kid" chorus. This is a must-own.

Q (9/99, pp.122-3) - 5 stars (out of 5) - "...difficult, innovative, unlikely, provocative, daring and successful....Roxy Music turned heads with 1972's eponymous debut....this is rock'n'roll before and after science, it's licks laced with futurism....a masterpiece unwithered by age..."