Siren (Roxy Music, 1975)

Some would say that all musical roads of the 1970's lead through Roxy Music. I once saw a family tree diagram showing the connections between Roxy Music and various other bands and, to say the least, it was tangled. Most of the focus is on the blustery showman/frontman Bryan Ferry or his enigmatic bandmate from the early albums, Brian Eno. However, they were just two members out of a much larger cast, with ties reaching into other bands, such as Curved Air, the Nice, Concrete Blonde, King Crimson, David Bowie, Pink Floyd and more.

On this, their fifth album (as well as the previous two albums, Stranded and Country Life), the traditionally unstable bass player role is handled by John Gustafson. Gustafson was a sort of Zelig figure in rock music, popping up in the weirdest places. His earliest appearances were literally adjacent to the Beatles in their Cavern Club days in Liverpool, playing in an outfit called The Big Three. In 1970 he lent his vocals to the original Jesus Christ Superstar album, while playing bass in a rapidly dying Episode Six, Jesus/Ian Gillan's old band. Gustafson never recorded with Episode Six, but he appears on the weird spinoff band Quatermass's first and only album. From there he would team up with ex-Atomic Rooster guitarist John Du Cann to form the band known as either Bullet or Hard Stuff. By 1974 he was a part of Roxy Music, a sort of different experience for him being more glam than hard rock. Following this album, he committed full time to the Ian Gillan Band, a fairy jazzy kind of rock band. He had already been working on some of Ian's early post-Purple recordings, so, in addition to running in the same circles, it wasn't too far-fetched that they would end up working together. By 1978, Gillan severed their working relationship by quitting his own band. Gustafson never really recovered from the demise of IGB, unfortunately. Just this year he passed away, as did Roxy Music, which formally disbanded after 13 years of not releasing another album.

Unfortunately I don't have a lot to say about Roxy Music. They aren't nearly the sensation they were in the UK, so beyond "Love Is the Drug", this album's big hit, and maybe early hit "Do the Strand", they aren't very well known over here. Ages ago I was warned by die-hard Eno fans to avoid any Roxy Music album without him, but Siren works just fine for me. Bryan Ferry doesn't bug me like he does some folks, I suppose. Gustafson's bass is impeccable and easily recognizable, making many of the tracks groove as hard as ever. I certainly look forward to discovering some more of their music.