For Your Pleasure

Bryan Ferry studied under pop art painter and theorist Richard Hamilton at Newcastle University. Hamilton saw a painting as a mood board, pinning his inspirations and goals "that could as easily clash as blend together", which were adapted by Ferry on For Your Pleasure, thematically taking him from the past and into his representation of the future. Hamilton's work ''Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?'' got its mark on "In Every Dream Home a Heartache", a song about illusions of modern sophistication and the horrors behind them. In the wake of the For Your Pleasure sessions, Roxy Music sharpened their technique while touring their debut album. They lost some of the "freewheeling wildness", and in return gained a more concentrated, hearty and less experimental sound, which were the qualities that Ferry most yearned for. Ferry wrote the better part of the album within a two-week writing spree in early 1973, while "Grey Lagoons" and "For Your Pleasure" had already been conceived during the 1971 recording sessions, stockpiled for their debut album, and later developed for the release of their second album. In a way, Ferry was focused on writing a follow-up to the band's debut. ==Production==

Roxy Music recorded For Your Pleasure in February 1973, at London's AIR Studios in Oxford Circus. Bassist Rik Kenton left the band shortly before the sessions. John Porter agreed to play bass temporarily, working on the album and the subsequent tour, but turned down an offer to join permanently. On the album gatefold, he is credited as a "guest artiste". At first, the band wanted to be the sole producers, but the label convinced them otherwise. Ultimately, Roxy Music produced the album themselves with the aid of Chris Thomas, while John Middleton and John Punter worked on the audio engineering side. Thomas recalled that, following the release of their debut, Roxy Music asked John Cale to produce them, letting him choose the recording studio, and Cale chose AIR Studios. However, the project with Cale did not come to fruition, and instead Ferry asked Thomas, whom Ferry met while visiting AIR Studios, to help with production. The group spent more studio time on this album than on their debut, combining song material by Ferry with more elaborate production treatments. For example, the song "In Every Dream Home a Heartache" (Ferry's sinister ode to a blow-up doll) fades out in its closing section, only to fade in again with all the instruments subjected to a pronounced phasing treatment. The title track fades out in an elaborate blend of tape loop effects. Thomas, commenting on the recording of "In Every Dream Home a Heartache", said that the band had not known the song's lyrics when they put the instrumental parts on tape. It was performed as a soundtrack, backing track for the future lyrics, and Ferry asked them to record a psychedelic epilogue. Just before the album's release, Ferry told Melody Maker that, initially, some of the lyrics were twice as long and focused more on reciting ideas than forming a cohesive song, so he had to cut them in half. Artwork The cover photo was taken by Karl Stoecker. It features Bryan Ferry's girlfriend at the time, the model Amanda Lear, who was also the confidante, protégée, and close friend of the surrealist artist Salvador Dalí. Lear was depicted posing in a skintight leather dress leading a black panther on a leash. The full record sleeve art features a limousine parked on the left side from Lear, with a waiting Ferry acting as a chauffeur. Rob Tannenbaum's Pitchfork put the feeling captured by the sleeve art as an alluring, modern image of appeal, danger, sexual gratification, and luxury lifestyle. Similar to other rock bands, the cover promises "adolescents a misleading fantasy of what adult life is like". Brian Eno disliked the choice for the album's cover art, feeling it was too stereotyped and pretentious. ==Music and lyrics==

For Your Pleasure has been categorised by critics as an art rock and glam rock ==Release and promotion==

For Your Pleasure was originally released by Island Records in the United Kingdom and Warner Bros. Records in the United States. Original pressings of the album featured a gatefold-sleeve picture of the five band members posing with guitars. It has been subsequently reissued by Polydor Records in the UK, and by ATCO Records and Reprise Records in the US. The non-album single "Pyjamarama", backed with "The Pride and the Pain", was issued in advance of the album in UK, peaking at number ten on the UK Singles Chart. To promote the album, Roxy Music toured UK and Europe in 1973 with Porter continuing his engagement with the band. They were supported by the Sharks and Lloyd Watson on the UK dates. The band "toned down slightly" on the costumes from the extremes of 1972. The tour included "Do the Strand" and "Editions of You", in addition to their older material represented by "Pyjamarama", "Ladytron", "If There Is Something", "Re-Make/Re-Model", and "Virginia Plain". Tony Palmer of The Observer, who was not a fan of their album, applauded their presentation, calling it "demonic, sinister, apocalyptic, monstrous, dazzling, flashy". The contemporary music critics emphasised the band's general technique's improvements, highlighting the performances by drummer Paul Thompson and guitarist Phil Manzanera. They reportedly did not profit from either of the tours. A concert version of "For Your Pleasure", recorded live at the Empire Pool Wembley in October 1975, was used as a B-side of the "Both Ends Burning" single. In February 2022, Roxy Music announced a series of reissue releases of their back catalogue, including For Your Pleasure. The albums were remastered in half-speed at Abbey Road Studios by engineer Miles Showell and released by Virgin Records. ==Critical reception==

Contemporary reviews In 1973 For Your Pleasure reached number four the on UK Albums Chart, remaining at the chart for 27 weeks, while reaching number 193 in US Billboard 200. In the contemporary reviews, NMEs Charles Shaar Murray described For Your Pleasure as a "staggeringly fine piece of work, easily outstripping the first album". Robert Christgau gave it a mixed review, saying the band have a "strange idea of a good time, but this [album] isn't decadent, it's ridiculous". Music biographer David Buckley noted that contemporary negative reviews mostly saw the album as a "contrivance to cash in on glam rock" and regarded Roxy Music as musicians whose limited technique restricted them from realising their ideas. Eno said at the time that their debut album got acclaim for its dilettantism, touching on a number of ideas, but not really taking them far enough. With For Your Pleasure, however, Eno felt that Roxy Music "got over that to an extent", showing fewer ideas but exploring them on a deeper level. In a later interview Eno described the album as "just slung together, not worked on like the first one," and lamented that the band did not maintain the "experimental stance" to the degree he wanted. Eno thought that "Grey Lagoons" was a "very trivial track", paying tribute to 1950s music, and was disappointed that the band did not release the initial version of "The Bogus Man", which he liked better. Nevertheless, he called "Beauty Queen" one of his favourite tracks by Roxy Music. Retrospective reviews In 2012 Pitchforks Tom Ewing selected For Your Pleasure as the best album by Roxy Music, lauding the output that resulted from the "tension between two fast-diverging creativities" of Ferry and Eno. ==Track listing==

The personnel is adapted from the liner notes. Roxy Music • Bryan Ferry – vocals, keyboards • Brian Eno – VCS3 synthesiser and tapes • Andy Mackay – oboe, saxophone • Phil Manzanera – electric guitar • Paul Thompson – drums Guest artiste • John Porter – bass guitar Production • Chris Thomas, John Anthony, Roxy Music – record producers • Roxy Music – musical arrangers • John Middleton – sound engineer • John Punter – sound engineer • Jennings – crew • Bryan Ferry – art direction, cover art concept • Karl Stoecker – photography • Nicholas Deville – art direction, photography • CCS – artwork • Antony Price – clothing/wardrobe, make-up, hair stylist • Smile – hair stylist • Amanda Lear – cover star • Bob Ludwig – digital remastering ==Charts==