Interesting Ian S...at the time, TBSB was indeed roundly regarded (certainly by critics etc.) as a failure and this reaction was, without doubt, instrumental - pardon the pun - in the reformation of Roxy. Two question arise....in 30 years from now will Olympia have been rehabilitated, as TBSB generally has, and, more immediately, whcih album would you rather listen to tonight? In my case it's TBSB without question.

Right, and thanks to that, we had "Flesh and blood" and "Avalon" ! So I hope he will reform Roxy

Don't forget Manifesto was also post-reformation.

I hate to say this, but I agree that it may be best to leave Roxy without another album. My great fear is another Flesh & Blood - even Olympia is better than that!

It took sometime for me to get into Olympia but it's certainly grown on me. There's a variety of tempo and a few tracks stand up very well with some of Bryan's best solo stuff - STTS, TITN , ROR, NF/NN/NN. MOM is OK and the first three tracks aren't bad. And I actually think the final 2 covers are fine. In all it adds upto (in my view) much more than Bete Noire or Boys & Girls. It has more variety (although is not necessarily better) than Mamouna.

It is multi-layered and overproduced in part. But that's Bryan. The fact that it's not proving popular will undoubtedly be a disappointment to him (and his bank balance). But since when was popularity any guide to quality?

P.S. But give me TBSB over Olymoia anyday!

TBSB was a strange album, full of great songs but always seemed a bit disjointed to me. No real mood or feel, but still a good album. Ever since Manifesto (East Side + West Side ) and certainly since Avalon, I get the impression that Bryan tries to create a mood with each collection of songs. It was more apparant in the days of Vinyl and cassettes where 5 songs were on one side with the rest on the other. I personally think Flesh + Blood was a good album, just overproduced and too much polish. Flesh+Blood, Rain Rain Rain , No Strange Delight, Oh Yeah, Running Wild, Same Old Scene, Over You and even My Only Love are all great songs. The only ones I don't like are The Midnight Hour and Eight Miles High, but not because they were covers. They were baaaaad covers !

Olympia better than Flesh and blood ? ,
Do you really think that Ferry/Manzanera/MacKay, all together could not make a good album?
The only song that sounds original on Olympia is co-written with Manzanera...

I hope Ferry/Manz/Mac/TGPT could make a great album together. But I just don't rate F&B and that's what emerged following the last re-forming of the band. I think it would be great if they did produce something along the lines Bryan has been suggesting - instrumental, soundtrack, possibly non-commercial. But it really would have to be a fine piece of work to enhance their legacy.

Disagree re BF Bass - poor derivative track in my view (I bet Phil's not too keen either!).

I don't say Olympia is a fantastic album. But it is distinctively Ferry, conveying great moods. A reason for the lack of success could be that this type of stuff just isn't popular today. He is recognised in the business as creative, talented and influential (per the musicians apparently keen to work with him). But I'm afraid that his image in the public eye is not good.

Even if I don't like this album, I have the highest respect for Ferry : the man and the artist, and this album won't change my opinion
I have just seen that Olympia leaves the top 100 in UK after 3 weeks

I`ve played Flesh + Blood to people who don`t like rock`n roll in the first place, and they have become pleasantly surprised.

Olympia standard CD currently £4.99 at HMV online

http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDet ... sku=787887