Roxy Music are almost textbook case of the "strong personalities making interesting music until some of those personalities departs and the other/s take over" thing.
The clash of 50s-style rock n roll mixed with glam, a little punk, a smattering of horns, and Brian Eno's space-aged synth noises is an exciting musical smack in the face! Eno left early on (I think after the first or second album) and by the time they released "Avalon" half the band had left and Bryan Ferry ruled the roost. Avalon didn't really match the early material (though having said that 'More than this' is a brilliant tune).
Back to the debut though: it is a bold, brash musical statement which is the opposite of that "Oh I don't want to stand out, I just want to 'serve the song'" idea that mediocres so much music. The first track even makes space for each member to show off with a bar or two of solo. The music twists and turns, with Ferry still learning his craft as a singer and lyricist, seeming to have a unique, more defined vocal delivery than in later albums (the reverse of what normally happens).
Oddly my relationship with this band/album started somewhat indirectly when I read about them as an influence on one of my favourite NZ bands Split Enz (who, like RM started in an art rock sort of vein and moved to a slightly poppier sound later on), and when I saw a cover of the song 'Virginia Plain' on the British sketch show "Big Train" (an early break for Simon Pegg, Catherine Tate and Mark Heap) I was hooked in.
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