in one corner: here come the warm jets, taking tiger mountain, another green world, before and after science (also discreet music, music for airports and the other good ambient stuff).

other corner: roxy music, for your pleasure, stranded, country life, siren, and avalon.

Why isn't there a "neither" option?

yeah i was about to say not the listener.

Roxy... nuff said

this is a tough decision. both had their ups and downs.

roxy music was simply amazing from their first album up until "siren". the loss of eno after "for your pleasure" may have set back any other band, but "stranded" proved that they still had it in them. "country life" and "siren" are awesome. roxy music post-"siren" ("manifesto" (ugh!) and "flesh and blood" (double ugh!)), while containing some very good singles ("dance away", "oh yeah", "over you"(!!!!)), certainly showed that they had lost their step. they bounced back with "avalon". this is one of the best albums of the early 80's (and one of the best swan songs from a band ever). every song is very very very good. i love roxy music. bryan ferry was the perfect vocalist/songwriter for that band, and (based on his solo work, not including the "these foolish thngs" album which is very good, ferry was at his best when he was with roxy music). phil manzanera's guitar work on the early to mid period roxy music was simply amazing. my personal favorite album as far as roxy music is concerned would have to be the first album with "country life" and "stranded" right behind it.

no one expected eno to succeed after roxy music. however, he made 5 classic albums in a row (5, including "no pussyfooting" his collaboration with robert fripp). i adore "taking tiger mountain". it's my personal favorite. all of his other early solo work is essential as well. i also enjoy some of his early ambient work ("ambient 1: music for airports" being my favorite). however, my favorite eno work (post 1977) would have to be "my life in the bush of ghosts" with david byrne. one must also not forget the ace production work that eno did for talking heads, devo, bowie, ultravox, U2, the "no new york" album and much much more.

this is a very hard thing to decide. i love both of them.

in the end, i picked Roxy Music.

(Edited by ray davies at 2:45 pm on Apr. 15, 2004)

I really enjoy Eno a lot, but I love Roxy Music more. Therefore, I choose Roxy Music with little hesitation.

Very nice topic, Smee.

though i have been loving roxy music lately, i had to go with eno solo. i'm more familiar with it and it holds a more significant place in my heart. plus, my shoes are always coming untied, so it was also the smart vote.

Which albums did you listen to and why didn't you like them?

I voted for Roxy Music based solely on the fact that I like "Editions of You" more than "Dead Finks Don't Talk." Those are the only two songs I know...both are pretty darn near equally amazing, though.

Okay, okay, if you really want to make me a CD, I suppose I'll listen to it.

hey, someone's been listening to keith's mix cd that i burned on your computer! hope you like it.

This may be unfair but I went with Eno not only on the weight of his solo work but also becuase of all the other things he was involved with. Let's do the math:

Eno - Roxy Music (w/Roxy Music), For Your Pleasure (w/Roxy Music), Here Come the Warm Jets, Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy, Another Green World, Before and After Science, Music For Films, No Pussyfooting (w/Fripp), Evening Star (w/Fripp), Ambient 1: Music For Airports, Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror, Ambient 3: Day of Radiance, Ambient 4: On Land, My Life In the Bush of Ghosts (w/Byrne), Discreet Music, After the Heat (w/Moebius & Roedelius of Cluster), Cluster & Eno; also the Bowie trilogy Low, Heroes and Lodger; No New York; financing and recording of Devo's Are We Not Men?; early Television recordings; Talking Heads' More Songs About Buildings and Food, Fear of Music, Remain In Light; a number of U2 albums; collaborations with John Cale, John Cage and more stuff than I care to list. And this is just the good stuff. I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot. For an absurdly exhaustive list go here. I'm always finding out about something that Eno was involved in that I wasn't aware of. The guy was everywhere. I even read once that Wire considered asking him to join. Christ!

Roxy Music - Roxy Music, For Your Pleasure, Stranded, Country Life, Siren.

I only list those five because they are in my mind and most people's the essential ones. Of course I like the two with Eno the most.

I choose neither even though there is no option of that.