250725 A Truly Fun Time

From today's playlist 278
Roxy Music

Let me make an excuse. Roxy Music was uploaded to Spotify's new releases. The cover features the five members after Eno's departure. I listened to it nervously, wondering if they had released a new song, but it was an EP collecting past ballads. I decided to feature this song, which was the most nostalgic of the five.

When I opened Spotify's 'Embed Track' to copy the jacket, the EP cover didn't appear. It was the cover for the album "Country Life," which includes this song. Apparently, this ballad collection wasn't an EP, but something like a playlist. So, against my will, reluctantly, and unavoidably, I present the original cover.

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I remember going to a record store to look for it when it was released in 1974. I finally found it, but I was disappointed. The two women were not on it. It was just a close-up of leaves in the background. The original cover had been censored and labeled as pornography at the time of release, so it had been replaced with a different photo.

The two women pictured are Constanze, the sister of Can guitarist Michael Karoli, and Evelyn Grunwald, who was Karoli's girlfriend. Bryan Ferry, who knew them, asked them to be models for the cover. Roxy's covers always featured women Ferry liked. They were called Roxy Girls.

The shoot took place at a summer house owned by Grunwald's parents. Car headlights were used for lighting. The Swedish-born fashion photographer who took the pictures, Eric Boman, reportedly said it had a 'rawness' to it. Indeed.

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Thanks to the cover censorship controversy, Roxy came to be recognized as art rock. It's interesting how the song title 'A Truly Fun Time' inevitably takes on a special meaning.