Tom'S BLAB BLOG

Why do you like this album? 

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The album creates a sensual and personal journey into the soul of the listener. It also shows what two people can do with instruments and voices. Elizabeth Fraser’s singing had developed from a weapon given to frequent warbling to one of the most idiosyncratic voices of her generation. Navigating its way through sense and nonsense, heaven and hell, pleasure and pain and all points in between, Fraser’s voice became just as much an instrument as those played by her cohort. Though her speaking-in-tongues delivery had yet to fully develop and recognisable words appear throughout the songs like the briefest of glimpses of form in a swirling and dense fog, her lyrics are more like punctuating syllables that simultaneously blend and bounce with and against the instrumentation going on around her. As displayed by the fact that no two lyric websites can agree what’s actually being sung, the actual lyrical content doesn’t matter here. What is important is that, in tandem with Guthrie’s wall of sound production, a blank canvass is presented to the listener in order to project his or her own imagery and meaning.
 

Why do you like this album? 

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The album is a deep, mental trip. In a world of ugliness and pain, the album creates a much needed refuge from all that. 

Why do you like this album? 

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It was an album before it's time. As an oboe/guitar player involved in electro popular music, it's no surprise Iva Davies took to Roxy Music, especially on "Street Café" and the mega-hit "Hey Little Girl," which duly landed in no less than 13 European Top Ten singles charts, going all the way in Switzerland. An album of atmospheres, "Great Southern Land" evokes images of Australia's arid interior, while "Trojan Blue" conjures up medieval Italy or France. "Mysterious Thing" continues Primitive Man's mood, and produces what may be the best line in ambient white funk recorded! Running orders for the album fluctuate; Australian editions swapped "Love in Motion" for the rockier "Break These Chains" (vice versa in the U.K.). Finishing up is an excellent reworking of "Goodnight Mr. Mathews," which had earlier appeared on the Steve Nye single-only version of "Love in Motion" (itself re-recorded less successfully). Primitive Man (aka Love in Motion in the U.K.) is still one his finest recordings. Those seeking out the CD are also blessed with the inclusion of "Over the Line," hitherto only available on Fresco and the singles box set, the original 12" of "Girl," and the German version of "Uniform."