"Virginia Plain"

When music and art school came together..... you got bands like Roxy Music. What I like about this song is the lack of pretension about the pretension, if you see what I mean. They're not afraid to do eccentric, arty things like stick an oboe in there, make references to up-market holiday destinations (populated no doubt by exotic models drinking unpronouncable cocktails) and you just know that these guys are not short of a buck. I like the vaguely drug-fuelled paranoia about the song: it's skittish, unsure, a bit delicate and eager to get on with it. And the classic, abrupt ending, as if they were distracted by someone cutting monster lines of coke on the designer glass table in the studio. It's classical, it's pop, it's rock, it's "Vogue" magazine, it's completely Jerry Hall. And it's fun to sit for a while and wonder what exactly a "Harzog mane" is.