Roxy Music are one of the most influential and stylish bands in the history of British music — art-school glam pioneers who fused avant-garde experimentation, retro-futurist cool and impossibly elegant songcraft. Formed in London in 1970 by singer and svengali Bryan Ferry, and featuring the young Brian Eno on synthesizers alongside Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson, they redrew the boundaries of rock and shaped everyone from Bowie and punk to Duran Duran and beyond. Across eight albums they evolved from art-rock chaos to sumptuous sophistication. Here is every Roxy Music studio album, ranked from worst to best.

The short version

At the top sits For Your Pleasure (1973), their art-rock masterpiece, with the audacious self-titled debut and the elegant Avalon close behind. At the other end, the streamlined Flesh and Blood tends to divide even the faithful. The full ranking is below.

How we rank them

This is one fan’s honest take on Roxy Music’s eight studio albums — from the wild early experiments to the polished late-period elegance. Roxy fans tend to split into ‘early’ and ‘late’ camps, and we weigh both the friction of the art-rock years and the craft of the smoother ones. The facts are accurate; the order is where the arguments begin.

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The lower reaches

8. Flesh and Blood (1980)

A smoother, more streamlined album that many felt found the band marking time, polishing their sound at the expense of character. Pleasant but slight, a bridge to the greatness of Avalon. A minor entry.

7. Manifesto (1979)

The comeback album after a three-year hiatus, split between disco-tinged grooves and older art-rock instincts. Uneven and transitional, but with genuine highlights. A patchy return.

The middle of the pack

6. Siren (1975)

Their most commercial album to date, home to the irresistible hit “Love Is the Drug”. Tighter and smoother than the early art-rock chaos, with plenty of style, if a little less danger. A polished, enjoyable turn.

5. Country Life (1974)

A dark, bombastic and rollicking high mark, breaking the glam-rock stratosphere with some of their strongest and strangest songs. Sharp, exposed and emotionally charged throughout. A near-masterpiece.

The upper tier

4. Stranded (1974)

The first album after Eno’s departure, and Eno’s own favourite, a vibrant, weird and richly rewarding record crowned by the extraordinary “Mother of Pearl”. It rewards repeated listens like few in their catalogue. A near-masterpiece.

3. Avalon (1982)

The elegant, immaculate swan song, trading art-rock friction for crystalline sophisti-pop and Bryan Ferry’s most seductive songwriting, from “More Than This” to the shimmering title track. A graceful, beloved way to end. A late masterpiece.

The masterpieces

2. Roxy Music (1972)

The audacious, kaleidoscopic debut, a startling redefinition of rock’s boundaries that fused glam, kitsch and the avant-garde, from “Re-Make/Re-Model” to “Virginia Plain”. Raw, visual and endlessly influential. A groundbreaking classic.

1. For Your Pleasure (1973)

The masterpiece: their second album and last with Brian Eno, where art-rock ambition and emotional unease align perfectly, from the menacing “In Every Dream Home a Heartache” to the frantic “Editions of You”. Thrilling, restless and utterly alive. The definitive Roxy Music album, and the place to begin.

Every Roxy Music album, ranked

The full ranking at a glance, best to worst.

Where to start

New to Roxy Music? Begin with For Your Pleasure (1973), their art-rock masterpiece, and the audacious self-titled debut. For the other side of the band, Avalon (1982) is the perfect entry to their elegant later sound. From there, the thrilling Stranded and Country Life await. Few catalogues in rock are this stylish or this rewarding.

The verdict

Few bands have been as effortlessly ahead of their time as Roxy Music — a group who turned art-school theory into some of the most thrilling and beautiful pop of the 1970s, and whose influence echoes through nearly everything stylish that followed. Whether you prefer the exhilarating chaos of the Eno years or the crystalline elegance of Avalon, their catalogue is remarkably rich and rewarding. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019, they remain one of the coolest, cleverest bands Britain ever produced.

Go deeper

Keep exploring: count down their finest tracks with the best Roxy Music songs, browse our pick of their best Roxy Music albums, or head back to the full directory of every prog band’s discography, ranked.

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