Manifesto is the sixth studio album by the English rock bandRoxy Music. It was released in March 1979 by E.G. in the UK, Polydor in Europe and by Atco Records in the US. Following an almost four-year recording hiatus, Manifesto was Roxy Music's first studio album since 1975's Siren. The first single from Manifesto was "Trash", which barely made the UK top 40. However, the second single, the disco-tinged "Dance Away", peaked at no.2, beaten to no.1 for three weeks from 26 May 1979 by Blondie's "Sunday Girl". Regardless, it became one of the band's biggest hits and was also the 9th best-selling single in the UK in 1979. The song was also released as a 12" extended version, a format that had started to become popular in the late 1970s. The third single from the album was a re-recorded version of "Angel Eyes", which was far more electronic and "disco" in nature than the power-pop album version. An extended 12" mix was also released. The single also made the UK Top 5 in August. The album itself peaked at no. 7 in the UK. The cover design which featured a variety of mannequins, was created by Bryan Ferry with fashion designerAntony Price and American TV actress Hilary Thompson amongst others. The picture disc version of the album featured a version of the design in which the mannequins are unclothed. The cover's typography, as well as the album's title, were inspired by the first edition of Wyndham Lewis's literary magazine Blast.
Release history
On the original vinyl release, side one was labelled "East Side" and side two was labelled "West Side". After the song became a hit, the second pressings of the album substituted the original version of "Dance Away" with its single remix. Later on, the LP version of "Angel Eyes" was also replaced by the more popular re-recorded version released as a single. The original CD versions of the album used the revised track list, until the LP version of "Angel Eyes" was restored in the 1999 remaster. Manifesto was finally released on CD in its original version on The Complete Studio Recordings box in 2012. The first LP version ‘Angel Eyes’ first appeared on the U.S. compilation CD “The Atlantic Collection” while the first LP version of “Dance Away” appeared on CD for the first time in 1995 on The Thrill of It All box set.
Critical reception
Manifesto was positively received by critics but not as well regarded as previous Roxy Music albums. Melody Maker review of the album stated Max Bell of NME gave it a lukewarm review: Similarly, Village Voice critic Robert Christgau wrote: "This isn't Roxy at its most innovative, just its most listenable – the entire "West Side" sustains the relaxed, pleasantly funky groove it intends, and the difficulties of the "East Side" are hardly prohibitive. At last Ferry's vision seems firsthand even in its distancing – he's paid enough dues to deserve to keep his distance. And the title track is well-named, apparent contradictions and all." Greil Marcus wrote in Rolling Stone: It was ranked 30th in the Village VoicePazz & Jop critics poll of the best albums of 1979. The 1992 Rolling Stone Album Guide gave the album four stars and says "the regrouped Roxy seems better for the rest: deftly blending fresh rhythms into its signature sound, shortening the musical passages and concentrating more on song craft.
