band during this period.Rolling Stone referred to the studio albums Stranded (1973) and Country Life (1974) as marking "the zenith of contemporary British art rock". The songs on these albums also cemented Ferry's persona as the epitome of the suave, jaded Euro-sophisticate. Although this persona undoubtedly began as a deliberately ironic device, during the mid-1970s it seemed to merge with Ferry's real life, as the working-class miner's son from the north of England became an international rock star and an icon of male style. On the first two Roxy studio albums, all songs were written solely by Bryan Ferry. Beginning with Stranded, Mackay and Manzanera began to co-write some material. Gradually, their songwriting and musicianship became more integrated into the band's sound, although Ferry remained the dominant songwriter; throughout their career, all but one of Roxy's singles were written either wholly or jointly by Ferry (Manzanera, Mackay and Thompson did individually write a few of the band's B-sides). Stranded was released in November 1973, and produced the top-10 single "Street Life". The fourth studio album, Country Life, was released in 1974, and was the first Roxy Music album to enter the US Top 40, albeit at No. 37. Country Life was met with widespread critical acclaim, with Rolling Stone referring to it "as if Ferry ran a cabaret for psychotics, featuring chanteurs in a state of shock". Their fifth studio album, Siren, contained their only US top 40 hit, "Love Is the Drug". (Ferry said the song came to him while kicking the leaves during a walk through Hyde Park.) After the concert tours in support of Siren in 1976, Roxy Music disbanded. Their live album Viva! was released in August 1976. During this time Ferry released two solo studio albums on which Manzanera and Thompson performed, and Manzanera reunited with Eno on the critically acclaimed one-off 801 Live album. Final studio albums and hiatus (1978–1983) Roxy Music reunited during 1978 to record a new studio album, Manifesto, but with a reshuffled line-up. Jobson was reportedly not contacted for the reunion; at the time, Jobson was touring and recording with his own band, U.K. The remaining four members, Ferry, Mackay, Manzanera and Thompson, recruited Gary Tibbs (ex-Vibrators) as their new full time bassist, while the sessions for the next album saw Paul Carrack (ex-Ace and future member of Squeeze, keyboards) and Alan Spenner (ex-the Grease Band, bass) also contributing. On