Dave Amitri on Roxy Music
Deciding to take on Roxy Music’s eponymous first album while making no decisions on the rest of their back catalogue was a bit of a punt. I know Virginia Plain, Love Is The Drug etc. I enjoyed their 80s smooth period but without the need to investigate further. Finding out Billy MacKenzie listened to the first album a lot plus all the chat here and across social media about their 50th anniversary convinced me to give Roxy Music a go. So I did.
I wondered about the band’s name so I decided to investigate the word Roxy.
As a girl’s name Roxy is a luminous girl’s name that is Persian in origin. It means “dawn,” “star,” and “bright,” a fortuitous meaning that signals the beginning of new and exciting adventures.
In the Urban Dictionary it tells me…
adj. sexy and swanky at the same time.
Well this is encouraging.
What about this album then? Simply put. It’s all of the above. How can I be listening to a fifty year old album? How can Bryan “dances like my Dad” Ferry be responsible for this? You all know the music, probably, almost certainly better than me. I’ve been listening to it for a couple of weeks and I’m still finding something new every listen.
Where to start? As it was released around the same time as Ziggy Stardust and with all the Bowie / Roxy stuff I encountered during my Bowie year I was expecting something similar. In many ways it is but I think Roxy Music did it better. Bold statement Dave… Yes, maybe but It dawned on me that across the 12 Bowie albums I was never really tempted to seek out performances of the songs beyond what I knew already. I listened, I wrote, I moved on. With Roxy Music I’ve found myself searching for and watching everything I could find on YouTube of theirs.
The first I happened across was a 1972 Old Grey Whistle Test performance of Ladytron. It’s ridiculous in its ingenuity and creativity. From Andy Mackay’s exquisite oboe having no place in this kind of performance art to Eno’s electronic whataboutery that absolutely does and Manzanera’s guitar. In among the madness is Ferry. I’m smiling as I type this thinking of him. Gurning, crooning, performing his no doubt shiny socks off. This set me off an search for more. Just listening was no longer enough.
The next I found was a grainy performance of Remake / Remodel from Paris in 1974 which contains every element of a Roxy Music song and performance you need. Like The Jimi Hendrix Experience meeting The Human League in a cage fight. What a song by the way.
Then of course there’s The TOTP performance of Virginia Plain which is more of the same. So much going on like a collection of musical circus acts performing away and yet what grabs you the most is the blink and you miss it lights out ending. “What’s her name Viginia Plain”. Wait, what? Is that it? Are you not entertained? Damn right you are.
I’ve yet to find a visual performance from the time of If There Is Something to be honest I’m not sure I’d cope if I did. It’s become an mind expanding earworm that’s spent too long in a bottle of Mexican beer. Thankfully my Sp****y version of the album includes a John Peel Session version of If There Is Something that is stunning in it’s quality. The song, feels like it’s actually three songs in one. It took me several listens to work out what was going on if I’m honest I’m still not 100 per cent sure. Starting as a regular country hoe down it suddenly shifts gear during a guitar break into something completely different. Ferry’s vocal in the middle part sounding like Feargal Sharkey pleading, begging, demanding your love, your attention. He’ll give you some roses and some potatoes. Who doesn’t want Bryan Ferry’s potatoes? I must have sung “I would do anything for you” in my head a hundred times. There’s a chance to catch your breath while it all slows down over I assume Eno’s electronica. This is 1972!! Before You know it you’re into part 3 and Ferry’s warbling sets your senses racing again with a lament to times past. It’s just so good.
In my excitement I realise I haven’t covered these as they appear on the album but as a four song opening to an album it’s quite something whatever order you listen. Right from the first listen it had me hooked.
Things do slow down a bit with 2HB which just makes me think of pencils. It’s another wonderful song which puts me in mind of Oh Yeah / On The Radio in feel. You need this bit of a breather for what comes next is another 6 minute adrenaline rush.
The Bob Medley is a mix of swoon, Vietnam style soundtrack, woodwind and guitar that I’m sure is fairly unique. Unfortunately I can’t find live footage. It’s great though once you realise it’s one song, a love song, sort of. For me though the Ferry vocal on this is the star. Who knew he was this good? Ah, you all did. Well his 80s croon was always pretty good but this in the first part is another level. Love it.
The rest of the album allows for another breather. Chance Meeting is just gorgeous. An instrumental break from the future could have come from Talk Talk’s Spirit Of Eden. I read a quote that Talk Talk were “The moodiest practitioners of avant-pop since Roxy Music”. Which sounds pretty good to me.
Would You Believe is the sort of rock n roll number Bowie relied on to fill the gaps and is the one song here that doesn’t leave me open mouthed in wonder I’m afraid.
Sea Breezes as the title would suggest is light and fresh. Ferry again emoting for all he’s worth. More oboe used perfectly and again more than a little hint of Hollis and Talk Talk. This would sit on Colours Of Spring just perfectly. The ability to take a song in a completely different direction exemplified here again. An exquisite opening, a bit of a free spirited middle, a Ferry lament and an exquisite oboe / vocal ending and that will do for Sea Breezes.
Bitters End sees Ferry doing his best Noel Coward over a barber shop quartet a finish with hints to the future perhaps. Can I leave it here?
Roxy Music is / are a crazy art pop performance project that leaves the listener with a mind expanded and full of new sonic experiences. Added to the visual wonder of Roxy Music circa 1972 it makes me think that while I’ve never been a drug user I suspect this is as close as it comes in musical form. I haven’t felt this about new music since I stumbled across Jimi Hendrix. Bowie only did this sporadically for me across 12 albums. Here it’s relentless. I’m leaving the Bowie comparison stuff here with this thought. There’s none of the harshness of Bowie about Roxy Music. Bowie’s voice and look just put my teeth on edge too often especially around this era. Ferry and Roxy Music while also trying to look and sound like aliens have a luscious sound and smoothness about everything. Yes even Ferry’s vibrato, Eno’s machinery and that gorgeous oboe.
In conclusion those definitions at the start of this of the word Roxy just about sum it up. A new dawn, a star, bright, that signals the beginning of new and exciting adventures. All sexy and swanky at the same time. And an oboe….
Great review, Dave
2HB is a tribute to Humphrey Bogart, one of quite a few cinema references (BoB is meant as a soundtrack to The Battle Of Britain and Chance Meeting is based on Brief Encounter).
I hope Steven Wilson’s remix finally gets a proper release this year. An extended Ladytron and Numberer were issued on ten inch vinyl for RSD 2015, plus the whole album remix was added to the Blu-Ray for the 45th anniversary box.
Something tells me you’ll enjoy the ebb and flow of Roxy Music’s oeuvre. This was released on the same day as Ziggy, it’s the one I bought first and the one I listen to most. Some people prefer For Your Pleasure. I don’t think you should stop now.I
Here is live recording for radio you might enjoy. I always thought whispering Bob didn’t think much of them. September 1972.
Tiggs is right; if you liked this one, wait until you hear the second album. It’ll blow your mind.
And Stranded is even better… Eno agrees.
Deluxe and delightful…. Squeak squeak!
Surely written with you in mind, Moose.
Why? I have no interest in G-plan furniture
Who remembers that MM front cover and centre spread about this new band making waves? I do and was terribly excited, making a trip to Brighton to listen to it, on day of release, on headphones, in, possibly, Virgin Records, for once not too nervous to confront the extravagantly maned stoners who ran the shop. I can’t remember whether it was OGWT or Virginia Plain on TOTP, but both were watched avidly and adored.
I always found For Your Pleasure a big let down after all that. Really. But Stranded more than made up for that.
Stranded is incredible.
We’ve had a discussion about which is their worst album. However, their albums are all of such high quality, their worst is the best worst album of any band. 😏
That performance of Virginia Plain was on last night’s ToTP 1992 re-run, and it still looks like it was beamed in from another world.
BF with his best Leningrad Cowboys hair in that clip.
Grumpy Git staggers into the forum. Looks around and after a pitiful bout of consumptive hacking manages to utter a few words. ” Glam rock, bah. Bunch of arty posers, bah. Hated them back then, completely indifferent to them now “. Grumpy Git exits leaving behind a lingering aroma of stale tobacco and decades of disappointment.
Why are there so many threads on Roxy Music? Can we not have a separate Roxy section? It clogs up the place etc
Oh yeah.
Ain’t that so
Who asked you? All this vitriol … I’m off up the pub. On the way to the offy. I may not be back for some time.
Has he gone yet ?
Their 1st 3 albums were superb and the 70s greatest hits is as good a single artist compilation as any. After that they were good, but having produced great work, I always found them a bit disappointing.
This…although I would extend the superb albums to the first four…
You’re right. I was thinking that Siren was the 4th, but it’s the 5th.
And it’s equally great in a different way.
Whether or not Bryan’s voice is faded to a fey whisper, whether or not Andy’s fingers aren’t really up to oboeing, I can’t wait to see them in October for the first and undoubtedly final time.
I thought this was a brilliant album. Someone described it as sounding like 5 different bands all playing at once. I’m not sure they were ever this interesting again, though Flesh & Blood and Avalon are gorgeous. I have a gap in the middle and the odd dip into FYP or Stranded never grabbed me but I ought to give them a go.
Fantastic debut and the precursor to a super run of albums that have stood the test of time and still sound great almost fifty years later.
Six words.
Paul Thompson.
Paul Thompson!
PAUL THOMPSON!!
Joe Morello.
Joe Morello!
JOE MORELLO!!
SIDNEY BECHET!!
….sorry, wrong thread
Lightweight!! I’m still working through scanning my back issues and II reckon I’ve easily still got 40 to go…. that’s apart from my first 100 Q magazines that somehow (so far!) survived the cull before the house move but I think they’re destined for the scanner as well… and I’m actually more likely to read a PDF version that’s always at hand rather than a print version that’s up in the loft anyway.
You can’t beat a blast of boogie woogie to get the toes tappin’.
A minute a week is a lot for an Oyster.
It’s only recently that I listened to the Roxy live album “Viva!” for the first time.
It’s a good ‘un.
But it should’ve been a double album.
Then again: it doesn’t overstay its welcome, leaves ‘em wanting more, etc. Something to be said for a “single” live album…
I was introduced to Roxy through the Viva live album, so when I heard the same songs (Chance Meeting, If There is Something) on the first album they sounded a bit flat and formal. Same thing with Joy Division – my first experience of them was via the Still album and when I listened to the studio recordings they sounded a bit weak by comparison.
I saw Roxy on their Manifesto tour in 1979/80 in Manchester and they were great. But the next outing in the 1990s was a bit of a letdown – Ferry seemed to have adopted a kind of Duke of Edinburgh persona. I recently relistened to Ferry’s solo albums of the 70s and they don’t hold up well. While Bowie kept making new and interesting sounds I think Ferry’s music just sort of faded away into a melancholic sigh around the millenium
Ferry’s “Duke of Edinburgh” persona. I imagined him addressing the audience “So, have you come far?”
“You play those drums like an Indian”
The model on the cover, Kari-Ann Moller, is having a spot of bother staying in this country because of her Norwegian passport.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jun/17/norwegian-roxy-music-album-cover-star-kari-ann-moller-fights-to-stay-in-uk-post-brexit
The madness of Brexit, writ large.
I wonder if any of the “raw meat” Brexiteers in the government were aware of Roxy Music and, by extension, Kari-Ann?
I suspect not…
I doubt it figured on their thinking. Interesting to live in a country for 74 year sand not obtain a UK passport. Guess she never needed one
Not until 2016…after that, I think I might have thought, hmmm…the country’s fallen into the hands of maniacs, maybe I should get a passport. It’s not just a matter of applying for a passport of course, applying for citizenship is a laborious and expensive process involving such complete bollox as citizenship tests etc.
Well come on, Mr Ross…it’s been over a year, where’s your “For Your Pleasure” report?
I have listened to it a lot and its a fascinating thing. I’ll get on to writing it all down this week…