Roxy Music – Viva (1976)

Viva! Roxy Music was the first live Roxy Music album. It was released in August 1976 and was recorded at three venues in the United Kingdom between 1973 and 1975. The recordings were from the band’s shows at the Glasgow Apollo in November 1973, Newcastle City Hall in October 1974 and the Wembley Empire Pool in October 1975. (by wikipedia)

As Roxy Music took an extended hiatus, the live album Viva! was released. Comprised of material recorded on tours from 1973, 1974, and 1975, Viva! is a tough, powerful document of Roxy at the peak of their live powers, featuring a fine cross-section of their best work. (by Stephen Thomas Erlewine)

The biggest flaw with this album is that it isn’t longer. I’d love to hear more music from this great live unit. The song selection leans heavily on the first two Roxy albums, when Eno was part of the band.

Those numbers, here played live by the Eddie Jobson version of Roxy (Jobson was Eno’s replacement), are effectively reworked versions and are great. Not necessarily better, though Do The Strand and Pyjamarama are way more energetic then the originals, just different and very well done. For me, a highlight is the expanded If There Is Something, with its beautiful instrumental passages and powerful drumming. Great music and a great complement to the studio albums. (by Jonathan Krall)

This is Roxy Music after developing a reportoire of numbers. This formation would basically set the formula of Roxy Musics live performance. This is not the big Concert Bowl perfomance but the intimate concert hall performance that Roxy satisfied itself with and probably more that any other group featured more the skills of the musicians and at the same time keep itself in contact with the audience. (by TDN)

Personnel:
Bryan Ferry (vocals, keyboards)
Eddie Jobson (violin, synthesizer, keyboards)
Andy Mackay (saxophone, oboe)
Phil Manzanera (guitar)
Paul Thompson (drums)
John Wetton (bass)
+
John Gustafson (bass on 05.)
Sal Maida – bass on 02. + 04.)
+
The Sirens (Doreen Chanter and Jacqui Sullivan) (background vocals on 05.)

Tracklist:
01. Out Of The Blue 4.45
02. Pyjamarama 3.37
03. The Bogus Man 7.06
04. Chance Meeting 2.58
05. Both Ends Burning 4.47
06. If There Is Something 10.39
07. In Every Dream Home A Heartache 8.22
08. Do The Strand 4.01

All songs written by Bryan Ferry.
except 01., which was written by Bryan Ferry andPhil Manzanera

*
**

 

 

Roxy Music – Same (1972)

Roxy Music were an English rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry, who became the band’s lead vocalist and chief songwriter, and bassist Graham Simpson. Alongside Ferry, the other longtime members were Phil Manzanera (guitar), Andy Mackay (saxophone and oboe) and Paul Thompson (drums and percussion), and other former members include Brian Eno (synthesizer and “treatments”), Eddie Jobson (synthesiser and violin), and John Gustafson (bass). Although the band took a break from group activities in 1976 and again in 1983, they reunited for a concert tour in 2001, and toured together intermittently between that time and their break-up in 2011. Ferry frequently enlisted members of Roxy Music as session musicians for his solo releases.

Roxy Music became a successful act in Europe and Australia during the 1970s. This success began with their debut album, Roxy Music (1972). The band pioneered more musically sophisticated elements of glam rock while significantly influencing early English punk music, and provided a model for many new wave acts while innovating elements of electronic composition. The group also distinguished their visual and musical sophistication through a preoccupation with glamorous fashions. Ferry and co-founding member Eno had had influential solo careers. The latter became one of Britain’s most significant record producers of the late 20th century. Rolling Stone ranked Roxy Music No. 98 on its “The Immortals – 100 The Greatest Artists of All Time” list, though it dropped the group from its updated list in 2011.

The band’s final studio album was Avalon (1982), which became platinum-certified in the United States. In 2005 they began recording a new studio album, which would have been their ninth, and would have been their first record since 1973 with Brian Eno, who wrote two songs for it and also played keyboards. However, Bryan Ferry eventually confirmed that material from these sessions would be released as a Ferry solo album, with Eno playing on “a couple of tracks”, and that he doesn’t think they’ll ever record as Roxy Music again. The album ultimately became Ferry’s 2010 album Olympia. Roxy Music played a series of 40th anniversary shows in 2011, but has since become inactive as a performing entity. (by wikipedia)

Falling halfway between musical primitivism and art rock ambition, Roxy Music’s eponymous debut remains a startling redefinition of rock’s boundaries. Simultaneously embracing kitschy glamour and avant-pop, Roxy Music shimmers with seductive style and pulsates with disturbing synthetic textures. Although no musician demonstrates much technical skill at this point, they are driven by boundless imagination — Brian Eno’s synthesized “treatments” exploit electronic instruments as electronics, instead of trying to shoehorn them into conventional acoustic patterns. Similarly, Bryan Ferry finds that his vampiric croon is at its most effective when it twists conventional melodies, Phil Manzanera’s guitar is terse and unpredictable, while Andy Mackay’s saxophone subverts rock & roll clichés by alternating R&B honking with atonal flourishes. But what makes Roxy Music such a confident, astonishing debut is how these primitive avant-garde tendencies are married to full-fledged songs, whether it’s the free-form, structure-bending “Re-Make/Re-Model” or the sleek glam of “Virginia Plain,” the debut single added to later editions of the album. That was the trick that elevated Roxy Music from an art school project to the most adventurous rock band of the early ’70s. (by Stephen Thomas Erlewine)

Personnel:
Eno (tape, synthesizer)
Bryan Ferry (vocals, piano)
Andrew Mackay (saxophone, oboe)
Phil Manzanera (guitar)
Graham Simpson (bass)
Paul Thompson (drums)

Tracklist:
01. Re-Make/Re-Model 5.12
02. Ladytron 4.13
03. If There Is Something 6.36
04. 2HB 4.32
05. The Bob (Medley) 5.46
06. Chance Meeting 3.04
07. Would You Believe? 3.48
08. Sea Breezes 6.31
09. Bitters End 2.03

All songs written by Bryan Ferry

*
**

Roxy Music – German TV Special (1973)

Roxy Music were an English rock band formed in 1971 by Bryan Ferry, who became the band’s lead vocalist and chief songwriter, and bassist Graham Simpson. Alongside Ferry, the other longtime members were Phil Manzanera (guitar), Andy Mackay (saxophone and oboe) and Paul Thompson (drums and percussion), and other former members include Brian Eno (synthesizer and “treatments”), Eddie Jobson (synthesiser and violin), and John Gustafson (bass). Although the band took a break from group activities in 1976 and again in 1983, they reunited for a concert tour in 2001, and toured together intermittently between that time and their break-up in 2011. Ferry frequently enlisted members of Roxy Music as session musicians for his solo releases.

Roxy Music became a successful act in Europe and Australia during the 1970s. This success began with their debut album, Roxy Music (1972). The band pioneered more musically sophisticated elements of glam rock while significantly influencing early English punk music, and provided a model for many new wave acts while innovating elements of electronic composition. The group also distinguished their visual and musical sophistication through a preoccupation with glamorous fashions. Ferry and co-founding member Eno had had influential solo careers. The latter became one of Britain’s most significant record producers of the late 20th century. Rolling Stone ranked Roxy Music No. 98 on its “The Immortals – 100 The Greatest Artists of All Time” list (by wikipedia)

This is taken from a series of performances on German TV during the first half of the 70’s. The first five songs are early enough to have Eno still in the band (these include a particularly creepy version of “In Every Dream Home A Heartache” with Brian Ferry looking very “Eddie Munster”). I was impressed at how great and tight they were live, even early on. Costuming starts out WAY over the top, then becomes a bit less flamboyant over the years. Phil Manzanera’s guitar-playing is consistently outstanding throughout. A couple of the songs near the end include John Wetton on bass. Eddie Jobson is remarkable playing electric violin on “Out Of The Blue.”(by Will C.)

There are many different covers in circulation, so I decided to create my own cover … just fur fun.

Personnel:
Bryan Ferry (vocals, piano)
Eddie Jobson (violin, keyboards)
Phil Manzanera (guitar)
Andy MacKay (saxophone, oboe)
Sal Maida (bass)
Paul Thompson (drums)
+
Brian Eano (synthesizer, keyboards on 05.)

Tracklist:
01. Street Life (Ferry) 3.07
02. Pyjamarama (Ferry) 4.00
03. Mother Of Pearl (Ferry) 6.38
04. Amazonas (Ferry/Manzanera) 4.16
05. Virginia Plain (Ferry) 3.16
06. A Hard Rain´s Gonna Fall (Dylan) 3.23
07. Psalm (Ferry) 8.38
08. Out Of The Blue (Ferry/Manzanera) 4.34
09. If It Takes All Night (Ferry) 3.36

*
**