Roxy Music

Roxy Music began as an experiment between Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno. Bryan blended American Soul and Pop Music with European Cabaret while Brian Eno deconstructed Rock Music into pure electronic tones forming a new kind of avant-garde music. Like the Velvet Underground, their music was daring, defiant and something truly original and exciting. Their bizarre costumes and fascination with glamour got them lumped into the Glam-Rock category, but their musical experimentation and sleek artistic pop separated them from the herd of rock bands wearing eye shadow and glitter at the time. Bryan Ferry’s passionate crooning and occasional blending of English, French, Spanish and Italian lyrics made them more of a World Music band than a glam-rock or art-rock band. We should remember that Roxy Music originated in the early ‘70s, before most of the Progressive Rock movement really started. They were true innovators who inspired a legion of imitators of arty glam bands and later the new wave soul-pop groups.

They called themselves “Roxy” until they learned there was already an American band called Roxy, so they changed their name to Roxy Music. Besides Bryan Ferry on vocals, Brian Eno on keyboards, Roxy Music a powerhouse of talented musicians including Paul Thompson on drums, Andy Mackay on horns (saxophone and oboe, mostly), and the mighty Phil Manzanera on guitar. Their first album, Roxy Music was produced by Peter Sinfield of King Crimson was largely ignored in the U.S. but climbed into the British Top Ten in the summer of 1972. Shortly thereafter, the non-LP single "Virginia Plain" rocketed into the charts, followed by the non-LP "Pyjamarama" in early 1973. While Roxy Music had become a sensation in England and Europe, with their novel amalgamation of high culture and kitsch culture, they had trouble getting noticed in America.

The group's second album, 1973's For Your Pleasure was another huge hit in the U.K., but ignored in America except for college radio. Creative tensions began between Ferry and Eno. Apparently, Ferry refused to include any of Eno’s compositions on the album, so Eno left the band after the completion of For Your Pleasure. Maybe there was tension between them because their names were both Bryan/Brian. That must have been confusing. “Can we call you Bruce to keep it clear?” For Your Pleasure includes the terrific track “In Every Dream Home a Heartache” (the ultimate version is found on their live album Viva! Roxy Music; truly awesome). My favorite tunes on this fabulous album are “Beauty Queen” and “Grey Lagoons”, but the popular favorites were clearly “Editions of You” and “Do The Strand”, which became staples in their live shows and crowd favourites. Before recording the third Roxy Music album, Ferry released a solo album, These Foolish Things, comprised of pop/rock covers.

Roxy Music’s third album Stranded was released in December of 1973 and became the band's first number one album in the U.K. Stranded was recorded with new Roxy member Eddie Jobson, a violinist who previously played with Curved Air. The album received a warmer reception in the U.S. than its two predecessors because of the tracks “Street Life”, “Amazona” and “Song for Europe”. “Street Life” was later recorded by Def Leppard on their excellent cover album Yeah! Phil Manzanera’s guitar work on “Amazona” is absolutely mesmerizing. Bryan Ferry’s vocals on “Song for Europe” are magnificent. In my opinion, it’s one of the greatest songs ever recorded.

Their success with Stranded set the stage for their American breakthrough album Country Life in late 1974. Sporting a controversial photo of two models dressed in see-through lingerie the cover was initially banned in the U.S., and replaced with the forest background. Being a connoisseur of fine album covers, I told my girlfriend that I really wanted the original cover version. At the time, she was attending Texas A&M in the metropolis of College Station and I was over at Blinn Jr College in the small town of Brenham (home of world famous Blue Bell Ice Cream). I couldn’t find Country Life with the original cover anywhere. Margaret found it in College Station and purchased it for me. When my mother saw the cover, with the scantily-clad models, she said this about my girlfriend: “That girl must really love you if she bought an album with a cover like that”.  Margaret and I have been happily married for 31 years now.

Country Life was the first Roxy Music album to break into the U.S. Top 40 and became their fourth British Top Ten album. One wonders whether some of Roxy Music’s commercial success was related to the fashion models that graced the covers of most their albums. Texas model Jerry Hall was the siren on Roxy Music’s next album Siren. Jerry Hall was born in Gonzales, Texas, was a long-time girlfriend of Mick Jagger, received an engagement ring from Bryan Ferry, and appeared in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman as the gangster girlfriend of Jack Nicholson’s Joker. She also appeared in the video for Bryan Ferry’s solo hit “Let’s Stick Together”. Let’s watch it now, shall we? www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ma9cm_TvOc
Back in 1975, however, Jerry was the mermaid on the cover of Roxy Music’s biggest album in U.S. to date. Siren featured the disco-flavored "Love Is the Drug," which was their first American Top Forty hit and is still heard today on Classic Rock stations nationwide.

After working on some solo study, the band regrouped and released Manifesto in 1979. Their sound changed to more commercial disco-influenced soul-pop that was markedly different from their earlier records. Despite that, Manifesto became their highest-charting U.S. record, peaking at number 23, largely on the strength of the single "Dance Away." Quickly following up on their success, they released Flesh + Blood in 1980, which was a mild success. In 1982, the year my only child Jessica was born, Roxy Music released their final album, Avalon. Avalon contained one of Roxy Music’s most recognizable tunes, “More Than This”, which was immortalized by Bill Murray in the film “Lost in Translation”. Let’s watch Bill croon to Scarlett now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1UYohidXRg&feature=related

After Roxy Music broke up, Bryan Ferry released many great solo albums. One of my favourites was his album of Bob Dylan covers called Dylanesque, which contains a truly wonderful version of “Make You Feel My Love”. Last month, Roxy Music announced that they will regroup and headline the Lovebox festival in London on July 17, 2010. It’s about time.