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March 22, 2006
Retrohump Day - Roxy Music
Well, knock one more dream reunion off of your wishlist, as the NME reports that art-rock pioneers Roxy Music are reforming with long disgruntled, and longer balding music genius Brian Eno in tow.
When previously asked about his non-involvement in the initial reformation of Roxy in 2001, Eno sang a much different tune (likely accompanied by experimental tape loops):
"I'm not interested anymore. I mean, it's obvious why it's being done. Why does anyone have a reunion? They've suddenly been fired up with a whole bunch of incredible new ideas that have been lying dormant for the last 25 years? I just don't like the idea. It leaves a bad taste."
So are we to presume that Mssr. Eno has actually been overwhelmed by new ideas for the rumored new Roxy album that's in the works? It's a tantalizing thought given the strength of the albums the band's original line-up yielded. Here's a sample of early period, Eno-fied Roxy Music, to cleanse the palate of those who would take a cynical view of the matter.
Roxy Music - "Re Make/ Re Model"
A good place to start thanks to the helpful roll call we get at the onset. It boggles the mind to think that with all the ten years too soon guitar noise and sax skronk, Eno twisting atmospherics out of an unidentifiable circuit box, and the inclusion of multiple band members in semi-drag, that this was a certifiably popular, mainstream band.
Roxy Music - "Virginia Plain"
For all the visual camp in the costumes and lounge facade of Bryan Ferry's demeanor, it goes without saying that these guys could just flat out slay. Phil Manzanera is a beast on guitar, and Andy Mackay uses his horns in a truly unique manner that never declines into cliched soul.
Roxy Music - "Do the Strand"
Seemingly from the same performance as the previous clip, but Ferry must have gone in for a costume change. Always the showman, he takes it into overdrive here bounding from mike to mike and bordering on pantomime in acting out his lyrics. It takes quite the frontman to divert attention from the spectacle that is a fully glammed out Roxy Music, and Bryan was one of the best.
Roxy Music - "In Every Dream Home a Heartache"
We end with a personal favorite from the '73 album For Your Pleasure. Ferry reigns in his stage persona, and emotes sincerely even if that's sweat on his face and not tearstreaks. A brilliant lyrical turn about the emptiness of modern conveniance and material gain and one of the very best examples of tension and release in the rock canon. If the initial slow pace isn't sufficiently livened up for you by the surprisingly interesting old time-y TV editing, please, please wait for the freak out that follows the line "I blew up her body....but she blew my mind." Is Eno ripping and manipulating tape from a huge reel to reel playback machine? Kind of makes Jonny Greenwood's fiddling with a transistor radio on stage seem a little half assed, huh?
As any Bill Murray fan knows, Roxy went on to record some classics songs post-Eno, but they can't really touch those first two albums. The push and pull of Ferry's pop-classicism and Eno's art wig out was the catalyst for some of the great songs of the 70's, and though obviously braced for a disappointment, you can't help but wonder if lightning might not strike again. Here's hoping.
Tags: Roxy Music, Brian Eno, Glam Rock, Art, Radiohead, Non Embarrassing Saxophone
Posted by Jeff Klingman at March 22, 2006 07:42 AM
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