Only two discs?

Somehow, I was expecting more than this.

awfulperson: more than this.

I'm only posting here to say that you must drink Winner's Choice coffee.

More than this? (pops, doesn't Roll)

Crocodile: More than this? (pops, doesn't Roll)

I've always wondered what the hell was going on with the expression on Bryan Ferry's face in that video.


awfulperson:
Somehow, I was expecting more than this.

This should have been in the headline.

Roxy Music was a VERY good live performing band.

Beyond the silly glam image and Bryan Ferry looking more like 007 than your typical 70s rock front man, they were a truly spectacular live act.

Youtube is saturated with some astonishing 70s and early 80s live performances that are so tight and near perfect they almost appear as lip synching.

Despite their strange looks and odd music themes,I have always found Roxy Music's material to be the least pretentious of the whole "prog" genre. Their music still sounds lively and un-dated to me. I regard the Roxy Music records and of course the first four Eno "rock" albums as the high water marks of the 70s.

I could NEVER say that about "Tales from Topographic Oceans," "Selling England by the Pound," "Thick as a Brick," or "Brain Salad Sugery"....etc. --great prog records but too dense and over the top concept stuff.

Roxy was more natural and totally cool as hell.
King Crimson too.

I'm listening to "Supper's Ready" off Foxtrot as I write this so you can take my defense of 1970s pretentions prog rock as read. But. I have a Roxy Music live CD and "best of" compilation. I don't know if I need any more. They have some good music that never made it to the top of my listening habits for whatever reason.

Freakin' sweet! Thanks for the news, subby!

Would You Believe?...That might just be in my collection too, in the future... For My Pleasure....and for The Thrill of it All....If There Is Something to it, that is. that's The Main Thing.

Captain_Sissypants
Thats a whole lot of fag right there.

I know! He's SUCH a big fag, that he was tappin' the ass of Jerry Hall before that other big fag...what's his name...oh, right --- Mick Jagger ... snaked her away from him.

Not amused.

I've got the German DVD with live TV appearances from the 70's, including 5 songs featuring Eno. A couple of the later cuts on the DVD have John Wetton on bass. Amazing stuff... This may be a stranger cut than any of the Eno-period material I have, though: "Ladytron" from Old Grey Whistle Test, 1972.

The reunion show from 2001 is pretty good, too, though Bryan's voice is a little on the weak side. Great band, though; Lucy Wilkins does a remarkable job of covering both Eno's wackier synth parts and Eddy Jobson's violin parts (like on "Out of the Blue" for instance).

Gotta agree with Craigdamage. I really liked the Manzanera solo stuff (801) and his guests with Eno, Cale, ect. I always thought the Edge was a Manzanera copyist, not that that is a bad thing. Didn't Roxy do a previous compilation called Total Recall? I think it cane out about ten years ago. Some of the spots showed a young John Wetton on bass.

clownyclownzomby:

Re: Manzanera

If you order anything straight from his website (the version of 801 Live has some additional songs, and there's a second live concert CD after Eno left that features a lot of material from Listen Now; you can also get the Quiet Sun CD there), he signs everything that goes out. Pretty cool. Unfortunately, the weak dollar has driven prices up damned high just now.

My dream is that some day film footage of 801 with Eno will surface, but none seems to exist. I would recommend the Coalition To Stop The War Benefit Concert DVD for any Eno fans. It was filmed in Fall '05, and features Brian playing with Nitin Sawhney and Rachid Taha. Excellent quality, both visually and sonically. There are clips on YouTube if you'd like a taste of it.

DrBenway: thanks for the info. I'va actually gotten a few CDs from the website. I think Bill McCormick runs it. The interview CD has some great stuff. I've heard that some 801 performances were filmed and I think that there's a snippet of Diamondhead on the Total Recall VHS. I'm definitely going to check out the Coalition dvd you mention. Is Steve Hillage on it? I know he's had a long relationship with Taha, and performs with him sometimes.
Cheers

Captain_Sissypants: Thats a whole lot of fag right there.

Yeah, kissing girls is so GAY!!!



Doorknob.

clownyclownzomby:

thanks for the info. I'va actually gotten a few CDs from the website. I think Bill McCormick runs it. The interview CD has some great stuff. I've heard that some 801 performances were filmed and I think that there's a snippet of Diamondhead on the Total Recall VHS. I'm definitely going to check out the Coalition dvd you mention. Is Steve Hillage on it? I know he's had a long relationship with Taha, and performs with him sometimes.
Cheers


No Steve Hillage, but Mick Jones comes out for the last 2 songs of the main set (including Rock The Casbah, which Taha has covered) and stays for the encores.

Can someone please explain to me what makes Avalon such a great album? I own it and listen to it occasionally, but only out of curiosity. That is a wussy album from what used to be one of fthe coolest bands ever. I farking hate Avalon. Please someone tell me why its so great.

Ebenator:

Can someone please explain to me what makes Avalon such a great album? I own it and listen to it occasionally, but only out of curiosity. That is a wussy album from what used to be one of fthe coolest bands ever. I farking hate Avalon. Please someone tell me why its so great.


Not such a fan of Avalon either. It has its moments, I suppose, but generally speaking, Siren's the last great Roxy album in my opinion. Avalon, along with later Bryan Ferry solo efforts, just comes off as too slickly produced for my taste. Over the years, BF seemed to take himself more and more seriously, to the detriment of the qualities I found most endearing about the band.

I was going to buy a new Toyota Avalon, but couldn't stand the thought of hearing that song in my head every time I opened the door.
If Toyota makes an "Out of the Blue" line of cars, that would be ok.

A great Steely Dan album (bear with me a second) is Katy Lied. Brilliant. Top of their form.
However, Aja is something totally different, and its own landmark, but not anything like their previous work.

Similarly, Avalon isn't really like the early "Virginia Plain" type Roxy, but has its own place in defining where the sound is going. Smoother, more velvety and thoughtful. Older and more refined...

/I blow up your body
//but you blew my mind

dmax:

/I blow up your body
//but you blew my mind


Indeed. My all-time favorite blow-up sex doll song ever. (pops)

Ebenator 2008-01-22 03:32:21 PM
Can someone please explain to me what makes Avalon such a great album? I own it and listen to it occasionally, but only out of curiosity. That is a wussy album from what used to be one of fthe coolest bands ever. I farking hate Avalon. Please someone tell me

It's built for the bedroom. It's like an arty British Barry White record. Baby making music.

Oh yeah, the production values on it are pretty amazing too.

DrBenway: Not such a fan of Avalon either. It has its moments, I suppose, but generally speaking, Siren's the last great Roxy album in my opinion. Avalon, along with later Bryan Ferry solo efforts, just comes off as too slickly produced for my taste. Over the years, BF seemed to take himself more and more seriously, to the detriment of the qualities I found most endearing about the band.

While Avalon is not my favorite, it sounds a bit more timeless than its predecessors. As far as Roxy albums go, I'll stick with Stranded; their first album without Eno. Stranded has an Eno feel in the treatment of the instruments, but the production does not get too crazy with altering already good playing by the members. Plus the Stranded packaging has always been one of my favorites.

/Saw Roxy in 1975 & 1976
//Saw Ferry solo in 1977
///Get off my lawn

Andy Mackay has always been under-utilized.

Both Chris Spedding and Neil Hubbard outshone Manzanera, IMO.

Two of the most boring albums I ever heard: 801 Live and Listen Now.

The version of Dream Home on Viva! blows the doors off the studio version.

Play Same Old Scene and Pete Townshend's Give Blood back to back sometime.

chickyraptor: Andy Mackay has always been under-utilized.

This

spammuncher:

While Avalon is not my favorite, it sounds a bit more timeless than its predecessors. As far as Roxy albums go, I'll stick with Stranded; their first album without Eno. Stranded has an Eno feel in the treatment of the instruments, but the production does not get too crazy with altering already good playing by the members. Plus the Stranded packaging has always been one of my favorites.

/Saw Roxy in 1975 & 1976
//Saw Ferry solo in 1977
///Get off my lawn

Saw them on the Siren tour; only time I ever did angel dust. What was I thinking???


chickyraptor:

Two of the most boring albums I ever heard: 801 Live and Listen Now.

801 Live "boring"? No, no, and no! I'm with you on Spedding, though -- the guy always kicks ass. Wish I could find live clips of him playing with John Cale in the mid-70's. I know they're out there, as there are brief snippets in a Cale documentary I've seen. Have you seen the kid, Oliver Thompson, who's been playing with Bryan Ferry lately? Plays his ass off, and at 20 years old, looks like Danny Bonaduce circa Partridge Family era.

DrBenway: Saw them on the Siren tour; only time I ever did angel dust. What was I thinking???

I was tricked into smoking it in the same year as you. The guy next door in the dorms referred to it as "Compton Mint Smoke". It's nasty shiat. Fortunately, I saw the Siren tour free from the effects of Compton Mint Smoke.

spammuncher:

I was tricked into smoking it in the same year as you. The guy next door in the dorms referred to it as "Compton Mint Smoke". It's nasty shiat. Fortunately, I saw the Siren tour free from the effects of Compton Mint Smoke.


Well, I will say this for it: "Out Of The Blue" was permanently etched into my DNA that night. So there's that...

801 Live is one of my Desert Island Discs. It's energetic, subtle, creative, and beautifully recorded/produced.

OTOH, Listen Now is less experimental, more song-oriented, more staid, and its own - completely different! - piece of genius.

K-Scope is the remains of the Listen Now period, and is quite good in places, but not the landmark of those other two.

And, to be more hippie-experimental-patchouli oil, there's Manzanera's band Quiet Sun's first/only album. Quite good!

/and Daddy was a small non-stick kitchen utensil

I'll check it out. ;-)

chickyraptor
The version of Dream Home on Viva! blows the doors off the studio version.


OMG THIS!!

"Viva" rocks as a whole too... except for "bogus man" which I think i like the studio version better, weirdly enough...

Two of the most boring albums I ever heard: 801 Live and Listen Now.

I have 801 on CD, and i think it's an average live album. A few great standout tracks, the rest is "meh", for me anyway.
standout tracks:
TNK (Tomorrow Never Knows) [frickin awesome!]
Baby's on Fire
Miss Shapiro [way better than the studio version]
You Really Got Me [neat and clever cover]
Third Uncle [good, similar to studio version. p.s. ...proto punk perhaps?]

My copy of 801 Live is signed by Phil Manzanera
no you may not touch it
I also have a bootleg of Eno + the Winkies live
stop looking at it
Got lotsa modern music, but loves me the prog rock
I took pictures of Fripp playing keyboard on 1981 Discipline tour
He doesn't speak to me anymore

dmax: I have to agree with your genius assessment of Listen Now!..perhaps Bill McCormick's involvement was important. I thought it (I bought it when it came out) was superior to Animals as a concept album in many ways and perhaps even more dreary. I always listen to it on rainy days. My wife hates it but I have never let her play country music in the house so we're pretty much even.

clownyclownzomby: dmax: I have to agree with your genius assessment of Listen Now!..perhaps Bill McCormick's involvement was important. I thought it (I bought it when it came out) was superior to Animals as a concept album in many ways and perhaps even more dreary. I always listen to it on rainy days. My wife hates it but I have never let her play country music in the house so we're pretty much even.

Yep. It's a rainy day record. Everybody whispering behind their hands / selling their despair to any stronger man.

I like that Godley and Creme are on it, as well. I love their stuff.

I have Eno/Winkies! Also a neat little Eno boot called "Floating in Sequence" after the line from Another Green World's "Sky Saw" - "All the clouds turn to words. All the words float in sequence. No one knows what they mean. Everyone just ignores them" - and so I stole that name for my now - dormant music blog. (new window)

Dang, I used to have that Eno/Winkies boot. Doesn't it have a version of I'll Come Running with an extra verse? I need that verse!

I do, however, have an Island 45 with Eno doing The Lion Sleeps Tonight (b-side: The Seven Deadly Finns). AND a 2nd edition set of Oblique Strategies which has proved quite useful over the years.

Need to listen to Listen Now again, now that I'm in a house with an operable turntable. Quite a respectable cast of players as I recall... isn't one of the Finn brothers on it? Definitely not the most "up" album, but still pretty interesting.

Love Manzanera's first solo LP, Diamond Head. "Big Day" is an Eno vocal effort that's rarely heard. Ooh Ooh Peru!

Hopefully the dollar will improve a bit so I can order up some stuff; I'd love to have a CD of the Quiet Sun material, and better still, a signed one.

The thing that amazed me seeing early live clips of Roxy was how freakin' great Manzanera is. Always loved his playing, but assumed there was a fair amount of overdubbing involved. Not so!

Oh, yeah, one other thing...

I had bought a promo copy of the US version of the 1st Roxy album years ago. Turned out it still had the original press info sheet inside. That was kinda cool...

DrBenway: a 2nd edition set of Oblique Strategies which has proved quite useful over the years.

with the cards?? BONUS! I'd love to see those..too expensive on e-bay
I also have pristine copies of the Peter Schmidt watercolors form Before/After Science

I got them Oblique Strategies too - 1978 "Slightly revised" edition. And I found last week two of the four Schmidt water colors. Wish to hell I knew where the other two went. Damn college kid who didn't appreciate the value of what he had in front of him...

Also have Thursday Morning VHS and Memories of Manhattan VHS and 7 Million Paintings

/such a fanboy

Yeah, I've got those 4 Peter Schmidt prints in the original folio. Think it was from a German pressing of the album. One of these years, I really need to get them properly framed.

dmax: sounds like your set of cards is the same vintage as mine. I've had some interesting experiences with them over the years.

You probably know this site, but I'll post it anyway for anyone interested: Enoweb has quite an archive, including old interviews dating back to the early 70's.