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Set
list:
Virginia
Plain 2:46
Love Is the Drug 3:36
Do The Strand 3:45
Jealous Guy 5:37
Discography:
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Avalon |
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Country
Life |
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The
Best of Roxy Music |
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For
Your Pleasure |
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Roxy Music at Live 8
Roxy Music is a British art-rock group founded in
the early 1970s as a collaborative project between art school graduates
Bryan Ferry (vocals, keyboards) and Brian Eno (electronic music specialist).
Roxy Music existed from 1971 through 1983 (though without Eno after 1973),
then reunited for a concert tour in 2001, and has announced that they
will be recording a new album in 2005.
The group's name was partly an homage to the titles of old cinemas and
dance halls, and partly a pun on the word 'rock'. The juxtaposition of
nostalgic and contemporary (or futuristic) themes was a distinctive feature
of Roxy Music, particularly in their earliest incarnation. Roxy Music
is noted for their combination of idiosyncratic experimentation and sophisticated
wit, evident in their literate lyrics, restrained instrumental virtuosity,
and highly developed visual presentation.
Roxy Music was a significant influence on the early British punk movement,
as well as providing a model for many "New Wave" acts and the
subsequent New Romantic and experimental electronic groups of the early
1980s. Ferry and Eno have also had broadly influential solo careers.
Roxy Music (1971 to 1983)
In the winter of 1970/71, ceramics teacher Bryan Ferry advertised for
a keyboard player to collaborate with him and Graham Simpson, a bass player
he knew from his art college band, "The Gas Board." Andy MacKay
replied to the advertisement, not as a keyboard player but as a saxophonist
and oboist; however, he did possess a VCS3 synthesiser. Andy met Brian
Eno during university days, as both were interested in avant-garde and
electronic music. It was some time later that they met again, and as Eno
could play a synthesizer and owned a Revox reel to reel tape machine,
Andy convinced him to join Roxy Music, the fledgling band as a technical
advisor. It wasn't long before Eno was a performing member of the group.
After Dexter Lloyd, a classically trained timpanist, left the fledgling
band, Roxy Music placed an ad seeking a 'wonder drummer'. Drummer Paul
Thompson joined the line-up in June, 1971. Soon after that guitarist Phil
Manzanera made them a five-piece.
Roxy Music's first single Virginia Plain, which reached #4 in the British
charts, was typical of the band's blend of highly literate lyrics and
musical inventiveness, combined with a powerhouse glam rock backbone.
During that decade, Roxy Music emerged as one of the foremost bands of
the time, popular throughout the UK and Europe. In the US, the band was
esteemed by critics and an ardent "cult" following, but they
remained little known among the general public.
Eno left after the group's second album - For Your Pleasure - amidst differences
with Ferry over the direction of the group. He was replaced on keyboards
by Eddie Jobson, late of progressive rockers Curved Air. Bassist John
Gustafson also performed and toured with the band on the next three albums.
The other key members of Roxy Music - the classically trained Mackay,
the experienced progressive rock guitarist Manzanera and drummer Paul
Thompson - are reported to have shared some of Eno's concerns about Ferry's
dominance of the band, but they elected to remain in the group. Gradually,
Manazanera and Mackay's songwriting became more integral to the band's
sound, although all but one of Roxy's singles were written either wholly
or jointly by Ferry. The exception was their only number one hit, Jealous
Guy, which they recorded as a tribute to John Lennon shortly after his
death.
Manzanera and Mackay also undertook solo projects, and they, along with
Thompson and Jobson, took part in some of Ferry's solo recordings and
concert tours. Ferry's solo career began in 1973, when still very much
a member of Roxy Music, and his solo albums (mostly containing ironic
cover versions of pop standards) alternated with Roxy's releases.
Roxy Music's fifth album, Siren, contained their one US hit, "Love
is the Drug" (Ferry said the song came to him while kicking the leaves
in a walk through Hyde Park). Following the concert tours in support of
Siren, in 1976, Roxy Music temporarily disbanded. During this time Ferry
released two solo records on which Manzanera and Thompson performed. Roxy
Music reunited in 1978 to record a new album, Manifesto, but with a reshuffled
line-up. Jobson and Gustafson were not present (reportedly they were not
contacted for the reunion). After the tour and prior recording of the
next one, Flesh + Blood, Thompson left the band because he broke his thumb
during a motorcycle incident (and soon after that he left permanently).
The three remaining core members were supplemented by a variety of session
players over the next few years, including Andy Newmark, Neil Hubbard
and Alan Spenner.
The changed line-up was reflected in a distinct change in Roxy's music,
with the jagged and unpredictable elements of the groups sound giving
way to smooth, brooding musical arrangements, culminating in the sombre
perfectionism and beautifully sculpted soundscapes of their eighth and
final album Avalon in 1982. The trio toured extensively till 1983, when
Bryan Ferry dissolved the band and devoted himself full time to a solo
career.
Solo work (1983-present)
After Roxy Music's last album and tour, Mackay, Manzanera and Ferry all
released solo albums. Ferry's solo career has continued uninterrupted;
Newmark participated on all of Ferry's subsequent records and tours. Thompson
worked as a session drummer for various artists; his post-Roxy session
work included such diverse acts as a punk band The Angelic Upstarts on
their 1983 album Reason Why and blues-rocker Gary Moore on his Emerald
Aisles Live In Ireland tour in 1985, which was released on video. In 1990-91,
Thompson replaced Harry Rushakoff as the drummer in Concrete Blonde, during
which time they had their biggest hit with the single "Joey."
In 1984, Manzanera and Mackay teamed with vocalist James Wraith to form
The Explorers. Signed to Virgin, the band released a self-titled album
and a number of singles ("Venus de Milo" and "Falling for
Nightlife", the latter of which which was not included on the LP
version), but none of their material charted in England. Virgin dropped
the band while in the studio recording a second album. This eventually
emerged in 1990 under the name Manzanera / Mackay.
In 1987, Manzanera teamed with former Roxy and King Crimson bassist John
Wetton for the LP Wetton/Manzanera.
Reunions (2001 to present)
Ferry, Manzanera, Mackay, and Thompson reformed in 2001 and toured extensively
for a couple of years. Conspicuously absent was Brian Eno, who criticized
the motives of the band's reunion. "I just don't like the idea,"
Eno explained, "It leaves a bad taste."
Manzanera and Thompson also recorded and toured with Ferry on his 2002
album Frantic.
In March 2005 it was announced on Phil Manzanera's official site that
Roxy Music, including Brian Eno, have decided to record an album of new
material, their first since Avalon in 1983. The project marks the first
time Brian Eno will work with Roxy Music since 1973's For Your Pleasure.
As of Saturday 19 March, the Manazanera site was updated with more info,
explaining that Roxy Music are in the studio working on new material,
but Eno's involvement was not mentioned.
Roxy Music also returned to the stage (still without Eno) for a live performance
at this year's Isle of Wight Festival on Saturday 11 June 2005, their
first UK concert since the 2001 world tour.
This article about Roxy Music is posted under the GNU Free Documentation
License. It uses material from this Wikipedia
article.
Roxy Music music CDs and Live 8 DVDs.
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