Roxy Music 'Avalon'

in recent interviews he has mentioned that he only listens to ambient-architectural experimental music

It was the pro-fox hunting shit that irked me. Thankfully, it's very easy to separate Ferry from his music.

You can't! Ferry is the music. There is no person named Bryan Ferry.

yup alfred otm

Lester Bangs certainly agrees w you

Japan is a weird blind spot for me - they seem like the connecting link between Roxy and Duran Duran, yet they are almost completely unknown in the states/never had any hits here etc

when I discovered them in the early nineties way before the internet, I looked them up based on allusions to them in reviews/articles about Duran and Roxy.

weirdly I was at least aware of David Sylvian due to solo videos in rotation on the local music video show, but it was years later before I even heard of Japan, and then it was from a devout Roxy-head friend

video was for "Orpheus"

You can't! Ferry is the music. There is no person named Bryan Ferry.

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, August 16, 2018 7:08 PM (seventeen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh, how I wish that were the case!

Japan's biggest hit in the UK was 'Ghosts', and I'm amazed that it was a hit to begin with - it's not a track which has "hit single" written all over it. Their first album was 1978 and they didn't have a single crack the UK Top 50 until 1981, by which point they were on their final album. 'Quiet Life' was a Top 20 hit, but it was released as a single two years after the album!

So really, they were always a cult band - although an influential one on the likes of Duran Duran etc.

the Thrill of it all box set is what got me deeply familiar with this band. Yet while I got all the LPs other than Manifesto and Flesh and Blood in the 90s, it took me a while to get familiar with the cuts that are not on the BS. "whirlwind" is probly the biggest HOLY SHIT discovery therein. Maybe a poll re: what didn't make the box would be good?

The bob, Would you Believe?, Bitter's End

Grey Lagoons

Psalm, Serenade

If it tales All night, Triptych

End of the Line, Whirlwind (the former two should have been in the box), She Sells, Nightingale

Still falls the Rain (FUCKING AWESOME), My Little Girl, Cry Cry cry (maybe the shittiest Roxy song), Spin me Round

In the Midnight Hour, Eight Miles High (these two are not very good), Rain Rain rain, Running Wild

the space between, true to life

hey bro
don't be square
here it is -- not over there

this relationship ain't right

truly one of the best moments in music right there.. the guitars, the sax, the croon, the humidity..

This is not only not remotely my favorite Roxy Music record (maybe number 5 or so in my list?), but I've always found the production sheen overrated. Still a great record!

Great comment/observation I saw on youtube, about how Duran Duran cited Roxy as an inspiration but one never got the sense that they "got" Roxy, vs. a band like Talking Heads that clearly "got" Roxy Music but was less obviously indebted to them.

the Thrill of it all box set is what got me deeply familiar with this band

Me, too! My biggest "how could they leave this off" track is "Psalm", especially the live on Musikladen version.

Xp but She Sells is amazing and people should be talking about it in hushed tones all the time but they don’t and why don’t they?

Yeah that box is great -- already had all the albums by then but having the B-sides at long last was worth it for that reason alone.

"Same Old Scene" is transcendent, and Avalon remains Avalon, ie transcendent.

I should note something, though, that has not been brought up in the recent discussion, but which I only just realized the other week. The cover model, Lucy Birley, who married Ferry that year and was the mother of his four sons, divorcing him in 2003, died just a couple of weeks ago. Very tragically and sadly, it was suicide, while on a visit to Ireland.

https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/lucy-birley-dead-at-58-london-socialite-and-former-wife-of-bryan-ferry-dies-on-holiday-in-ireland-a3895146.html

Per this piece here:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/tragedy-lucy-birley-sadness-gilded-society-set/

Her death this week came while on holiday in Ireland, surrounded by her beloved dogs. Her brother, journalist Ed Helmore, remarked: “Lucy fought a long battle with depression, a battle that she lost on Monday”

This essay in memoriam is worth your time.

https://www.vogue.com/article/lucy-birley-obituary

It seems strange to say this, but as interesting as Roxy Music were musically, I've never really been fascinated by Ferry as a person. There seems to be something quite dull about him - which is weird, cuz you look at footage of the early Roxy Music performing and they look so exciting and not of this Earth.

They all looked exciting except Ferry, he so looked so awkward and ill at ease and had no real stage presence, hid himself behind a keyboard, no wonder he was jealous of Eno.

Birley was another pro-fox hunting campaigner too, I think?

(x-post)

1. Alfred's various theses on Bryan Ferry make up some of my favorite music writing ever. I liked the band. His writing made me adore them.

2. I don't think I could rank Roxy albums. The S/T, Stranded, Country, and Avalon are all equally wonderful for reasons that are impossible to compare and contrast, because of the way Ferry nullified himself, the way the sense of camp evaporates. The rest are fascinating, even if they've got some ups and downs. My favorite tracks are well distributed across the catalog.

3. I just snagged a nice crisp LP of In Your Mind. My very fashion conscious 18 year old was looking over the jacket, and she was shocked when she realized it wasn't a brand new release. The dude is timeless.

thank you!

bryan ferry is what he fears most, a dilettante

after mainlining this album for the last week one thing I'm still perplexed by is the sequencing. the title cut seems like it should be the finale but it shows up 3 songs in, while Tara is essentially an intro to a closer that never comes.

That's confidence!

Manzanerek is so lovely on the title track, those light burbly phased triads and such

Triad is not the word, I just mean like strumming three strings or w/e

Wait not phasing, just straight tremolo

Wait not phasing, just straight tremolo

A cross between Phil Manzanera and Ray Manzarek.

I just spent two minutes looking around on the internet trying to figure out whether I somehow missed that Ray Manzarek had played on Avalon before I figured out that it was a typo for Phil Mazanera.

New tour announced, "playing songs from Avalon plus solo & Roxy Music hits." I don't know what the hell that means. Is he playing all of Avalon, plus solo & Roxy hits? Is he just playing some songs from Avalon, which of course would be also have been covered by "Roxy Music hits?" No idea.

Is it a good idea to see him live?

Is he playing all of Avalon, plus solo & Roxy hits

sounds like it's this

He's not bad live, but of course there's not a lot of (any) improvisation and it's all about replicating the albums. He's a pretty weird and compelling performer, though, has good moves and makes funny faces.

Thanks, that sounds about all one can expect (he's 73!). Roxy are somewhat heroes of mine and I've never seen him live, but this new tour swings by close to me. I'll probably just go do it. Good moves are underrated.

and his hair -- well.

Sign me up for that ravenous coiffure at 73!

This was his latest full setlist:

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/bryan-ferry/2018/theatro-dasous-thessaloniki-greece-3be988f8.html

The Main Thing
(Roxy Music song)

Slave to Love

Don't Stop the Dance

Ladytron
(Roxy Music song)

Out of the Blue
(Roxy Music song)

Oh Yeah
(Roxy Music song)

Casanova
(Roxy Music song)

Tokyo Joe

Bitter-Sweet
(Roxy Music song)

Windswept

Bête Noire

Zamba

Stronger Through the Years
(Roxy Music song)

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
(Bob Dylan cover)

My Only Love
(Roxy Music song)

In Every Dream Home a Heartache
(Roxy Music song)

If There Is Something
(Roxy Music song)

Re-Make/Re-Model
(Roxy Music song)

More Than This
(Roxy Music song)

Avalon
(Roxy Music song)

Love Is the Drug
(Roxy Music song)

Virginia Plain
(Roxy Music song)

Encore:
Let's Stick Together
(Wilbert Harrison cover)

Jealous Guy
(John Lennon cover)

Editions of You
(Roxy Music song)

I've seen him three times with increasing delight. He played "Zamba" and "Bete Noire" last time!

That seals it!

Great setlist too

Saw him last year, fabulous show. If he ever meant anything to you, absolutely, go!

I tried but could not find a way!

I've seen him three times and Roxy once. They've all been equally good, and while there's nothing revelatory about him live (unlike, say, David Byrne's most recent tour), yeah, if he means something to you, check it out. Which is honestly not something I'd say for just any legacy act.

I so wish I could have seen Byrne's recent tour. This isn't that, but it's really good. I never saw Bowie until his final tour in 2014, and now my memories are maybe better than the actual show, which was excellent. And you never know when it'll be your last chance.

xp lol Alfred.

Tix ordered, thx guys!

I never saw Bowie until his final tour in 2014

I sure wish he had such a tour. You mean 2004?

I was in the lobby of the venue when the roadie fell from the rafter in July 2004.