Roxy Music. So underrated

[rushbo]

50 minutes ago, itu said:

As you have played many of the tracks, have put them to paper? Any chance you have a library of bass scores?

Sadly, I've not notated any of line bass parts, other than putting together a very basic chord chart. 

[casapete]

I saw 801 at Hull University in the late 70’s. TBH only went as I got free tickets from the record

company, but enjoyed the gig and subsequent album despite not particularly being my kind

of thing. Phil Manzanera is a great player, and love his iconic red Gibson Firebird V11.
My brother was a big Roxy Music fan, and I remember hearing their first couple of albums 

blasting from his room. Wasn’t sure about the ‘smoother’ later albums, but enjoyed some

of Bryan Ferry’s solo stuff, especially as it featured the great Chris Spedding on guitar.

Edited April 15, 2023 by casapete

[Frank Blank]

2 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

Great singles band up to an including "Trash" after that they are pretty boring.

 

Actually that's the last track of Roxy's output I enjoyed, I'm in complete agreement there. They were (imho) great up until their pinnacle (Siren 1975) but I did like Trash from Manifesto but I think Angel Eyes and Dance Away from the same album give away his musical direction from that album on.

I really, really like Bête Noire (1987), a Bryan Ferry solo album, not least because it has some great bass lines and I became briefly obsessed with You Can Dance, the opening track of Olympia (2010), but, yes, Trash really marked the end of their great creative period.

 

2 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

The albums from that era normally include one decent track that wasn't also a single. But there' s a lot of filler on there too.

 

All IMO.

👆this.

[Raymondo]

I like Roxy in all their guises. I went to see them at Nottingham uni when  Virginia Plain had been a massive hit. It was so completely different to any other band touring at the time.

[Frank Blank]

1 hour ago, Paul S said:

I don't think Roxy Music were underrated - they were MASSIVE at the time.

I was going to say this, they were huge at the time and a kind of bridge out of the prog of the time (like Yes, Genesis etc.) into punk. They were hugely influential to Punk. So many proto-musicians were inspired to form bands by seeing the Sex Pistols and other early punk bands but a lot of those early punk bands were heavily influenced by Roxy Music. In this influential sense they were very important too, I'm not sure the New Romantic nor the (I'm going to stretch my neck out here) very early Goth scene would have been quite the same. Without Roxy I doubt Adam and the Ants nor Siouxsie and the Banshees would exist for starters.

Edited April 15, 2023 by Frank Blank

[rushbo]

I was very much in the "seventies good-eighties bad" camp when it came to Roxy Music. That came to a grinding halt when I was asked to write a piece on the "Avalon" album for an online magazine. The band that recorded that record is a completely different one (in approach and ethos) to the one that recorded "Roxy Music" in 1972, and once you appreciate that, you can start to enjoy "Avalon" for what it is. My favourite Roxy album will always be their debut, but "Avalon" is a great piece of work.

 

Just in case you're interested, this is how I tried to defend the indefensible...

 

https://www.popmatters.com/roxy-music-swan-song-avalon

[Frank Blank]

1 hour ago, Paul S said:

'In Every Dream Home a Heartache' is up there in my all time favourite tunes. 

👆 this. As the main lyric writer in my band, that title is hugely influential, in the sense of there's a whole story in those six words, an entire scene set before you've heard a note. It's an excellent inspiration to try and write lyrics as good as that title! And then, the song itself, an absolute monster.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

I cannot think of a single person I know who underrates Roxy Music. Hugely influential across decades.

[Frank Blank]

10 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

I cannot think of a single person I know who underrates Roxy Music. Hugely influential across decades.

 
Very much so. I think the giveaway is in the OP's opening comment about listening to his Dad's albums and it's great to hear about someone discovering Roxy Music and digging them. They were hugely influential on our generation but I'm not so sure that many young people today have heard Roxy Music let alone contemplate their importance in that mid-late seventies musical evolution.

[meterman]

51 minutes ago, Frank Blank said:

Without Roxy I doubt Adam and the Ants not Siouxsie and the Banshees would exist for starters.

Probably also Wire (who toured with Roxy Music), Magazine and some of the artier end of punk too. Even the Sex Pistols claimed early Roxy as an influence. Later-period Roxy had a massive influence on a lot of eighties acts, you can hear stylistic lifts in bands like ABC, Japan, Duran Duran (of course), Talk Talk, Simple Minds, etc. Chic took Roxy as an influence too. Good enough for me 👍

[Old Man Riva]

37 minutes ago, Frank Blank said:

👆 this. As the main lyric writer in my band, that title is hugely influential, in the sense of there's a whole story in those six words, an entire scene set before you've heard a note. It's an excellent inspiration to try and write lyrics as good as that title! And then, the song itself, an absolute monster.

I often wondered that if David Beckham were to get dumped by Victoria in the early days there’d be ‘In Every Dream Homme a Heartache’ on some front page… 

[Old Man Riva]

On the Roxy theme, I found the version of Remote Control I’d been looking for. It was from a Peel session rather than ‘Fluff’!

 

Absolutely love this…

 

 

[la bam]

I grew up listening to my mums endless albums of roxy music. Obviously as a kid you rebel against it, but once I got old enough to appreciate they're absolutely fantastic!!

 

On a side note though, they make me a little sad as I genuinely dont ever see any young band coming out with music like that ever again. It had maturity, technicality, skill, superb sound, hooks, melodies, numerous instruments and just fantastic all round sound.

 

Edited April 15, 2023 by la bam

[Frank Blank]

1 minute ago, la bam said:

I grew up listening to my mums endless albums of roxy music. Obviously as a kid you rebel against it, but once I got old enough to appreciate they're absolutely fantastic!!

 

It was listening to my older brothers Roxy Music albums as he played them in another room (Roxy by proxy?) that got me into them initially. When punk came along and I 'found my tribe' so to speak, I stupidly stopped listening to a lot of the prog music I listened to previously, punk was, in that sense, quite dictatorial about music of the past, but I continued listening to Roxy Music, they just seemed really wild to me and they fit in perfectly with punk in my book. My Dad used to turn off any music he hated, Bowie, Roxy, any punk, if my Dad hated it then great.

 

1 minute ago, la bam said:

On a side note though, they make me a little sad as I genuinely dont ever see any young band coming out with music like that ever again. It had maturity, technicality, skill, superb sound, hooks, melodies, numerous instruments and just fantastic all round sound.

Hmmmm, I know what you mean but you never know. I kind of think the same thing when I listen to Kimono My House by Sparks, that their like, particularly that album, won't ever happen again but I wonder if it's really just a personal thing along with an age thing? There will never be another Siren for me, nor another Kimono My House but there are bands making albums now that'll mean that much and be perceived as mature technical, skilled and sound superb to someone who is at exactly the right age to have formative musical experiences.

[Hellzero]

Another underrated project by Brian Eno:

 

[PaulThePlug]

Roxy by Proxy... great name for a tribute band...

[Mykesbass]

30 million album sales and near universal critical acclaim (especially for the early years) is NOT underrated.

[diskwave]

Remember watching Virginia Plain on TOTPS...completely blew me away...so weird and unusual. Brilliant.

[fleabag]

Of course , i have PM's 801 Listen Now CD -  it's pretty awesome, as already posted here.  Wonderful  tracks and great musicians.

 

I like prefer this album cover over the live cover, just a preference, natch

 

 

 

Regarding Roxy,  get under the headphones and listen to the spookyness of The Bogus Man.  It's a treat.  For Your Pleasure has been in my collection

for many a decade. 

 

 

 

[Dan Dare]

Aaargh. Not "underrated" again. Mods, could we institute a ban on the use of the word, please? If I had a fiver for every time I've heard a musician or band described as "underrated", I'd own a tropical island.

[Mykesbass]

8 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

Aaargh. Not "underrated" again. Mods, could we institute a ban on the use of the word, please? If I had a fiver for every time I've heard a musician or band described as "underrated", I'd own a tropical island.

Since my post I've been trying to think of some truly underrated artists and have failed. It is a bit of a strange concept. @YouMayes, they are a great band, and the world of music has been enriched by them (before we hijack this thread)!

[Musicman666]

i think the bass playing on the track flesh and blood is pretty darn in the pocket ... i did have to check the dates to see if karn was ripping him off but quiet life was released the previous year so i guess not.

[Lozz196]

10 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

Aaargh. Not "underrated" again. Mods, could we institute a ban on the use of the word, please? If I had a fiver for every time I've heard a musician or band described as "underrated", I'd own a tropical island.

Posts like this are definitely underrated

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, Musicman666 said:

i think the bass playing on the track flesh and blood is pretty darn in the pocket ... i did have to check the dates to see if karn was ripping him off but quiet life was released the previous year so i guess not.

 

Plus they had released two albums before that, and while the musical style might have been different to "Quiet Life" the bass playing was much the same.

[Musicman666]

11 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

Aaargh. Not "underrated" again. Mods, could we institute a ban on the use of the word, please? If I had a fiver for every time I've heard a musician or band described as "underrated", I'd own a tropical island.

 how about underappreciated?