Roxy Music on the road - Wow!
Roxy Music on the road - Wow!
Rock's most elegant band stuns in Frejus, France
There are two words that, historically speaking, are just about impossible to locate when reading the still-warm review of a rock show you just attended. You scan the array of adjectives some critic pounded onto a typewriter or computer keyboards in the wee hours, adrenaline pumping, their ears still ringing. And the words you don’t see are these: Elegant, classy.
When I sat back this morning to watch Bryan Ferry, Phil Manzanera and Andy Mackay and the supporting members of Roxy Music light up the Frejus, France arena on an August night way back in 1982, those were the first words that came to mind. Elegant. Classy.
Maybe I need to get out of the house more. But Bryan Ferry and his Roxy Music brethren brought a level of sophistication, style, maturity and intelligence to a music that really didn’t ever seem to be targeted at teenagers. Roxy Music always seemed to aim higher. And I loved that. Listen to Bryan Ferry’s lyric on “Mother Of Pearl” for example. It sure ain’t “Who Let The Dogs Out.”
As I’ve mentioned before, the first song of theirs that captured me was a Ferry/Manzanera composition called “Out Of The Blue” that I heard one afternoon at my part-time job, trying to assemble bicycles in the warehouse at Child World. The song, one of the most vibrant tracks on their fourth album “Country Life” was mesmerizing and the minute I got out of work that evening, I walked across to the Paperback Booksmith, bought the record and went home and played it again and again and again.
For a Dylan-Springsteen-The Band-Rod Stewart devotee who had played their records to death, my ears were eager for fresh, innovative, intelligent sounds and discovering Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry’s catalogue was like wandering into a new aisle in a bookstore with all your favorite authors with ALL NEW STUFF or an ice cream stand with all new, unusually imaginative flavors.
With Roxy Music, I found out there were three albums that preceded “Country Life.” so plenty to dig into. And then I learned that Ferry had a solo career as well, even a No. 1 hit with -- you’re kidding me, a Bob Dylan cover – “A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall.” And he had solo albums! Now you’re talking…
Wandering through my extensive vinyl collection this morning, a few hundred record albums in my garage, what hit me was, I evidently needed lots of NEW SOUNDS. Sure, there were the Who and the Stones and soon, U2, but there were others, too. The Allman Brothers, Joe Ely, Graham Parker and the Rumour, Jackson Browne, Steely Dan, R.E.M., The Replacements, The Clash, Patti Smith, Television, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Roy Buchanan, Rod Stewart and The Faces, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Hank Williams and more.
The diversity of my record collection was, considering my budget, I think, pretty impressive, flipping through it this morning. And Roxy Music, I think, was one of my richest and most rewarding leaps.
Though it’s not something music fans or writers ever talk much about, rock and roll is — or at least was — kids’ music, intended for rebellious teenagers who didn’t want to have to listen to crap like “Rock and Roll Waltz” or “The Poor People Of Paris.” No rocker in his early 20’s ever imagined — or wrote — a single song they thought they’d still be singing in their 40’s, 50’s and beyond.
I well remember a former co-worker of mine when she heard that there was a new classic radio station starting up in the Boston area. “O my God,” she whined. “I’ll NEVER stop hearing “You’re So Vain.””
I can’t speak for all my readers out there, but when I first heard The Beatles or Bob Dylan, I didn’t think, “Gee, this would be great to listen to when I’m 70!” It seemed to be music in — and from — the moment. And though all of our lives and maybe our musical tastes have changed, evolved even, there are some artists whose music seems to endure.
To me, Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry’s solo work still sounds great. Which is why this morning, it was such a delight to listen — and watch — this wonderful concert from so many years ago. For many people, Roxy Music’s final album “Avalon” was a high-water mark. This tour, supporting the record, was one of their last major jaunts and it seemed to me that there was still a sense of discovery surrounding some of their newer songs that are so beautifully developed on the Frejus stage.
“My Only Love,” for example, is nearly eight minutes long, a haunting musical exploration for the entire band; Ferry’s emotive singing, some beautiful guitar lines from Manzanera, terrific saxophone work from Mackay. While the studio version is a fine song, in concert, it’s a stirring, uplifting track that took Roxy's music to a different, deeper place.
Similarly, Ferry’s daring taste in covers led him to, of all people, Neil Young! (His birthday today!) Neil might have been the least likely person you’d expect Bryan Ferry to cover one of his songs. But here you go.
Neil’s soaring “Like A Hurricane” spirited by Manzanera’s six-string mastery gave the song an entirely new interpretation, backed by a thunderous performance by the entire band. Neil would love it, I think. With Neil’s version, it’s almost always a powerful guitar showcase for his wrangling guitar, unless he does the pipe organ thing. Manzanera, backed by a powerful Roxy Music band, takes it somewhere else, beautifully. It’s a keeper.
Manzanera’s name never comes up when rock’s great guitarists comes up — you know, the hit list of Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page — but I love the way the guy always finds a way to fit into the band, never show-offy, always stinging, imaginative, fresh, sharp guitar lines and leads. He’s been in the news lately with a brand new memoir, “Revolucion To Roxy,” an 11-CD box set “50 Years Of Music” and has done some solo shows and presentations and interviews. Thanks, Phil.
Mackay, similarly, has been overlooked as an instrumentalist, playing the saxophone, the oboe and adding an unusual flavor to the Roxy Music sound. Unlike, say, Bruce Springsteen’s Clarence Clemons, a saxophonist with a heart and sound as big as the ex-footballer himself, Mackay always seems to find clean, striking lines to augment the entire production of the song, always as part of the whole.
Like Manzanera, Ferry, too, has found this an appropriate time to take a long look back at his career, releasing a 5 CD set called “Retrospective: Selected Recordings 1973-2023.” There’s a lot to listen to.
While the DVD of “Roxy Music Live At The Apollo,” a captivating live performance nine years later is terrific and worth checking out, sadly, so far, there’s been no extant video from the Roxy Music 2022 50th reunion tour. How about it, fellas?
To me, there’s something a little more daring about “The High Road” as they played with the fire and inspiration that created “Avalon.” It certainly shows on this fiery night in France.
It’s impossible, of course, to know what of this music will stand the test of time. When Bryan Ferry and the boys cranked it up for this tour, following up “Avalon,” they were clearly on a creative high and wanted to share their music with the world. The good folks in Frejus had themselves a night to remember.
Fortunately for us, somebody thought it’d be a good idea to film the show. It still sounds damn good 42 years later. What will it sound like 42 years from now?
ROXY MUSIC - THE HIGH ROAD - Frejus, France, August 27, 1982