"On the 40th anniversary of Roxy Music's debut, we reassess their journey, marked out in a new box set, from aural insanity to elegant perfectionism"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/se ... sfeed=true

The remixing of the debut album must be for the 40th anniversary boxed set; good news that work on it continues apace.

Roxy Music - in pictures...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/gallery/2012/sep/02/roxy-music-in-pictures?newsfeed=true

The comments to the Roxy article Smudge posted are a pretty interesting read. Even the people who profess to not liking Roxy so much remember them quite well.

The comments to the Roxy article Smudge posted ...

Can't take the credit, DCJ; the original post was Roxy's handywork.

Hope everyone enjoyed wallowing in the nostalgia of the pictures in the second link (sigh...). Those were the days...

Me bad. Sorry Roxy.

No problem DCJ

It seems to me that the writer, Simon Reynolds, was totally unsuitable to do a piece on the complete recordings, as he clearly only likes the first two albums!

I'd also be interested to know what the forum think of how Phil comes across in the interview?

A bit sour?

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Because music publishing operates according to an antiquated, pre-rock conception of composition that rewards those who write the top-line melody and lyrics, most Roxy tunes are credited solely to Ferry. "It goes back to Tin Pan Alley and the 1930s," says Manzanera. "Eno's synth part on Ladytron, Andy's oboe parts – that came from them. Each member was contributing to the music and to all the arrangements. I like to think that we produced the musical context for Bryan to put his vision into. But that's not reflected in the publishing."

It's all the more unfair because, according to Manzanera, from about halfway through For Your Pleasure and onwards, the band would write "the music first – all the music, including the solos. Then Bryan would listen to it and try to write a top-line tune and words.

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I thought it was gospel that in almost every case Ferry started the song on piano - structured the chords - directed the arrangement of solos etc, and only then would record a vocal?

It seems strange that the journalist not once praises Ferry's songwriting talents

Having read the article twice now, it seems to me that the guardian have done a stitch-up on Ferry...with him getting little credit for any of Roxy's creativity and lots of bashing.....?!

"as Ferry gradually asserts total control over the band, the music becomes less characterful."

"The same syndrome affects the lyrics: the verbosity and over-ripeness of the early albums goes, but so too does the imagistic vividness, the unclassifiably mixed emotions."

"In purely musical terms, Ferry's greatest invention is his voice on the first two albums"

"Rather than the players "backing" their singer/leader, then, it would be more accurate to say that Ferry fronted them: many of Roxy's greatest songs would never have been written in the absence of what had been generated first by the musicians."

IMO the piece seems rather one-sided, and very badly written...

The pitchfork review, however ticks all the boxes:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/168 ... 1972-1982/

Ferry Fan

Re: Phil. To be perfectly honest, he always seems to come across as a bit grumpyby nature, I think.

I think in the case of "Mother of Pearl" for example it has been documented that Ferry went away with the extended instrumental track and came back with the lyrics written in the form we all know and love, so maybe the other band members have a point in claiming some credit for contributing to what may have originally been improvised. But where do you draw the line? Brian May is quoted on the "Days Of Our Lives" DVD as saying that the argy-bargy over songwriting credits and royalties caused Queen no end of stress, with one band member bringing in an idea, Freddie polishing it into a finished song and then saying that it was in effect "his song" for credit purposes. Brian adds that it was only in the later days of Queen when they split royalties that the arguing went away and everyone got on better. But only those who were actually there know who really wrote what.