>Well, we will never agree.<

Why should we? Different opinions, tastes and colorful metaphors are spices of life, not?

i don't think Paul Thompson was sacked..he appears in several performance videos from the flesh+blood album.musicians do have other commitments outside of the public eye..Rxy has always perfected each song as a piece to stand alone,whatever the combinations of musicians..but i am a fan of all of their incarnations as a group..not so on the solo releases

He didn't play on flesh and blood but did the early promo videos/top of the pops, would have played on the f&b tour but broke his thumb in a motorbike accident and was replaced by Andy Newmark (who apparently was VERY expensive in those days).In interviews at the time Ferry made it clear that Thompson had been replaced and wouldn't be returning to the band.

I've always wondered if Paul was the original drummer on Flesh + Blood. then the promo videos were done with Paul and then Bryan changed his mind and replaced the drum parts with Newmark and the other guy. Seems strange that Paul did the videos after being booted out or being asked to leave. I wouldn't !

i vaguely recall:
bf, pm, am went into phil's studio to do some early recording...suspect around rhythm box....then loads of layering and many drummers invited to various fragmented sessions. TGPT always slated for the tour. Maybe even laid down some unused drumming sessions?
Then he got injured (was it motorbike?) and couldn't tour. BF would have wanted TGPT on tour at that stage, prior to injury...despite his "downer" on Paul's non-discoesque drumming style (incompatible with US radio-play-friendly sound BF was after at the time)

John: you will surely recall the actual detail....

It was pretty convenient that he broke his hand so he couldnt do the tour. And suprise suprise, Newmark filled in. I can't understand how Paul did the videos after he was asked to leave. If it was you, would you want to have anything to do with the band. I would have thought there must have been some bad feeling. That's why i wondered if the videos had already been done befor he was replaced. I need to watch them again and see if the drums are any different. All irrelevamnt now but just curious.

Ferry's intention was to use Thompson as the tour drummer (maybe as a swansong, or because of his partnership with Gary Tibbs which was well received on the manifesto tour I don't know) but the drummers on f&b were Andy Newmark and Allan Schwartzberg with Simon Phillips doing some percussion work, it should also be remembered that Thompson didn't play on all of manifesto. The drumming on the version of midnight hour which Roxy did on the Kenny Everett new year show on new years eve 1979/80 was Thompson but was slightly remixed on f&b and without Thompsons drumming.

My take on the last three albums is that as the Manifesto reformation was prompted partly by the failure of TBSB they went for a Roxy album but with a contemporary (for then) sound, in order to ensure commercial success. The hits from Manifesto were Dance Away and the disco version of Angel Eyes both very radio friendly tracks with DA being a very traditional verse chorus song format and I think this influenced the direction of F&B with possibly an eye on cracking the US (Oh Yeah - very US radio friendly fodder). I think the direction was then specifically changed for Avalon going for a more complex layered sound with fragmented vocals and subtle instrumental flourishes, I suspect largely driven by Bryan.

Of the three, Avalon is one I listen to most because I think it has depth lacking in the other two although I only find the depth listening loud with a good quality sound system. I think all three would have been enhanced with more adventurous production and I would particularly like to have heard Avalon produced by Eno with some of his ethereal ambience added.

Having said that, I can't blame the chaps for making hits and the fact that Avalon and the first Roxy Album are so poles apart says to me the band journeyed more than most over their 10 year existence.

At the end of the 70s, I was so fed up with Roxy that I sold my almost mint copies of FYP and Country Life from the first printing. For some strange reason, I kept Stranded. Siren I never bought, because when it was released, I had lost interest in the band. From a corner of my eye I witnessed that Roxy reformed with an album called Manifesto, but I could only shrug my head. New love was found when I, by coincidence, heard F+B in 1980. After Avalon, I wanted more of the same. I went for their first album, which I never before had given a real chance. Hearing it was like having angles run through my ears.