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Roxy Split after Avalon
http://www.vivaroxymusic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3434		 Page 1 of 3
Author:  Roger [ Mon Oct 03, 2022 2:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Roxy Split after Avalon
Taken from Phil's NME interview:

It’s also 40 years since Roxy’s final album, ‘Avalon’. Did it feel like you ended on a high at the time?

“No, as I didn’t want us to end at that particular juncture. In America, it wasn’t until ‘Avalon’ that we started to get successful in the US, and then we stopped. It’s so appropriate that ‘More Than This’ is our most listened to song in America: ‘More than this, there’s nothing.’ That was Roxy.

“We stopped at a time when the whole industry was expanding, with CDs, stadium concerts… Had we continued, we probably would have been huge.

I think Phil is right. Roxy could have been massive had they carried on. As he says the industry was changing and Roxy had a whole new fan base. So why did they split? If it was driven by BF then you would have to say that he got in wrong financially. And then came The Explorers. So much of that material could have formed the basis of Roxy songs, and perhaps PM/AM were trying to make that point when they chose James Wraith to be their vocalist. Who knows? But I think that Prussian Blue (with BF lyrics) could have been an epic Roxy song.
Author:  DCJ [ Mon Oct 03, 2022 11:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Roxy Split after Avalon
I'm not sure Roxy would have been playing stadium shows in the US, but I think that PM is absolutely right that they had found/developed a new audience with both F&B and Avalon and could have built upon this foundation and gone much further in the American market.

But BF had other ideas and wanted success on his own terms and as a solo act. Sigh...
Author:  pianoman [ Tue Oct 04, 2022 5:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Roxy Split after Avalon
Roger wrote:
I think Phil is right. Roxy could have been massive had they carried on. As he says the industry was changing and Roxy had a whole new fan base. So why did they split? If it was driven by BF then you would have to say that he got in wrong financially. And then came The Explorers. So much of that material could have formed the basis of Roxy songs, and perhaps PM/AM were trying to make that point when they chose James Wraith to be their vocalist. Who knows? But I think that Prussian Blue (with BF lyrics) could have been an epic Roxy song.


I think I already said in an earlier thread, Roger, that I was rather disappointed by Bryan's B+G album - too noir to my ears. And STL was rather commercial but then again the sound not as tricky as on Avalon (despite Knopfler, Gilmour etc.)

So I was very impressed by the first Explorers album: Prussian Blue, Blue Magic and in particular Venus de Milo (the best Roxy song Bryan never sang ;) ). But that is an old hat. We never got a 9th Roxy album and we'll never ever get it. Sigh ...
Author:  Gardner [ Tue Oct 04, 2022 5:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Roxy Split after Avalon
I consider Boys and Girls to be one of the most impressive albums in the BF/ RM cannon. In some ways it could be compared to 'For Your Pleasure' in its dark moods. Opening with 'Sensation' ( there's a new...) and closing with the exquisite doomscape title track. Songs like 'Windswept' or 'The Chosen One' still send shivers down my spine.
Author:  Richard [ Tue Oct 04, 2022 5:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Roxy Split after Avalon
The split was down to Ferry IMHO

I guess he decided he didn't want or need the band anymore and decided that was it. He got sucked into a deep perfection trip that ruined Bete Noir and cost a couple of albums before Mamouna popped up.

Andy and Phil made valuable contributions and Paul has given the post manifesto tracks a reboot on the latest tour.

I read Andy also wanted to do another album and develop the Avalon sound.

I really like some of the Explorers stuff too and it was a shame they weren't bigger./
Author:  Windswept2 [ Tue Oct 04, 2022 6:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Roxy Split after Avalon
Mes Amis,
Clearly Monsieur Manzanera sees it from his own very informed perspective and one can appreciate it.
That said, Ferry’s solo career had ran in tandem up to the split and he’d already released four outstanding albums under his own name.
As the lyricist and band leader is it therefore any surprise that he wanted more creative freedom.
Furthermore, Boys & Girls, Bette Noir and Mamouna were all a natural evolution from Avalon and are every bit as good as anything released under the Roxy banner.
Indeed, as the great le jardinier said, B&G is indeed one of the best works in the Roxy/Ferry canon.
Salutations a tous,
Windswept.
Author:  Robertron [ Tue Oct 04, 2022 7:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Roxy Split after Avalon
I've been reading everything lately on RM, and perhaps (the way I interpreted it) Phil is now cool and okay with the break after Avalon, because there may have been a rush to capitalize on the success of Avalon and go for an Avalon 2.
While I own all of the BF solo stuff minus Avonmore (I'll get it), I feel that my taste of the latter BF solo material (post BSB), gravitates more towards ATGB, Mamouna and Frantic (a grower!).

Should they choose to resuscitate what exists of the sessions from the possibly forthcoming album of the future, I can only hope for a hybrid of FYP and Avalon styles (their respective faves). Throw in some soundtrackish cuts too, and ignore current trends in music.
Author:  Gardner [ Tue Oct 04, 2022 8:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Roxy Split after Avalon
For me .. If one song were to capture the musical and emotional possibilities of an imagined future Roxy Music it would have to be ‘I Thought’ …with ‘Reason or Rhyme’ a close second. Both of these songs capture the elusive qualities that I love in archetypal Roxy songs like Beauty Queen or Mother of Pearl
Author:  Uwe [ Wed Oct 05, 2022 8:33 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Roxy Split after Avalon
Richard wrote:
The split was down to Ferry IMHO

I guess he decided he didn't want or need the band anymore and decided that was it. He got sucked into a deep perfection trip that ruined Bete Noir and cost a couple of albums before Mamouna popped up.

Andy and Phil made valuable contributions and Paul has given the post manifesto tracks a reboot on the latest tour.

I read Andy also wanted to do another album and develop the Avalon sound.

I really like some of the Explorers stuff too and it was a shame they weren't bigger./



I think I read a report back in 1985 that the main reason for Bryan announcing Roxy's split was that he believed Phil was going into too dark sphere. It wasn't alive enough for him.

Today Phil is the invigorating element and face of Roxy Music, you can't fool yourself.
Author:  pianoman [ Wed Oct 05, 2022 9:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Roxy Split after Avalon
Gardner wrote:
For me .. If one song were to capture the musical and emotional possibilities of an imagined future Roxy Music it would have to be ‘I Thought’ …with ‘Reason or Rhyme’ a close second. Both of these songs capture the elusive qualities that I love in archetypal Roxy songs like Beauty Queen or Mother of Pearl

... and what about New Town, Limbo and Kiss And Tell? IMHO Bête Noire was the most Roxyesque BF album.
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