In an interview with La Vanguardia to plug this weekend's gig in Barcelona, BF was asked about Roxy's return and he replied "no, I don't think so"...

(Will try to find time to translate the article in full...)

http://www.lavanguardia.com/musica/2014 ... lvera.html

I was just about to post the same as Smudge and have the translation. Scroll to the very bottom for the RM question.

Alaska sang "You've been in 73 with Bowie and T Rex", in King of glam, a subject of the eighties it was like a kind of pantheon of stars sequin and ambiguity, and which might well have added the name of Brian Ferry. But back then Ferry, major character in the first British glam, which for years had taken makeup and toupee. When he sang the glam Alaska, Bryan Ferry had passed sobriety.

Now, 68 years after nearly fifty career, Ferry has already played all the clubs from the age of Roxy Music and has gone through all styles, from pop, jazz and electronics. He has tinkered-two weeks ago, in Dublin-with classical music side, and just play with his new band of pure rock at Glastonbury. He's done everything, indeed, except while being sober and elegant that Ferry discovered that maybe one day in the mirror. Ferry that I could sing "never, never!" French (Song for Europe) like Jaques Brel and it also can move like he really was. On Saturday Bryan Ferry will be in Barcelona. In Auditorium Forum, to nine in the evening. His songs always put the finishing touches on the 25th Guitar Festival.


As offered in this concert? What can we expect?
Well, I think the best. I will be accompanied by the same musicians that I just play Glastonbury, a band with young people. I liked playing with them in an outdoor festival, to an audience who knows nothing or very little about me. But between you and me, right now I prefer smaller and closed, like Barcelona auditoriums.


And musically?
The band is young and essentially rock-bass, guitar, drums, saxophone, keyboards, two vocalists in the chorus, and we will touch on issues of the day and later Roxy. To me it's like going back to the roots. But never again, right? Pedantic if you would call it a re-reading of my career. A panoramic look, a retrospective.


A greatest hits?
Okay, that. But not only that. It's like rediscovering what permanently have some songs that were a given time. Something like a postmodern look at old songs, if I ...


What sound with his new band looking for?
Do not know if I am looking for a sound, really. If anything, I look to recover the enthusiasm of Roxy times. They are songs that mostly have well stood the test of time. Have I said I'm happy to play in Barcelona?


And tell me, when and how he discovered the rock and elegance were not enemies?
You could say, it is true. I would say when I was preparing my first solo album in 1973 that featured version of A hard rain's a-gonna fall Dylan, yes then. (The album was called These foolish things).


How did it happen?
How happens all, somewhat by chance and a little tenacity. I liked Elvis (I still like). I liked Frank Sinatra, aesthetics and privacy. But then seventy-years-talk about both at once was kind of transgression impossible. I would say that Brian Ferry is the brainchild of Brian Ferry, that way I do as a singer comes from the influences that marked my life.


How do you see the music?
The music was then and always has been for me a combination of a radical, unexpected vision, mixed with a traditional way of doing.



And your picture?
Also, too. With influences put Bogart. Or better, Cary Grant. It was something that developed gradually. In my life there has never been a eureka, that all of these changes at once time. Rather many many times yeahh, yeahh, to call in some way. It's a matter of keep trying and discovering what I wanted. Learn from others; looking at others; soak their music and their things, whatever you like, and then comes a time when you look back and say, my God!If and I have a career!


Pop, rock, jazz, what would be the common denominator in his career?
I would say that I have always sought intimacy with the audience, and try to sing from the heart.


He has always liked to play versions of other ...
I love taking songs that I like and make them my own, change up and down. It is an exercise that takes you to unexpected places musically. In Barcelona we will play Jealous guy, Lennon. And The same old blues, JJ Cale. They are songs that seem mine.


A group of right now?
Arcade Fire.



Roxy Music Will he return?
No, I think not. I am committed to my new band. But lyrics Roxy Music live in me, in us all.


and another Spanish article here:-

http://www.elmundo.es/cultura/2014/07/0 ... b459d.html

Bryan Ferry was barely 26 when he recorded 'If there is something' for the first Roxy Music album. In that song was already able to see himself throughout the three stages of life: the carefree youth of an art student determined to be a star of the glam-rock, the maturity of a slave man love the women and old age someone assaulted souvenir Girl waving her pigtails when the grass was greener and taller trees. Ferry is now 68 and, indeed, refuses to part with his past and his memories. So again and again on a song that includes the galactic cross between glam and art-rock in the early Roxy Music albums with Brian Eno, Phil Manzanera and Andy Mackay, but also the soul and funk of white the last stage of the group (with its epilogue in the form of Avalon) and crooner vocation, both own and with other versions (Bob Dylan, JJ Cale, John Lennon, Cole Porter) tracks. A little of this will be in concert today in Madrid (La Riviera) and Saturday in Barcelona (Forum Auditorium).

"Guess what the view is to take back something I do all the time, when I give concerts, playing songs from different albums and different times," says Ferry by telephone from his English mansion. "For me it's fun to go back to the old days, but we also like to play new material. I'm lucky to have a long career and having worked with many interesting musicians who helped me create these pieces. So it's great recreate power.

"The concert we bring to Spain," continues the singer, "is a mixture of everything from the first two Roxy Music albums until my first solo material and some of the versions that I do." Good thing, as emphasized, is that now is "a young band that loves this music, they put all their enthusiasm into it and have done an excellent job to recover the songs" Roxy Music.

Ferry acted four years ago at the Sonar festival in the penultimate reincarnation of that group. Despite the good reception of that tour, the singer prefers to get that first repertoire accompanied by musicians. "Each song is different," he explains. "In some cases, the new guys better play certain songs and in others, the original members of the group do better. Trying to work with good people all the time.'s Not that note you missed nothing, but sometimes is unmatched act with someone you have a special chemistry together after a long time. Moreover, it is more fun to work with younger people, of course. "

The repertoire chosen for the tour highlights the presence of songs that were small sound speed, as 'Re-Make/Re-Model', 'Virginia Plain', 'Ladytron' or 'In every dream home a heartache' at the time, an incredible compendium hallucinated primitive rock, musique concrete, electronic, classical instrumentation and love stories to inflatable dolls. "Some of them even still sound good today," joked Ferry with a raspy voice snuff. "And even I think that would still sounding so strange and unusual for someone to discover today as when they were published in 1972. But I've had such a long relationship with these issues, I really can not put myself in the place of those who first heard time. At least yes I could meet a very young age. We have done this repertoire in the Coachella festival in the U.S., where we reap a big hit not as mature audiences, as I hope that we do in Glastonbury and the rest stops of the tour "

For Ferry, "there is no difference between a song by Roxy, one of my repertoire solo or a version that drives me crazy and incorporated into the repertoire. Trying to keep a variety in which I try to please me myself and at same time, please pays its entry. " A show like this, he explains, "is a shared experience and, for me, the key is balance between what is unusual and what is popular."

The singer, who last year he divorced his second wife, Amanda Sheppard (37 years younger than he and former girlfriend of one of his sons), seems unwilling to leave the stage or the bont-vivantismo, but does not want to fall in bondage and fashion rage. "I'm very old fashioned and traditional" sentence. He says not understand, for example, new forms of music consumption. "I like the disks, physical things, to touch on the few remaining record stores," he says. "At the moment, I try to finish my next album, and I do think that people listen when you leave it whole, instead of downloading a couple of songs. Always will prefer things the way he did before."

But this is not entirely true. Despite being in the retirement age Ferry combines tributes to their idols (as he did with Dylan on his album 'Dylanesque', 2007), collaborations with contemporary electronic popes as DJHell. "I do not have much problem with it," he says. "I just work with Todd Terje, a talented young Norwegian musician of the new electronic scene is what I want:.. Was doing things with people from different disciplines and areas of creation and, as in this case, are very different from Bob Dylan, Neil Young or reference my musicians. " And put another example: "A few days ago I gave a concert in Dublin with an orchestra and was terrific to hear all these instruments with me, then jump to a more experimental song, such as 'Ladytron'". Without a hint of modesty, Ferry statement: "I find it really easy to make the leap from one world to another, because, for me, music is music and now."

The balance between 'who I am and what I do'

But beyond this eclecticism, the image most commonly associated with Ferry is the sophistication and elegance. "I try not to think about it, but I guess, as you get older you become more sophisticated," he justifies. "Nature itself makes you well, because you learn more or whatever. Yet, I do not like the idea of ​​being confined to a particular image. Prefer to find a balance between who I am and what I do. And it's hard, because your work just enough to affect your life, especially if you are a professional musician who is as obsessive work and it is difficult to escape. " Anyway, Ferry seems to give a bit like this perception of her figure. "There is no problem to me the image that may have me Sometimes it's even funny how people expect you to have breakfast and tuxedo smoking with a long cigarette holder. "

And that image was a fundamental part of the Ferry early music, as seen in the photo. In fact, it was this fascination that led him in. praising Nazi imagery during an interview in 2007. A statement that brought many headaches. Maybe now it does not seem so interested in this facet. "Certain genres like R'n B or hip hop, have a powerful visual presence Which makes me think of the rock groups of the late 60, which did not have to make an effort to have a powerful look. currently not worry me too much visual part, beyond keep a set of decent lights or back out to play with outlandish costumes. " Although, "of course," says, "the girls in the group make it more fun and better than the male part present".

Similarly, economic or political context is far from their sources of inspiration. "Probably the musician reflects the time in which he lives," he admits. "But beyond that, the music for me is to show their feelings and personality, share your experiences with the world ie. Acquire meaning to oneself."

Thank you for posting this, Smudge and Roxy - some interesting new aspects.

"At the moment, I try to finish my next album, ...". Good news.

And Bryan doesn't think that Roxy Music will return. That's not what some of us (me included) wanted to hear but it's a clear statement.

Elegantly Ageing Diletantes,
Like Ferryistas & Roxologists of all persuasions, Windswept awaits new material with bated breath.
That said, after the splendour of AEWBF & BFWS, a live album featuring his 'Remade Remodelled' interpretations of classics has to be a priority for Geordie's favourite son.
Both of these presentations have shown how strong these songs are and our hero's capacity to re-imagine them has been breathtaking - Windswept's timbers have been well and truly shivered!
There are multiple examples from AEWBF with phenomenal versions of 'NYC', 'Hard Rain', 'Casanova','Remake Remodel' and the Satchmoesque take on 'Reason or Rhyme', 'Back to Black' and 'The Only Face' all demanding a release.
The Tollwood broadcast showed that a good recording of the complete concert exists and TBFO deserve to be showcased as their Jazz tinged versions of these songs are undoubtably amongst our hero's finest renderings.
Those who made the Dublin pilgrimage will also have witnessed peerless versions of 'When She Walks In The Room', 'Tokyo Joe','Casanova','More Than This' and 'Carrickfergus' all of which benefited from scintillating string arrangements that made them very new, different and better.
Frankly in Windswept's not so humble opinion (IWNSHO) sumptuous releases of the aforementioned have to be the priority as they would represent much more than a 'best of' release and more a collection of the ultimate renditions.
a bien tôt ,
Windswept

So as I read it, Bf wants to embrace/celebrate the legacy of Roxy Music, showcase great Roxy songs (both famous and obscure) in his upcoming gigs, but all the while keeping a wide moat between him and any of his inventive collaborators who were essential in creating the actual sound of Roxy Music.

I'm looking forward to seeing him next Oct (I've got my tix for Philly!) but I can't help but think that this version of Roxy Lite is being driven by a desire to reduce touring costs. Sure, he can spin an artistic rationale for this latest band creation, but I'm not convinced. It will be interesting to see if Spedding will be around in the Fall.

Also, the longer it takes for his new album to appear, the less excited I get. He over thought most of Olympia and I think that could happen again.

Yes, the cup is not half full, it is half empty...

Cher DJC,
Windswept does feel sad that stateside brethren are being deprived of TBFO & BFWS.
Despite the strong pound, financial considerations must play a part in the decision making process. I know it did with Dylanesque. It's a shame because Madame W jumps at any chance to see her shopaholic buddies in NYC and letting her loose on Madison and Fifth would have been a small price to pay for TBFO or BFWS (linking up with the New York Philharmonic would have been brilliant).
On a positive note, our hero often beefs the offering as the tour progresses and Monsieur Spedding's appearance at Glasto certainly added some depth so hopefully he'll remain in the cast but all Ferry is good Ferry (except 'Is Your Love Strong Enough')
a bien tôt,
Windswept

When most artists with a career as long as BF are either resting on their laurels, retired or even sadly dead, there is so much to celebrate about someone still touring to critical acclaim and recording quality material. My cup is neither half full or half empty. It overfloweth!

Cher UKRichard,
Vous avez raison!
Whilst the others imitate, our hero innovates.
a bien tôt,
Windswept.

Hmmm. Methinks that the only thing overflowing is the flagon of BF Kool-Aid from whence UKR quaffs so deeply.

Sorry. I couldn't help it...

Yes BF is active and has toured much more than we might expect from a 69 year old former Glamster who first made the Big Time in the Summer of '72. For this I salute him!

But let's not go overboard in terms of his recent career as a recording artist of original material. Since Frantic was released in 2002 (12 years ago if my math is correct) he has released exactly one album/cd featuring original material. One. And even that drew upon some of his archives dating back to the 1990s.

Hey, I guess that is better than some of his peers (BTW whatever happen to Phil M as a recording artist????) but it is not exactly amazing...

As I said the glass is half full. Could be worse. Could be better.

Thanks DCJ! I am off down to Ladbrookes to pick up the winnings for my bet on "The Kool-Aid Comment Stakes"

Another Spanish press interview:-

http://www.elperiodico.com/es/noticias/ ... go-3352074

Bryan Ferry back tomorrow to put closure to the 25th Guitar Festival BCN (21 hours) in the Auditori del Forum. No new repertoire to present, the elegant British musician, 68, offers an overview of his career, from songs from the early Roxy Music to his latest work. Ferry serves NEWSPAPER telephone.

Olympia (2010) review was well received, but on this tour just touches it. Is it hard to present news to your audience?

-There are more brave people who dare to play all their new album. I am aware that people expect something from me and introduce new in small doses. That freedom the artists have less career.

- Envy something to these new artists?

-I have such extensive work that could make a totally unpredictable concert, but I'm afraid to alienate all those lovely people who have paid good money to see me (laughs). In the background shape is an interesting set of songs, and this is what I like most about my career.

- "Bryan Ferry is synonymous with elegance." Do you think a simplification?

-To go to the studio, even when alone, Nick Cave always wears a suit. It is a form of respect for his work. I do something similar. When I was little I saw that the great jazz musicians who always liked wearing jacket. It is part of my education as Cary Grant movies. But what matters is the music.

He said it in a broader sense.

-It's complicated. Music are emotions, instincts and feelings that arise from the stomach, and then we add ideas to make them more interesting. Hence my interest in the letters, the contrast between styles.

Ferry-Lord, what motivates you as an artist at this point?

I've always needed to express myself. First I did through the arts while studying, and then I discovered that I could do with music. Working in the studio is the most important because that's where it gives way to the new. And I suppose the scenario is good for the soul, for there I receive the applause that completes the circle.

-In the 80s, the new pop bands aspired to be like you. Today is a safe bet. Artistic influence or popularity?? What is more satisfied?

-From my work as a whole. I tried to be varied. So I did discs versions, I was interested to see how he could project myself into a song by Bob Dylan, for example. Sometimes that confuses your audience because some want to do cutting-edge music, others do not ...

-Lately he has to successfully collaborated with electronic producers like DJ Hell and Todd Terje. These encounters between generations do not always work.



There's something in my music first, perhaps rhythmic repetition, which is not so far from the world of dance music and awakens his sympathy.

-When Roxy Music performed at the Sonar festival in 2010, his partner Phil Manzanera said he had new songs from the band. Do get to hear?

-The tour was good, we got together in the studio, then I do not know what happened ... Working with people that you know of is always fun, there is some chemical that is not lost. But I did not want to spend years studying competing to see who was the leader. I guess I lost interest and focused again on mine. Yes, that's what happened.