Ferryfan you are indeed a diehard Ferry Fan and are willingly to spin every/anything related to the Roxy project of 2006 such that it only redounds to the greater and everlasting glory of the great BF.

It is just as reasonable (and even more so IMHO) to believe that Roxy Recording 2006 came very close to completion and only foundered because of BF's late-in-the-game unwillingness to commit to the project and press send. Listen to PM's "6PM" album of 2004. It is an excellent record with everybody from Roxy (except BF) involved. It more than anythings points to way toward what Roxy 9 could have been.

The reason AM asked his question is because of how close the Roxy project came to completion.

I did a post here a while back about wheather Olympia was the Roxy album hijacked to become Olympia.

My earlier post (based on facts we already know and not any assumed inside information)

I think you may find that very little of Olympia began as a potential Roxy song.

Roxy were in the studio around 2006-2007

1 You Can Dance (began in the mid 90s completed for Olympia)
2 Alphaville (began in the mid 90s completed for Olympia)
3 Heartache By Numbers (co-written with Scissor Sisters)
4 Me Oh My (No Roxy member play on this)
5 Shameless (Co-write with Groove Armada)
6 Song To The Siren (Cover, began before the Roxy project)
7 No Face, No Name, No Number (Cover)
8 BF Bass (Manznaera co-write and also Eno on this track)
9 Reason Or Rhyme (Has Manzanera on guitar)
10 Tender Is The Night (Working title was 'Frantic' began pre 2002 and unfinished at the time of the 'Frantic' album
11 Whatever Gets You Through The Night (cover that began in mid 90's
12 One Night (leftover demo from Taxi that was then completed for Olympia)

The question is: What constitutes what would have been a 9th Roxy Music album song? For me it would be material that began for this album as a fresh idea and not something half written/sketched taken off Bryan, Phil or Andy's shelf dusted down and worked into a Roxy song. I would also say that covers are out even though RM did record 3 in their career.

From what I observed track by track above, the closest we can derive from the limited information we have is that 'BF Bass' and 'Reason Or Rhyme' may have began during the Roxy sessions. Having said this please note that Paul Thompson was on the Roxy sessions and is completely absent on this album so the Olympia is 'Roxy Music IX' argument is wearing thinner.

In my opinion, I think that if you were played Olympia for the first time with no sleeve notes or other information and were told one of the 8 original songs is a Ferry/Manzanera co-write I think BF Bass doesn't jump out as that very song.

To quote Andy Mackay from the Metaphords website in referance to some of the material being used on the Roxy album: <<"However I could not feel the commitment and passion that would get me through what would undoubtedly be be a long and difficult road to a finished album on tracks that I had not been involved with from the start>>"

I would deduce from this that there may be some of Olympia (and also any potential new Manzanera solo material) that was worked on during the Roxy IX sessions but was eventually returned to where it was originally intended, solo work.

You have to remember also in addition to this that we read and saw on a DVD that Chris Thomas was producing this the Roxy album but was not credited on Olympia

J.O'B.

i agree with J.O.B & Ferryfan...

A band going into the studio for 3 days after a hiatus of 20 & 30 odd years is never going to result in anything satisfactory...

It was good for the cameras, but to think that even the seeds of an album could happen in such a short space of time with such huge characters as ferry, eno & manzanera is indeed wishful thinking!

Roxy fans need to forget about this pipe dream - these sessions never were, and never will be the so-called '9th RM LP'...

It's not to say there won't be one, but this was never going to be it in a million years IMHO...

I totally agree with the last couple of comments. In reply to AM's question in the Uncut article re finishing the 2006 album, Ferry says:

Was there quite a lot of work done on it? Not really. I didn't get excited about it at the time, though I tried to. (From a previous comment it sounds like AM also didn't get that excited about what Ferry was bringing to the table.) So I think it's time to forget about this Roxy album and move on ...

I wish I could put my hands an interview with Eno from a few years ago, I have it somewhere but just can't find it at present. When asked about the working with the others on the "new Roxy album" he seemed a bit irritated and replied something along the lines of:-

"What was it..........about half a day in the studio and I will never hear the f*cking end of it now"

That may not be all the exact words but most of them!

Perhaps what they did have was just not good enough.

And all the things Bryan has done at that time are good and successful enough ?

Dylanesque and Olympia are flops - he has gone on the road for a never ending tour to recoup the cost.

From the jazz album I don`t want to talk first.
That is a fact.

Yes, maybe the 9th Roxy album will not the best one, but it would have been more successful than anything that has ever since Bryan did.

I wouldn't describe Dylanesque as a flop: it was top 5 in the UK and went silver. Olympia didn't sell so well (though it was well critically well received). Yes a Roxy album probably would have sold more copies, but wouldn't it be a shame to have sullied their reputation by putting out a substandard 9th album?

Bryan doesn`t give a straight answer. He`s seldom excited about a song at first. That`s why he turns the "canvases" to the wall, just to finish them later. That`s the way he works. Some people have heard those recordings. Around that time, one posting at Paul`s said that the die-hards would love it. Guy Pratt has been playing bass on it. Phil thought some of the songs were just fantastic, and talked of as many as about 17 different songs in varying state of completion. He once played them to his son. BF said there where somewhere between 5 to 10 songs. This was at a time before Eno was involved. I think BF said in the previous Uncut article about a year ago that "it wasn`t Roxy". Keeping this together, it could mean that it sounded quite "prog". Anyway, I think people would love it. - Maybe not as good as before, but not less INTERESTING. I suspect BF to postpone the whole thing until the day he`s gonna round off his career some day in the future.

I would hate to see Roxy ruin their good name. Look at bands like Cream, Velvet Underground , The Beatles, Led Zep,Talking Heads and ...err...Roxy who all split at their height. They had their time and it's time to move on. Bryan keeps dangling this will they/won'they reform carrot for the fans for some reason.. Mackay turned up on stage at Wembley in 1989 and at the London Palladium in 1988 on the Bete Noir Tour. Then he had Mackay play sax on Taxi, Manzanera and Eno on Mamouna, the reunion tour in 2001, Thompson on Frantic and on the tour, the Roxy sessions in 2005 and now I honestly think it was all a trick to boost his solo career. I may be wrong though.

Ian S...

Post Mamouna BF has used Paul Thompson whenever he can as he is a great drummer...

As time Goes By he went with a jazz drummer for obvious reasons...

apart from that it has been TGPT or Newmark when Paul's health hasn't been tip-top...

PS.

Imagine how annoying it must be for Eno to be constantly asked about Roxy....and for BF to be quizzed about something that he probably regrets and doesn't want to revisit!