Roxy Music has always been one of my all time favourite bands. I first heard and saw the band when they appeared on the BBC's Top Of The Pops show way back in August, 1972. That night they played their Art Rock classic and first single; 'Virginia Plain'. Amazing stuff but with the camera almost entirely focused on frontman Bryan Ferry. You only get a blurry glimpse of Brian Eno in the background as well as a short close up of his sequin-gloved hands during the entire performance. A short, debut performance; clocking in at just under 3 minutes, but which had me converted to their cause immediately.
Anyhow, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the recently released, self-titled first album which had had rave reviews in the New Musical Express, Melody Maker and the other music weeklies that were available back then. I'm not sure where I got my copy but I imagine that it was from one of the John Menzies chain strores. Then again, it might have been from a Boots. I'm not sure. Fabulous album, fabulous artwork: glam, style, kitsch, art and pop culture all in one package. Only thing that disappointed me was the fact 'Virginia Plain' wasn't on this cracker of an album! No real fuss though as my mum, much to my pleasure picked up the single later that week in a local electrical goods shop.
At any rate, I was now a fully-fledged fan of Roxy Music and continued to be so right up to the 'High Road' EP (recorded at the Glasgow Apollo in 1982) and the demise of the band. Few bands that I've liked over the years have made as many great consecutive albums as Roxy Music. The first five are all remarkable and littered with great tracks such as 'Love is the Drug', 'Do the Strand', 'Ladytron', 'Psalm', etc. etc. The latter three albums are worthy of a place in any music fan's collection but you can feel that they were beginning to wane.
Another great feature of Roxy Music was their album artwork. Particularly on the first five albums with their stunning models and design. The 'Country Life' album even caused a bit of a stir in the USA where some stores sold the album in an opaque plastic wrapper because they refused to display the cover.
Later, Factory stalwart, Peter Saville designed the superb artwork on 'Flesh and Blood'. 'Manifesto' and 'Avalon' really look pale in comparison artwork-wise to all of the other covers.
Over the years I was fortunate to catch the band live a few times (with & without Eno). I have a few in concert shots from the 'Flesh and Blood' tour from 1980 -which I might post at my Flickr page or on Twitter, one day. You can also see a lot of archive stuff of the band on YouTube but if you want to hear them in vivo, so to speak, I highly recommend the 'Viva! Roxy Music' live album from 1976. Captured at their best the album features tracks recorded in their hometown, Newcastle and at the Glasgow Apollo in '75 and '76.
Of course, by 1982, and the release of 'Avalon' (the only Roxy Music album I don't have on tape), Bryan Ferry had released five solo albums. Deciding to continue as a solo artist Ferry disbanded Roxy Music in 1983. No more new music was forthcoming from the band but over the years a whole host of 'Live', 'Best of', 'Ultimate Collection', etc. etc. albums have been released. If you have the originals from 1972-1982 you really don't need any of them unless you're one of those sad anorak, diehard fans who simply must possess everything.
All of these cassettes were bought when first released. I really cherish them and am glad that I've hung on to them all these years. They have pride of place in my tape collection. As do a couple of early Brian Eno ones!
