VIVA! ROXY MUSIC

Roxy music was a band with some amazing musicians. John Wetton on bass (King Crimson, UK), Eddy Jobson (UK) and Phil Manzanere (Quiet Sun and solo) are all important contributors to our beloved progressive genre. This live album of proto-prog (or related) Roxy Music shows some moments of brilliance of these musicians but is plagued by the glamor sound of some of the songs and the vocals of Brian Ferry.

The recording of the live album is bad for 1976, the music sounds blurred and the soloists have a hard time coming through. The sound of Roxy was progged up a bit and at times sound a bit psychedelic and symphonic, but still mainly features pop music clichés. Due to the bad recording it's hard to say how good Roxy played, but I can say I dislike the vocals of Ferry that sound out of pitch and uncontrolled.

Some of the songs work quite good. The opening track Out of the Blue has a nice symphonic feel and a great violin solo of Jobson. The Bogus Man benefits from the progged up sound quite a lot. On side two it seems like the band can't keep up with each other. The band plays less accurate and at times even messy.

Conclusion. Ok, Roxy ain't my kind of band. Ok, I don't like Ferry. But I finally understand some of the fuss about this band (which I also saw as a very non-prog glamor band). Perhaps a good live album for fans of the band, but the recording is really a let-down. I give it 2.5 stars, but It would have resulted in the three star rating with a better recording. Recommended to fans of the band.

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