The Charge

T'ain't no big thing to wait for the bell to ring
T'ain't no big thing the toll of the bell
—"Love Is the Drug"

Opening Statement

Roxy Music only released eight studio albums from 1972 until 1982, and after that the band was disbanded and lead singer and founder Bryan Ferry continued on as a solo artist. Many of the band members were successful; for example, Brian Eno became a noted musician and producer who helped to create the sounds of David Bowie and Devo after leaving the group. They were arch, stylish, and artificial in all the best senses of those words. Roxy Music invented themselves as visual stylists and musical painters long before MTV hit the airwaves and ushered in a sea of imitators. They were a band that had to be both seen and heard to get the full scope of the artistic vision.

If I get rhapsodic discussing Roxy Music: The Thrill of It All it's because I've been a fan of the group since I was in high school, even though the band had long broken up by the time I got there. Roxy Music was the rock group that I tracked down every recording, because I related to the arch style and the visual fantasy the guys created. I emulated Bryan Ferry as best I could, even threatening to dye my hair jet black and get blue green contacts much to my parents' dismay. About the closest I ever got was going out in a white dinner jacket whenever I went dancing. Yet still, any time I want to feel cool and sexy, I reach for my CD copy of Avalon and pretend to be as lounge-lizard smooth as Bryan Ferry.

I saw this two-disc set on shelves in Europe back in December of 2007, and I cursed my Region One NTSC-only playing DVD player. I didn't think this release would make its way across the shores to the United States. Roxy Music was always more successful overseas, and Europe was their biggest fan base. Thankfully, the US fans get exactly the same DVD that came out in November in another region. Rumors fly that the band will release a new album and possibly tour in the coming year, but until then, these 38 clips are the best thing to hold us over.

Facts of the Case

We're looking at the richest time of output for Roxy Music, which spans their career as a band, tracing their art rock beginnings in Glam and ending up with the swan song release of the blue-eyed soul adult rock Avalon. Some are obvious choices, such as the hit "Love Is the Drug," and others are obscure head scratchers such as the inclusion of "Psalm." The clips are culled from European footage chronicling various television and concert appearances. Don't expect all of the selections to be live, because many of the television performances are lip synched, which was standard for that time (and still is when you think about it), and there is inclusion of several rather cheesy music videos as well. Historically we get the earliest appearances of the band on Top of the Pops, the last filmed performance with Brian Eno, and a video directed by a famous Hollywood legend. It's a musical journey that somehow starts off with alien transvestites playing acid rock and ends with lounge lizards haunting a wine bar with a dry ice machine in tow.

Disc 1, 1972-1976
• "Re-Make/Re-Model" 1972 at The Royal College of Art, London
• "Ladytron" 1972 as seen on the BBC's The Old Grey Whistle Test
• "Virginia Plain" 1972 as seen on the BBC's Top of the Pops
• "For Your Pleasure" 1972 as seen on the BBC's Full House
• "Do the Strand," "In Every Dream Home a Heartache" 1973 as seen on the BBC's The Old Grey Whistle Test
• "Editions of You" 1973 at The Golden Rose Festival in Montreux
• "Pyjamarama," "Amazona," "Psalm" 1974 as seen on German television's Musikladen
• "All I Want is You" 1974 as seen on Top of the Pops
• "Love Is the Drug" 1975 from London Weekend Television's Supersonic
• "Both Ends Burning" 1975 from The Empire Pool, filmed at Wembley Stadium in London
• "The Thrill of it All," "Mother of Pearl," "Nightingale," "Out of the Blue," "Street Life" from 1976 featured on the program Konserthaus in Stockholm

Disc 2, 1979-1982
• "Dance Away" 1979 from the BBC television special ABBA in Switzerland
• "Manifesto," "A Song for Europe," "Still Falls the Rain," "Aint That So" 1979 recorded live in Manchester at the Apollo in England
• "Angel Eyes" and "Trash" 1979 promotional videos
• "Over You" and "Oh Yeah! (On the Radio)" 1980 from the BBC's Top of the Pops
• "Same Old Scene" 1980 promotional video
• "Rain, Rain, Rain," "Flesh and Blood" 1980 German Television's Rockpop in Concert
• "Jealous Guy" 1981 promotional video
• "The Main Thing," "While My Heart Is Still Beating," "Avalon," and "My Only Love" 1982 from a live concert recorded in Frejus, France
• "More Than This" 1982 promotional video

Extras on Disc Two:
• "The Main Thing" and "Avalon" 1982 promotional videos

The Evidence

The release is an eclectic hodgepodge of visual performances culled from material that has been available in various incarnations and some clips that have not been officially released yet. The band members handpicked all of these various tidbits for the fans and refer to the project as depicting three distinct incarnations of Roxy Music—Eno early experimental days, the "not so sure" middle ground, and finally the smoother adult contemporary rock at the end. Some of the clips are revelations, and one of the most amazing live performances comes from the 1975 clips, which find Ferry at the height of his self-parody decked out in a military uniform and pencil thin mustache. Fans will take particular note at the inclusion of videos for "Trash" and "Avalon," which did not appear on another video hits release from the '90s. Acclaimed film director Ridley Scott (Alien) directed the lush mini-movie accompanying "Avalon," and it is considered one of the band's high points as it bowed out of the music scene. The band itself is critical of the ambitious project and said it didn't quite live up to what they were aiming for even though it is easily one of their most beautiful promotional videos.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

The video and sound presentation varies with the source material. All of it is presented full screen, and sometimes it looks muddy or aged depending on the age and state of the original. Audio options include three configurations with a basic stereo, a five channel mix, and a DTS track. If you choose the more aggressive surround or DTS track, it is only available on selected songs and not the entire program. The quality changes continuously, and that is going to bother some viewers who like things uniform throughout.

Rabid fans and collectors are going to be a bit miffed there isn't more new material found here. If you have many of the DVDs released before this one, you should have a fair amount of this material already, and this is simply a "greatest hits" of many previous products. Seems like that's the way with Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry, we get a lot of collections repackaged and resold again and again with only a little more never seen or heard material to add to the mix. The bulk of the discs deal with the later years, and that means you get a lot more of the post-Eno years.

Closing Statement

Nothing seems more thrilling than being able to see as well as hear a decade of one of the legendary and influential art rock bands of all time. Even though Roxy Music isn't as popular as those they inspired, this is the band that created groups like Duran Duran or A-Ha, which sprang up in their wake in the decade after they split up. This band paved the way for New Wave and the New Romantics, and they helped usher in the ideas MTV cemented. Bryan Ferry, Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay, Paul Thompson, Brian Eno, Eddie Jobson, Graham Simpson, and Rik Kenton proved design and music could blend easily and effortlessly. Legendary rock critic Lester Bangs claimed they represented the "triumph of artifice" with their calculated cool and suave images. Because so much was put in to their visuals, DVD is the only way to truly experience what Roxy Music was all about. For that reason alone Roxy Music: The Thrill of It All is required viewing for anybody who hopes to know the band and understand what their appeal was. It's a gorgeous collection of clips that create a nearly definitive history.

The Verdict

Guilty of being the ultimate way to experience Roxy Music's decade of art rock.

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