paula
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Post by paula on Feb 19, 2008 22:37:21 GMT
Without wishing to make any definitive statement about the status of the 'new' album and whether it will be: 1. finished; or 2. released I think it reasonable to say that, were there a new album, then a tour would inevitably follow. It makes no financial sense to do the former and not the latter as there is precious little money in album sales nowadays. But, whether or not there is an album this year, next year or whenever there WILL be new output from PM and AM to help fill the gap (if there is one of course). It must be rough being the Roxy Music information arm. That sounded a lot like a Monty Python skit. I can almost see the dead parrot.
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dc
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Post by dc on Feb 20, 2008 14:36:52 GMT
Paula: You are right. The Webmaster clearly has a tough job in trying to convey information about "Roxy Plans" without making it look like he is divulging info that somebody (gee I wonder who I might be referring to) might consider to be "privileged information" and inappropriate for public dissemination. Dead parrot indeed. But clearly nothing is going to happen regarding Roxy (as far as fans are concerned) until 2009. I just hope we all live that long...
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Post by owhawell on Feb 20, 2008 19:38:21 GMT
I think if I was BF, PM or AM the last thing I would want to do is risk damaging the Roxy Music brand. Based on PM's recent albums and AM's Myspace their musical ambitions are still cutting edge and whatever one may think about Dylanesque BF is singing and performing better all the time. I think that their standards are just incredibly high and that they are competing with nostalgia.
Let's stop knocking BF - he said in an interview once that someone had completely deflated him by saying that FYP was his greatest album and that he should have made more like it.
Now I think I am right in saying that both BF and AM have gone on record as saying that FYP and Avalon are their favourite Roxy albums. I for one do not mind waiting for an album that mixes those styles successfully.
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dc
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Post by dc on Feb 21, 2008 3:18:05 GMT
OK, maybe you're right owhawell. All of their standards are incredibly high and this is why BF basically avoided anything on the Roxy project for a year-and-a-half after they completed a number of significant recording sessions (the most prominent with Eno!). Hmmm. Maybe... But are we then to believe that the slapped together "Dylanesque" album truly reflects "standards that are just incredibly high" on the part of BF. Hmmm. That's a tough one for me to swallow.
Dylanesque may be a passable covers album of Zimmie tunes but it is hardly a great album. But it was because of Dylanesque that the Roxy project got shoved into the deep-freeze for over 18 months. My sense is that BF is simply prograstinating on putting a final stamp of approval on the new Roxy album because, ever since the writer's block that afflicted him during the making of Mamouna, he has been gripped by self-doubt over his ability to write lyrics. Since Mamouna was released about 14 years ago, he has released only one (partial) album of new material, and let's face it, Frantic was a pastiche of recordings made over several years that didn't really cohere as an album.
In the end, we will in all likelihood get a new Roxy album that won't be all that much different from what was recorded two years ago. But in the meantime BF will have grappled with his demons and perhaps some of the vocals and lyrics will have changed a bit as a result.
Tick tock tick tock... We're all getting older as we sit around and wait...
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Post by owhawell on Feb 21, 2008 22:03:25 GMT
I think I read somewhere that BF was fulfilling an existing contract requirement by releasing Dylanesque which then made the Roxy deal possible.
Charitably one could also say that the whole Dylanesque project is very cheap advertising for the Roxy brand.
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dc
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Post by dc on Feb 21, 2008 23:28:40 GMT
If I recall correctly, BF held off releasing Frantic (or what became Frantic) when he committed to the 2001 Roxy Reunion Tour. Then, the next year (2002) after he did a little bit of rerecording (and added some TGPT drum tracks) he released Frantic and toured behind it through the next Spring. That summer Roxy released the Live 2cd set drawn from the 2001 gigs and toured behind it. Then, in the Fall, when there was buzz that Roxy might make some new recordings, BF announced that he had signed a deal for a new solo album.
Apparently a lot of work was done on this new BF album with TGPT on drums, but as the years slipped by it faded from view. Work got started by 2005 on new Roxy recordings and then in January 2006 there was the rejoining of the band with Eno in the studio. That summer (2006) Roxy did a tour and this was the one where PT fell ill just before the tour was to start (and he was replaced by Andy Newmark). Significantly, when the band issed a press release - or it might have been a message post by PM on this website - acknowledging that PT would not participate in the summer tour, it was explicitly stated that the band looked forward to working with PT in the fall as they finished up work on the new Roxy record. But once the summer tour was over, BF soon announced he'd be recording an album of Dylan covers (which was done that August) and then the next March he started touring behind Dylanesque...
The question lingers, what happened to the BF solo album that he started recording in 2003? It could well be that Dylanesque was slapped together as a substitute to satisfy the demands of the record company when BF balked at the idea of finishing and releasing the solo album started in 2003. But BF and Roxy had the same record label at this point, and I don't understand why the label wouldn't have wanted to promote and sell the Roxy album instead of Dylanesque. It doesn't make much sense to think that Roxy (with Eno as a co-producer no less) wouldn't prove far more profiable to the record company than another BF solo covers album, so it's hard to imagine that the record company would seek to delay the Roxy project in deference to Dylanesque. My supposition is that BF used Dylanesque as a way to throw a bone to the record company and keep them (relatively) satisfied while at the same time avoiding issues involved with his seeming difficulty in crafting new lyrics.
Logically, 2007 or 2008 would have been the time for the new Roxy cd and a major tour to support it. But thanks to BF, it won't become reality until 2009. Well there you have it....
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paula
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Post by paula on Feb 22, 2008 1:28:31 GMT
What I would like to see is Roxy return of the old-school approach to songwriting and recording: The entire band locks themselves in some fab historic old building of a studio hanging off a cliff somewhere for a month and starts writing and jamming until something good comes out. And if it doesn't come out, well, that's that. I know it's a huge temptation for Bryan to put it all together in the studio virtually alone and then orchestrate, but that's not how the early albums were made, and that's not how albums were made in the golden age of rock n roll. And Bryan does have a side that appreciates a less contrived production, as he's commented on interviews regarding Dylanesque. But the main point would be to inspire and invigorate the writing, which is where the problem seems to lie. Songwriting is still the most essential component, no matter how proficient the individual players are. Bryan knows that, and I expect that's what worries him. I just wish he'd try going it with the old band on this Roxy album, rather than alone. Synergy can be magic on an album, but even conflict can sometimes create something interesting.
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dc
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Post by dc on Feb 22, 2008 2:01:12 GMT
I agree with your sentiments Paula. And I thought that the sessions they held in January 2006 with Eno provided just the type of environment that you describe. But apparently BF still wanted to work on the lyrics so the project was considered uncompleted... I also recall that in the Spring of 2006 BF took a vacation/trip to Florida where he was supposedly to find a bit of solitude and find the mental space that would allow him to complete the lyric writing process. But apparently it didn't work. Sigh. And then by the end of the summer Dylanesque arose and he out-sourced lyric writing to Mr. Dylan. Sigh.
My sense is that BF is not obsessing with the Roxy recent recordings the way he did with Mamouna, exhaustively searching for a way to make them "perfect." I think Dylanesque gave him the excuse where he could justify NOT doing anything with the Roxy recordings. We can all hope that now he has finally gotten back around to seriously thinking about finishing the Roxy project and he and the band are doing just that. I certainly hope that is the case. Or maybe he is still procrastinating and doesn't plan to focus on Roxy until the Fall. According to AM, Roxy is not contractually obligated to submit a completed album to the record company until the end of 2008. So BF might well hold off further work on Roxy until the deadline looms and then - miracles of miracles - it will suddenly get finished. Deadlines do have a way of getting people to focus on what needs to be done...
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Post by cpl593h on Feb 25, 2008 22:49:44 GMT
I am so disappointed- i was told-by Paul & Phil (in august 2005)that the new album would be ready for release spring/summer of 2006 - i do not like it when Bryan does cover versions and the release of a whole album of Dylan was the very last thing that i wanted.
I am sorry to whine but like many of us,i buy everything they do and just long for a Roxy Music album.
Pete N
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Post by judiesbluechair on Feb 27, 2008 1:14:57 GMT
During the past year, since the dreadful Dylanesque tour took off, I find myself questioning my loyalty to a man who has done little to nothing to earn my continued respect! I fully appreciate that writer's block can be a crippling affliction for someone in the music field but surely 7yrs is a sign that it is now pretty much out of control? He continually finds excuses for not finishing the new album ie parts in movies, modelling, interviews, advertisements, holiday retreats, and other music projects etc. Will he learn that he can run from responsibilities but not himself (his doubts and fears that is)? I agree with the member above who said that the "old-school approach" worked best; the albums of that era were ground-breaking in their content! Maybe he's thinking of considering the possibility of one day lifting a pen and writing a few lyrics? But until that happens, we're left with an emptiness that, for some reason, no other band can fill. But I still hang in there; hoping that one day he'll give a press conference to say that the new album is at the finishing post with just the cover art to be finalised! The magnitism that the real Roxy once had is probably what keeps me glued to these forums and of course, the band.
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Post by desmondo on Feb 27, 2008 12:12:00 GMT
The new album - I think it will happen but rests on Bryan doing the lyrics.
I think we must go by what we know and what band members have said re contracts etc.
My guess is late 2008 with a tour to go hand in hand with the release.
If they've done 17/18 tracks - it would be a shame for them to go to waste and knowing Roxy's latter day perfection there will be some fiddling no doubt.
They all have commitments over the coming months but that doesn't mean to say things aren't happening and haven't been happening.
The one thing we need to think about is Eno's involvement - he played on some tracks and no doubt did his usual sonic stuff -- perhaps there has been a decision to increase his involvement in terms of production and if fact they are waiting for his diary to clear - isn't he working with Coldplay at the mo.
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Post by desmondo on Mar 10, 2008 14:01:04 GMT
An interesting quote from Tim Allen, who is about to tour with Andy, about the new roxy album
"As for my other main project right now, The Metaphors (with Andy Mackay), the album is done, and has been mastered and is actually sounding rather fantastic. Very experimental. A lot closer to classical music than pop in terms of structure...with movements as opposed to verse/chorus/verse chorus. I'm am currently busy figuring out the logistics of taking it all out live, which is both a daunting and exciting prospect. I am meeting with everyone individually to discuss and design their live setups...such joyous nerding out!
We are spending a few weeks in Ireland rehearsing in February, and then doing a few press showcases before the summer (ish) tour. The ever present prospect of the new Roxy record is the one thing that is keeping us on our toes with regard to dates."
Cheers
Richard
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