Thrill of It All: A Visual History 1972-1982 is a two-DVD history of Roxy Music, a band which went from being one of the most adventurous in rock music to one of the tamest. A wealth of performance videos—including concert footage, television appearances and promotional videos— clearly present their progression from the glammest of glam rock bands to the most romantic of the New Romantics.
When Roxy Music debuted in 1972, they were the epitome of art rock, at once experimental and pretentious. They wedded the musical adventurousness of progressive rock with the flashy imagery of glam. They were helmed by two powerful figures, the showman Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno, one of the most revolutionary figures in all rock music. It was the height of glam rock in England, and they fit right in. In the early videos, their looks leap out at you. They dress in animal prints, shiny satins, bright colored lame, all cut with eye to sci-fi. Eno sports gold leather gloves, and guitarist Phil Manzanera wears fly-eyed glasses.
There is so much flash that's easy to lose sight of the music, which is truly avante-garde. Songs like "Re-Make Re-Model" and "Ladytron," although based on rock structures, incorporate start-stop rhythms and nearly atonal splashes of sound. And it's not just Eno's synthesizer squiggles, everyone in the band throws bits of noise into the mix.
But every year the costumes get straighter, and the music tamer. Eno leaves for even more outlandish pastures, taking his anarchy with him. Bryan Ferry trades in the leopard prints and lame for suit coats. And the music moves steadily towards a sort of funky lounge jazz. There is a definite"quit saying not to me, just quit saying no to me progression, but I hesitate to call it growth. While there is a definite increase in their technical ability over the years, it is at the expense of innovation. All the rough edges of their music are smoothed out. As the costumes get less outrageous, so does the music. The daring of "Ladytron" and "Amazona" becomes the safe sounds of "Avalon" and "Angel Eyes."
One story here is Ferry's take over of the band. In the early days, he's just another band member, locked behind his keyboard. As he moves out to become a true frontman, his persona starts to dominate."quit saying not to me, just quit saying no to me That persona is a dissipated romantic, worn out by too much decadence, but still believing the next fling could be true love.
Which takes them to their final incarnation, as the ultimate New Romantic band. They clearly provided the blueprint for that style, even more than the oft-credited David Bowie. Not just in Ferry's jaded romantic persona, but in terms of the New Romantic look. Ferry established it early on—the perfectly tailored suits, the neatly styled hair, with just enough muss to look sexy. By the late 70's cuts, he has it down exactly.
It is interesting to watch Ferry develop his stage presence over the years. When he first steps out from behind the keyboard, he seems a little unsure of what to do with himself. At times, his movements are as affected as his vocals, creating an overload of pretense. (This is especially true in the 1976 concert footage.) But then he gets it down; by the early 80's he is all offhand casualness.
Although video makes it easy to pay attention to—and emphasize—the style of the band, these DVDs do make it clear that Roxy Music had a lot more going for them than just a look. Their musicianship is superb. As I said, the early Eno days cuts are all avante-garde anarchy, start-stop rhythms, solos thrown in almost randomly, lots of noise and screech. But as the music smooths out, the band members' talents come to the fore.
Guitarist Phil Manzanera is the musical backbone of the group. His guitar lines vary from slashing ("All I Want is You") to ethereal ("For Your Pleasure"), and his solos are always intense and controlled (as on "Ladytron" and "In Every Dream Home a Heartache").
But the revelation is Andy MacKay on woodwinds. He not only rocks out on the saxophone solos, regularly scattered throughout, but on clarinet and oboe he provides startling atmosphere on songs such as "Out of the Blue" and "Heart Still Beating."
Although I just dismissed the later Roxy Music as "lounge jazz," it did remain more complex, and artier, than that. Thanks to Manzanera and MacKay, there is a sonic consistency to the band. The song structures remain multi-layered. And even on the 80's cuts, when Ferry gives himself over to pure crooning, the instrumentals manage to maintain some edge. Still, while the later songs are pleasurable, the early ones are truly exciting.
The quality of the videos are, for the most part, very good, although the concert clips are often not as clear as the TV cuts. At a couple of points the direct contrast, as it shifts from television show to live footage, is glaring. For my part, I found the live footage much more interesting than the promotional videos, which break surprisingly little new ground for such an art oriented band, although is true that, mostly dating from pre-MTV days, they aren't painfully dated. The one video that stands out is a tasteful version of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy," which becomes a moving tribute through its understated quality.
My main complaint with the set is a lack of any sort of commentary, written or otherwise. The DVD set comes with a listing of the songs and their sources, and nothing else. It would be particularly useful to have a listing of the personnel for the various shots, as the groups experienced numerous personnel changes over the years.
But even without such commentary, this is a comprehensive collection. All the hits (as much as Roxy Music can be said to have hits) are here, from "Virginia Plain" and "Do the Strand" through "Love Is the Drug" and "Avalon." At the same time, it doesn't skimp on the lesser known, but more interesting, songs. Thrill of It All contains the full spectrum of what Roxy Music played, and enable the viewer to see how they changed, and what remained consistent, over the years. That completeness makes this a valuable collection for the serious Roxy Music fan, and a good introduction for the novice.
