Roxy Music: Both Ends Burning

by Jonathan Rigby

The epitome of 70s glamour, Roxy Music's sophisticated but danceable, chart-friendly rock gained them a following that far surpassed the glam-rock constituency from which they sprang. The urbane voice and persona of singer Bryan Ferry, and the cutting-edge musicians—including Brian Eno, Eddie Jobson, Phil Manzanera, and Andy McKay—fashioned the band's music into a distinctive blend of pop, torch-ballad Euro-crooning, and avant-garde rock. Both Ends The Complete Roxy Music is the first book of its kind, with a song-by-song analysis of every album. There's also exhaustive coverage of the band's numerous live performances in all their incarnations, from 1972 to 2003.

Genres: Music

304 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2005

Reviews

[Jason Coleman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid critical biography of the band that personally I'll take over The Clash or Zeppelin as best British of the '70s. With its spotlight-on-every-song format, I suspect Rigby's book was influenced by Ian MacDonald's excellent Beatles study, Revolution in the Head, and while his critiques lack the uncanny conciseness of MacDonald's, they're generally thoughtful and smart, and with these kinds of things I've learned to happily settle for thoughtful and smart. There are some provincial liabilities: Rigby places too much value on both those catty UK music weeklies and on gigging, dutifully compiling lists of shows that, I'll remind you, took place between thirty and forty years ago. The era has to be evoked, of course, but the book is seriously weighed down by the compulsive inclusion of material that by now is about as relevant as old grocery lists. Like most Brits, the author also holds the curious opinion that the magnificent Siren is the band's worst record; I had hopes that he'd buck his countrymen on that one, but, on the contrary, he holds Siren up as an example of second-rate Roxy throughout the book (even after giving the truly mediocre Flesh + Blood a free pass). American critics rightfully tend to place Siren very near the top and, despite the band's failure to ever score big in the States, have generally been far more reliable judges of Roxy's work than the British press, whose relationship with the band has simply been too symbiotic.

Through the awesome power of the Worldwide Web I discovered that our author also happens to be an actor and, in addition to starring in a long-running West End hit, was behind an apparently quite successful revival of Dracula. I always thought Roxy should have scored a horror film, a job they'd have been better qualified for than any band this side of Portishead.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting track-by-track review of the work of Roxy Music and its main members. Detailed and impressionistic rather than musically technical: he talks about, say, "three-note patterns", but not about key changes or harmonic structure or whatever. I mention that only because it's odd, in such a detailed account.
Also it plods rather - essentially it's "and then ... and then..." till the end.
Still, an informative and rewarding read, though I'd recommend having another book on the go for variety.

[Malcolm Frawley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 2nd Roxy biog I have read, & by far the best. Including a track by track exploration of the songs, both Roxy's & its members various solo releases, made this musical trainspotter's mouth water, as he already owns track by track dissections of the work of both XTC & Squeeze. Most enjoyable.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continuing my deep dive into the groundbreaking band Roxy Music, this was my second book.

As disappointing as the first book and its tabloid fodder was, this one more than made up for it. There is a timeline of the band's history, including significant events and tours, and even better, there is a detailed analysis of every song on every album. It really helped me understand the instrumentation, the lyrics, and the members of the band, as well as additional players they used.

Although not as detailed, there is also discussion of the various solo projects and albums of the mainstays of the band, Bryan Ferry, Andy Mackay, and Phil Manzanera. (Brian Eno, as well, although he left the band after two albums.) I'm more familiar with Ferry's solo works, but it's fun to explore that of the other members. I have many, many hours of happy listening ahead of me!

The author is obviously a long-time fan, but he doesn't hesitate to criticize when he feels it is due. I suppose some of it was fair, but when I go full fangirl, I go all the way, so I frequently thought, "No, that's mean, I love that song!" (This is why I could never be a critic; if I love an artist, it is impossible for me to be impartial.)

This book took me a while to finish, because there was so much listening involved. That is not a complaint! It opened new horizons for me. It's odd to become a rabid fan of a band over fifty years after their inception, but that's the thing: music never dies, nor does learning new things, listening with a new ear to songs you already know, and understanding the significance of a band that had a massive influence on so many later artists.

Viva Roxy Music!

[Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Muso retelling of the Roxy story to date. Very little on the personalities that made the band such a stunning hotbed of pop experimentalism, rather too much on the sound of individual tracks and descriptions of record sleeves (very few featured in the picture section).

Also docked a whole mark for awfully amateurish typesetting and design - chapter titles do not start at the bottom of right-hand pages. If you're ever updating, guys, I'll redo it for you for nowt.