Roxy Music More Than This Stor

This is not a very good documentary and I agree mostly with Mr. Rubbo's review. I have trouble putting in words how disappointed I am with this disc. It's too short. Also, too many talking heads who have little to nothing to do with the band. Bono? Why? Simon Le Bon is unexcusable and insulting. Please don't take your hatred of DuranDuran out on Roxy Music! Roxy was very image conscious, but they could also play killer music. Bad interviewing techniques and bad editing are the ruination of the film. What is missing from this documentary is an analyses of that music. Discussions of the lyrical content is slim. "No one was writing lyrics like that...," comments one the talking heads. Begs the question what lyrics? The only real attempt is a disscussion of in "Every Dream Home...," which leaves me wanting for more. Ferry appears "inarticulate" in this film because the filmmakers did not give him enough time or good questions to work with. The hint at "what could have been" is a bonus clip where Ferry is actually given a good question, about his vocal style, and answers it in a sweet and sincere way. He mentions listening to Otis Redding and just singing until he found his own style. Unfortunately, they end it there. Surely, there were other influences, definitely Lou Reed (listen the song "Casanova" and especially the word "heroin"). But THEY DO NOT TALK ANYMORE ABOUT THE BAND'S INFLUENCES! Why is the vocals clip not in the body of the film? MAKE BRYAN FERRY TALK! He's singer/songwriter not an improv artist.
This goes for the rest of band. Andy MacKay and Phil Manzanera, in particular, are cursed by little time and bad interviewing. The few seconds of Mackay and Manzanera actually playing are good, but again, MORE! For example, how did Manzanera and MacKay's songwriting collaborations with Ferry work? What was the inspiration behind Manzanera's earthshattering solo on "Amazona? When did MacKay fell it was best to play oboe on one song, but saxophone on others? The documentary's chief sin is nearly skipping over the album "Siren." Yes,they flash the album cover and mention "Love Is A Drug," and the producer says, "We knew that was going to be a hit." For the 50th time, WHY? No mention that this song is one of the defining lyrical themes of the band: that romance is addictive and transitory. One night your with someone, the next night another, but it's just a buzz. It doesn't last. Ferry was able to sing about such subjects without self-pity or self-absorption and the band throbbed in time like a lovesick heart.
The reason I give this disc 2 stars is that I found the still photographs intriguing, although they never explain when the photographs were taken. My personal favorite is a black and white 70s era photograph with a beautiful woman sitting on Ferry's lap. Who is this woman? Also, I am only of those Roxy fans who enjoys the reunion tours that the band has done recently and the 2006 Dock Rock performances are brilliant. Roxy Music was never a "youthful band," they always sounded experienced and mature with their dexterity and ability to play together. Ferry was always sounded like a mature, man of the world even when he was 26. "I tried but I could not find the way/Looking back, all I did was look away" from (Remake/Remodel first track on the first album) and the chain of advice at the end of "Editions of You" especially "Old money's better than new/And don't let this happen to you." Ferry is a born performer, soulful, warm, funny and whips up everyone in his path. Manzanera and MacKay are still amazing especially on solos. What a rush! Why doesn't this documentary talk about Roxy as a live act? How did Ferry develop all those amazing hand gestures?
In the end, this disc is only for Roxy Addicts like myself. If you want to introduce someone to Roxy Music or show Roxy haters the errors of their ways, DO NOT show them this documentary. It gives a false image of the band. Saying that Roxy influenced DuranDuran and others who cared more about looks than singing, playing, and songwriting is a lot like holding The Who responsible for "Godspell." If you want to introduce someone to Roxy, play the Music in any format you have and let them decide for themselves. Maybe, "Siren" or "Stranded" for starters and go from there. Either that or play the youtube videos of the original BBCTV performance of "Virginia Plain" or the 1976 Stockholm concert footage of "The Thrill of It All." Such performances and others can be found on "The Thrill Of It All" DVD, which I recommend over this disc any day.

What It Is: This DVD is a great nostalgic chronicle of the history behind Roxy, from Bryan Ferry's Art School days, early bands, and the roots leading up to what was probably the most stylistically significant group to emerge from England since the Beatles.
Recollections from Ferry, Mackay, Manzanera, Eno, Paul Thompson and Eddie Jobson are abundant, as are comments from other luminaries who were influenced by Roxy - Bono, John Taylor, Siouxsie Sioux, Steve Jones, etc, make pertinent comments on the continent-crossing influence they had on other musical movements and style trends.
Roxy were eccentric, quirky, glitzy, kitschy, seedy and sexy, and the first glimpse of the future musically. And they had musical chops to boot. For a band who became synonymous with style, they actually began as an outfit without style - they were implementing 6 or 8 musical styles simultaneously, thus making them too schizoid and original for an American audience, that is, until `Avalon', their last LP. They were the biggest touring group in Europe during the early-mid 70`s, bar none. As stated in the lyrics of an early hit, `Do The Strand', "All styles served here", and never was this more so.
Ferry was the first world-weary romantic, and this image led to the New Romantic wave in the early 80`s. Unfortunately, the bastard sons of Roxy were usually insipid, grave-robbing poseurs like Duran Duran, Human League, Heaven 17, ABC, Kissing The Pink, etc, who offered precious little new musically.
Ferry also had the uncanny ability to make covers of other artists songs all his own (all his early solo LP's were cover tunes that bore little resemblance to the originals), whether it was Neil Young's `Like A Hurricane' or John Lennon's `Jealous Guy' - as a Beatles/ Lennon freak, I never thought ANYONE could take a Lennon/McCartney tune and make it their own, but Ferry prove me wrong with his cover of `Jealous Guy' - it remains one of the greatest covers of all time.

What it's not: Unfortunately, there isn't an entire complete song or performance on the dvd, a whole music video, nothing. We get 10 or 20 seconds of a track then a comment from somebody, which kills the mood for me periodically. Also, I could do without the commentaries by journalists who were breast-feeding when this band was at the height of their prowess - they offer nothing by way of insight. Nothing at all. The main feature clocks in at only 52 minutes - I wanted more, `More Than This'...
The extras with Antony Price reflecting on the mishaps of doing all the photo shoots of their album covers was entertaining, as their LP covers had much to do with how
we perceived the band and how they were marketed - no pics of the band themselves appeared on ANY of their 8 original album covers.
The only other extras are 3 live tunes from 2006, and here we see older men replicating their material, not hungry young men seeking their first taste of fame + fortune, but aging stars who made it big and lost it along w/ their youth + hunger for `The Thrill Of It All'.

Very informative and well-produced hour long documentary on Roxy Music and its career (1972-1982). It includes interviews with all of the band's original personnel as well as interested fellow musicians/fans (Bono, Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, Andy Taylor of Duran Duran, Siouxsee of Siouxsee and the Banshees and, strangley enough, the leader of the '70's one-hit wonder disco outfit, Chic) and assorted odd cultural commentators and collaborators (producers Chris Thomas and Bob Clearmountain, album cover designer Nick de Ville et al).

Growing up as a teenager in San Jose, California during the '70's and then joining the U.S. Air Force and travelling the U.S. and the world, Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music were my favorite band (with David Bowie, another Eno collaborator, as a close second). Ferry's alternately brooding and ecstatic egomania was a great companion as I negotiated the challenges of women, wine and song, although like Ferry, I was ultimately much more successful in style than execution.

At any rate, in a world of '70's musical excess (Led Zep, Elton John, Kansas, REO Speedwagon and Disco itself), Ferry and Roxy were a reassuring musical anchor. They were creative, stylish and distinctly different and this documentary is a fresh and refreshing look at why: Ferry's remarkable lyrics, the electronic innovations of Eno, the musical craftmanship of master guitarist Phil Manzanera, saxophonist Andy MacKay and drummer Paul Thompson).

"Stranded" and "Country Life" were astonishing and so very new when they arrived (1973-74), there was nothing like them, then or now. Unfortunately, this documentary doesn't spend all that much of its brief time on the specifics of the individual albums but rather is a quick resume of the band's career and gives thumbnail sketches of each Roxy project.

Overall, the documentary is quite satisfying because it manages to be something of an homage without being propagandistic: although Roxy and its members didn't generate all that much controversy and scandal during their run, what little they did is on display. And the ultimate scandal remains the same today as it ever was: Bryan Ferry's ego. The surprise of the interviews is how marvelous the personalities of Roxy Music are with the glaring exception of Ferry himself, who is consistently rather glum and stunningly (for such a master lyricist) inarticulate. Brian Eno and Phil Manzanera are genial, witty Old Wise Men, Paul Thompson a guy you'd like to grab a beer with and Andy MacKay a somewhat bitter but funny anti-Ferry. Ferry remains distant and dour.

As someone who grew up with the band, the two things that struck me most (aside from how much Roxy anticipated the future of music and how well they stand up) was how naturally old they all look (even Ferry has seemingly avoided plastic surgery) and how self-obsessed Ferry's music and his persona are. While that was the secret of his allure to me as a young man, it doesn't grow more attractive with age. An attempt to reconcile with Eno and produce a new album with the original line-up in the last few years was seemingly scuttled by the same thing that caused Eno to leave in the first place, Ferry's overwhelming desire to dominate the band. (Ferry put an end to those long-simmering rumors which have been swirling around since 2006 by stating in November of 2009 that there would probably never be another Roxy Music album).

Again, though, all of this is addressed forthrightly and honestly and although Ferry doesn't come off particularly well neither does he disavow his peculiar pecadillos.

Which perhaps explains the greatest enigma regarding Roxy: their inability to conquer America. Ferry's obsessions included a love of Americana and all of its Pop glory yet success in the U.S. eluded the band until it's final lp, "Avalon." The history of the band is Ferry's drive to make it mainstream enough to "make it" in America but in so doing it appears that he killed the goose that laid the golden eggs because the "Avalon" tour pretty much killed the band (MacKay speaks of how within 6 hours of their last tour date, he and Manzanera were on a plane back to London).

In short: a lively and insightful look at one of avant rock's foremost musical influences and an enjoyable trip down memory lane...