{"id":223,"date":"2026-08-14T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/14\/they-brought-glamour-to-a-nation-descending-into-gloom-roxy-music-and-the-invention-of-sci-fi-rock-just-when-it-was-needed-most\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T16:00:00","slug":"they-brought-glamour-to-a-nation-descending-into-gloom-roxy-music-and-the-invention-of-sci-fi-rock-just-when-it-was-needed-most","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/14\/they-brought-glamour-to-a-nation-descending-into-gloom-roxy-music-and-the-invention-of-sci-fi-rock-just-when-it-was-needed-most\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThey brought glamour to a nation descending into gloom\u201d: Roxy Music and the invention of sci-fi rock, just when it was needed most"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Roxy Music<\/em><\/a>\u2019s invention of sci-fi rock surprised a world that was enduring a difficult upheaval, and they took off as they built an impressive catalogue of work in the 1970s. In 2012, to mark the release of a complete box set, we chose five of their proggiest moments from 1972 to 1979.<\/em><\/p>\n

The BoB (Medley), from Roxy Music (1972)<\/h2>\n

That\u2019s \u201cBob\u201d as in \u201cBattle Of Britain\u201d \u2013 but the reference to World War II only partly explains the deliberately unsettling ambience of the first track on Side two of Roxy\u2019s debut album.<\/p>\n

Brian Eno<\/a>\u2019s off-kilter synth precedes a relatively conventional Bryan Ferry verse, then it\u2019s gunfire and explosions in the distance to Andy Mackay<\/a>\u2019s horns. The band\u2019s retro references tease out almost a boogie-woogie section underpinned by Phil Manzanera<\/a>\u2019s guitar solo and Paul Thompson<\/a>\u2019s steady beat.<\/p>\n

More tempo changes lead to an Albert Hall-sized ending. These days it would be a prom<\/a> in itself. <\/p>\n

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The Bogus Man, from For Your Pleasure (1973)<\/h2>\n

The band\u2019s second album also includes Do The Strand<\/em> and the eerie In Every Dream Home A Heartache<\/em>, but The Bogus Man<\/em> remains one of Thompson\u2019s favourites.<\/p>\n

His strange, relentless drum pattern accompanies a cautionary lyric about a character to avoid; yet that framework is almost a haunted house, containing so many different processing effects that the overall effect is unorthodox in the extreme \u2013 especially when you get to the end and realise that it\u2019s been doing that for more than nine minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit trance-like as well,\u201d says Thompson, \u201cso it was probably before its time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Amazona, from Stranded (1973)<\/h2>\n

Roxy\u2019s first album without Eno became their first UK number one, and brought a bit of glamour to a nation descending into the gloom of the three-day week, a result of UK industrial action which led to an energy shortage.<\/p>\n

It included the top 10 hit Street Life<\/em>, and Ferry\u2019s first songwriting collaborations \u2013 with Mackay for A Song For Europe,<\/em> and with Manzanera for this favourite song of his.<\/p>\n

Amazona<\/em> starts conventionally with a rhythm guitar and exotic lyrical scene-setting, but reintroduces itself two minutes in for its complex, nimble guitar solo.<\/p>\n

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Sentimental Fool, from Siren (1975)<\/h2>\n

Roxy\u2019s fifth set contained one of their greatest theme songs, Love Is The Drug<\/em>, plus the underrated follow-up Both Ends Burning<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Ferry and Mackay\u2019s Sentimental Fool<\/em> wafts in with Eddie Jobson<\/a>\u2019s ethereal synthesisers, then Manzanera plugs in for a haunting fuzz guitar motif, with brilliant and subtly off-kilter details from Mackay\u2019s oboe, Jobson\u2019s electric organ and a great bassline from John Gustafson.<\/p>\n

Characteristically episodic, the body of the track then begins on Thompson\u2019s drums and Ferry\u2019s vocals, with Mackay now on saxophone and Manzanera adding yet another layer of sophistication. <\/p>\n

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Manifesto, from Manifesto (1979)<\/h2>\n

Things may not have been quite the same when Roxy reunited. But the Manifesto<\/em> album has more edge than followers Flesh And Blood<\/em> and Avalon<\/em> \u2013 by the end of which it felt like they\u2019d been almost subsumed by Ferry\u2019s solo personality.<\/p>\n

The title track features sterling work by Gary Tibbs on bass and Paul Carrack on synths, conjuring a late-night urban mood. Manzanera\u2019s excellent guitar textures also help set up Ferry\u2019s peerlessly atmospheric lead lines.<\/p>\n

\u2018Question what you see<\/em>,\u2019 he advises, \u2018and when you find an answer, bring it home to me<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>\n

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Roxy Music\u2019s invention of sci-fi rock surprised a world that was enduring a difficult upheaval, and they took off as they built an impressive catalogue of work in the 1970s. In 2012, to mark the release of a complete box set, we chose five of their proggiest moments from 1972 to 1979. The BoB (Medley), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realrockrevival.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}