Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS & RELATED ARTICLES

Mojo SEPTEMBER 2012 - by Mark Blake

ROXY MUSIC: THE COMPLETE STUDIO RECORDINGS 1972-1982

Archest band in rock set to get box-set treatment - again.

The most striking feature of this ten-CD collection is what a fine singles band Roxy Music were. During 1972-73's Brian Eno-era, their lyrics alluded to Warhol's Factory girls and Nabokov while the music on Virginia Plain and Do The Strand was knowing, brainy glam-pop. Even in that curious post-Eno period, when singer Bryan Ferry was dressing like a rather camp airport baggage handler, they still made brilliant 45s (Street Life, Love Is The Drug). Anyone with Roxy's 1995 The Thrill Of It All box set has the story, and the twelve-inch singles and alternative mixes here don't change that, but the music itself endures. By 1980, the literary affectations were gone. Instead, Same Old Scene and Over You radiate a cold, robotic charm - like love songs for androids - suggesting that beneath the surface Roxy were still as odd as ever.