New LP releases from Roxy Music and Thin Lizzy

Available now from http://www.1960s.london

Roxy Music Live At The BBC and Beyond 1972-73

Tracklisting

Side One

1. Grey Lagoons
2. Pyjamarama
3. Do The Strand
4. Editions Of You
5. In Every Dream Home A Heartache
6. Grey Lagoons

Side Two

1. Virginia Plain
2. Do The Strand
3. Editions Of You
4. In Every Dream Home A Heartache
5. Remake / Remodel

All songs written by Bryan Ferry

Personnel

Bryan Ferry – Vocals, piano, guitar, harmonica

Andy Mackay – Oboe, saxophone, keyboards, vocals

Brian Eno – Synthesiser, tapes, vocals

Phil Manzanera – Guitar

The Great Paul Thompson – Drums

Rik Kenton – Bass (Side One, Tracks 1 & 6)

Sal Maida – Bass (Side One, Tracks 2-5)

John Porter – Bass (Side Two)

Recording Details

Side One

All tracks recorded live for the BBC

Track 1 Radio In Concert transmitted 03.08.72

Tracks 2 – 5 Radio John Peel’s Sounds Of The Seventies transmitted 08.03.73

Track 6 TV Full House transmitted 25.11.72

Side Two

All tracks recorded in Bremen for the Musikladen TV show and transmitted 30.05.73

Sound Quality

Excellent throughout except Side One, Track 5 which is Very Good

Sleevenotes

“There’s a new sensation…” sang Bryan Ferry and by the time these tracks were recorded he was right on the button. The new sensation was Roxy Music, simply the most exciting and glamorous band to burst through the double-denim years of the early 1970s. Their self-titled first album released in 1972 was a heady blend of prog (Phil Manzanera), avant garde (Andy Mackay and Brian Eno) and thumping rock’n’roll (Thompson), providing the perfect setting for the arty but catchy tunes of crooning hearthrob Bryan Ferry. Ferry was determined to avoid the grind of endless college support gigs and instead persuaded EG Management to fund the band until a record contract with Island Records could be negotiated. Thus Roxy Music emerged fully-formed as if from nowhere. Critical and chart success was immediate.

The BBC were early supporters of the band. The first version of Grey Lagoons was recorded as part of a 1972 In Concert radioslot, ostensibly to promote the first LP. However the song would not be released on record until For Your Pleasure (1973) where it was sandwiched between two instrumentally-driven pieces The Bogus Man and the LP’s title track. By comparison Grey Lagoons is positively conventional, containing the classic Ferry line “morning sickness on Friday nights” and an unexpected harmonica solo. The first song to be written by Ferry on guitar, Pyjamarama was the band’s second single, but according to Manzanera the production, cutting and pressing process were all hurried. The version here recorded for John Peel has more prominent guitars, a more distinctive bass line and a slinkier vocal. From the same session comes the great-single-that-never-was, the dance craze anthem Do The Strand where Andy Mackay blows up a storm. The remaining tracks from this session are two further selections from For Your Pleasure, Editions Of You and In Every Dream Home A Heartache. The former is Roxy’s most straightforward rocker, albeit with classical allusions to the Lorelei, whilst the latter allows Manzanera to stretch out. Finally a second version of Grey Lagoons from BBC2 art programme  Full House where Manzanera is again the star, his white Strat not the only Hendrix reference.

In May 1973 the band played a short set for German TV’s Musikladen as part of their spring European tour promoting For Your Pleasure. Debut single Virginia Plain is a strong statement of intent – “teenage rebel of the week” indeed. The instrumental break sees Mackay and Manzanera synchronise their dance steps whilst Eno glitters like a glam-rock ostrich and Ferry’s quiff gleams impossibly black. Paul Thompson does a great job of stopping it all getting too precious. For Do The Strand Ferry changes into a white-double breasted number whilst Eno favours an extravagance of black feathers. Editions Of You has Ferry moving centre-stage away from his piano, whilst Eno responds with some vigorous tambourine bashing and a wild synth solo. The spooky first half of In Every Dream Home A Heartache is dominated by Mackay on organ, until Manzanera shatters the tension on his Les Paul with Ferry playing a rare rhythm guitar part. On Remake/Remodel Eno, Manzanera and Mackay all sing the chorus of “CPL 593A”,emphasising what a visual band this first incarnation had become. The futuristically-garbed Mackay (great codpiece) gives us a snippet of “Deutschland über alles” and after a final explosion of drums the set ends to enthusiastic applause.

Sadly by June 1973 it was all over. During an appearance at York Festival shouts of “Eno” interfered with the bands performance. Eno withdrew in an attempt to quieten his fans, but Ferry informed EG that he would never share a stage with Eno again. Roxy would recover from Eno’s departure, becoming more focused around Ferry but no less successful. As we will see…

Sleevenotes

Lolita & Guernica

Thin Lizzy Live From Germany  1973

Side One

1. Vagabond Of The Western World (Lynott)
2. Dr Who Theme (Grainer) /
3. ‘69 Rock (Lynott, Downey, Bell)
4. Suicide (Lynott)
5. Slow Blues (Lynott, Downey)

Side Two

1. Whiskey In The Jar (traditional arranged Lynott, Downey, Bell)
2. Things Ain’t Working Out Down At The Farm (Lynott)
3. Whiskey In The Jar (traditional arranged Lynott, Downey, Bell)
4. The Rocker (Lynott, Downey, Bell)

Recording Details

Side One and Side Two, Track 1 recorded live at the Waldbuhne on June 9^th and broadcast on German TV

Side Two, Tracks 2 – 4 recorded live at the Berlin Art Indoor Festival on September 18^th and broadcast on German TV

Personnel

Phil Lynott – bass, vocals

Eric Bell – guitar

Brian Downey – drums

Sleevenotes

The roots of Thin Lizzy go back to the early 1960’s when Phil Lynott and Brian Downey both attended the same Dublin school. The half Irish / half Brazilian Lynott joined The Black Eagles as vocalist but after “a few weeks singing soul on the Dublin bingo hall circuit” as Pete Frame put it, he left for local hotshots Skid Row, who featured future Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore. Skid Row bass player Brush Shiels taught Lynott the rudiments of playing bass. Lynott then joined his school friend Downey in Orphanage. Meeting ex-Them guitarist Eric Bell in December 1969 the threesome decided to form a band they called Thin Lizzy, allegedly named after Tin Lizzie from The Beano with the h added as nod to Irish pronunciation.  

The band signed to Decca and at the suggestion of managers Ted Carroll and Brian Tuite moved to London in March 1971. Two albums followed with little commercial success – Thin Lizzy (April 1971) and Shades Of A Blue Orphanage (March 1972).The band had a surprise UK top 10 hit in November 1972 with their arrangement of the traditional Irish folk song Whiskey In The Jar. The accompanying album Vagabonds Of The Western World (September 1973) was not as successful.

Despite their lack of record sales in the UK, by 1973  Thin Lizzy were a popular live draw throughout Europe. The tracks on this record are drawn from two German appearances, in June and September 1973. The June event was a two day festival with a very ‘eavy line-up including Family, The Groundhogs, Uriah Heap and Beck, Bogart and Appice. The setting was the Waldbhune (Woodland Stage) in Berlin, a 22,000 capacity theatre in the Olympiapark where the Stones had staged a memorable riot in 1965. Opening number Vagabond Of The Western World attractively combines Irish folk music themes with a driving Lynott/Downey rhythm track. A version of the Dr.Who Theme precedes the bands own ’69 Rock, a live favourite that was never recorded for a studio LP. Suicide is introduced asa real-life story and features Eric Bell on slide, it would not be released on a studio LP until it appeared on the Fighting LP (September 1975). Side one closes with a Slow Blues. Another track from Vagabonds… the song belies Lynott’s introduction of “and that’s all it is”. After an initial section where Bell’s guitar echoes Lynott’s vocal, a sprightly rhythm makes for a song that is more interesting than its title. Finally, The Hit. Whiskey In The Jar is a traditional Irish song that tells a story of robbery and romantic betrayal. The band were reportedly unhappy with Decca’s decision to release the song as a single but it was a success throughout Europe and reached number 6 in the UK Top Ten. The version here effectively reproduces the arrangement of the single whilst allowing Bell more room for his fluid soloing.

In September Thin Lizzy were again on German TV, seemingly playing in front of an audience of bewildered children and bemused adults. Things Ain’t Working Out Down At The Farm is a track off the New Day EP, released in August 1971. Phil’s silver shoulder-pads give a hint of his future image and he is starting to throw some shapes onstage. A second version of Whiskey In The Jar features Lynott switching from his Rickenbacker bass to a Gibson SG guitar. The closing The Rocker is a sign of Thin Lizzy to come. Upbeat, riff-driven and a lyric that features much Lynott self-mythologising it even manages to include a plug for Ted Carroll’s legendary Rock On rare vinyl stall on Golborne Road. Eric Bell takes a lengthy solo but in this context it seems out of place. Bell would leave the band after a gig at Queen’s University in Belfast on New Years Eve 1973 when he walked off the stage mid-set. Gary Moore was recruited to take his place. The band found a more sympathetic record label in Phonogram and built momentum throughout 1974 and 1975 before finally breaking big in March 1976 with the release of the album Jailbreak and the single The Boys Are Back In Town, a top ten single in both the UK and (crucially) in the US.

Listening to this record you can hear the building blocks of Thin Lizzy’s subsequent success being manoeuvred into position with Lynott’s lyricism and street-wise persona and Downey’s drumming skills to the fore.  Eric Bell’s desire for more open song structures and extended soloing would not persist but they served the band well at the time. From Vagabonds to Rockers…

Sleeve notes

Rosa Leigh