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The first Roxy Music album brings together a patchwork of inspirations and influences from across the decades. In the second episode of Ghost Echoes, we stroll spontaneously into the movie theatre of the mind and examine a few of them. Hereâs looking at you, kid.
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Music and Sound Notes:
— All of the Roxy Music tracks heard here for illustrative purposes are from their debut album. They include: âRe-Make/Re-Modelâ, âVirginia Plainâ, âBitters Endâ, âChance Meeting”, and â2HBâ.
— The recording of Rachmaninovâs second piano concerto near the start is by an anonymous soloist and symphony orchestra, from Musopen. The excerpt from Brief Encounter itself features a recording of the same concerto by Eileen Joyce with the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Muir Matheson. The NoĂ«l Coward song heard shortly after is âThe Partyâs Over Now,â from the musical Words and Music.
— The segment on pop art features excerpts from Buddy Hollyâs âEverydayâ and David Bowieâs âAndy Warhol.â The section about musicians who went to art school features tiny extracts from âAll Your Loveâ by John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers; âImagineâ by John Lennon; âBrown Sugarâ, âSome Girlsâ, and âHonky Tonk Womenâ all by the Rolling Stones; âWhole Lotta Loveâ by Led Zeppelin; âPinball Wizardâ by the Who; âTubular Bells, Part 1â by Mike Oldfield; âBikeâ by Pink Floyd; âLaylaâ by Derek and the Dominos; âThe Village Green Preservation Societyâ by the Kinks; âSeaside Rendezvousâ by Queen; âYour Love is Kingâ by Sade; âCommon Peopleâ by Pulp; âYouâre So Greatâ by Blur; âMan-Sizeâ by PJ Harvey; âPaper Planesâ by M.I.A.; âKiss With A Fistâ by Florence and the Machine; and âLondon Callingâ by the Clash.
— The recording of Wagnerâs âRide of the Valkyriesâ used here is by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Uwe Mund. The brief excerpt from the start of Das Rheingold is the Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Marek Janowski, and the horn call from GötterdĂ€mmerung is the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Chailly.
— The music that finishes the episode off is from the end of Max Steinerâs score for Casablanca.
Further reading, watching:
— The two main sources for biographical information were Michael Bracewellâs Re-Make/Re-Model and Simon Reynoldsâ Shock and Awe. The Brief Encounter section is loosely inspired by Roland Barthesâ essay âLeaving the Movie Theatreâ from The Rustle of Language. The list of art school alumni who went on to pop stardom comes from Pretentiousness: Why it Matters by Dan Fox.
— The BBC documentary at the beginning of the pop art section is âPop Goes the Easel,â an episode of Monitor, hosted by Huw Wheldon and directed by the great Ken Russell. The interview clips with Ferry are taken from a Channel Four documentary called This is Tomorrow.
— The images in this blog post were the main source for my descriptions of the Roxy Theatre.
— Other film and television clips come from Brief Encounter; Whatâs Opera, Doc?; The Wizard of Oz; Casablanca and Now, Voyager
Roxy Music Married Cinema and Sound to Escape Everyday Life
Michael Roffman