Mes Amis,
W2 would like to salute the ever tasteful UKRichard’s brilliant repost to Uwe’s intervention.
Windswept has nothing to add other than to say that thanks to his own vintage and geographical origins he has been lucky enough to enjoy every stage of our hero’s career.
One thing that has been glaringly obvious from the Club a’Gogo days has been the purity of Ferry’s art. He has always has been completely immersed in music and any celebrity status comes from that.
Another point that W2 would put on record is the role that Ferry has played in his musical education. His eclectic taste has taken Windswept down many musical paths and has enriched his enjoyment of music enormously. Prabably more so than any other artist.
Comme l’a dit UKRichard - “Viva Versatility “.
Salutations a tous,
Windswept.

I would like to add one more thing to my contributions: of course I am a big admirer of Mr. Ferry, otherwise I certainly wouldn't have bought all of his albums and certainly wouldn't have seen all of his tours live. Yes, I have great respect for all of his work, but I would like to critically note that there was plenty of room for improvement. His management, if it even exists, is a huge disgrace.
The omnipresent opinion that Bryan holds the key to reactivating the band Roxy Music can also be viewed from another perspective. I think Bryan was very interested in a 9th Roxy album. Not in terms of content with the recordings from 2005/2006. It was supposed to be an instrumental album.
Eno held the key to this in his hand... I don't want to comment further on this at this point.
@Mr. Windswept: it's nice that you were able to enjoy every phase of the artist Ferry. To this day I have not had this unconditional, critic-free happiness.

Perhaps I'm being very cynical, but having an American model girfriend and then going to live in the US to rub shoulders with some big names in showbiz could be perceived as a way of raising one's profile and climbing up the ladder. Or perhaps BF thought it might help with his long term desire to crack the US market? The irony is that might have happened if Roxy had stayed together after Avalon. One more thought from me. It was Roxy Music who were inducted into The Hall of Fame, not BF as a solo artist. Does that tell us something?
Roger

Just that the organisers were a bit late to the party. However deserving Roxy were, the recognition came decades after the achievements for which they were being recognised! With a lifetime of work to his credit - including as architect of Roxy - the case for BF as an artist (not BF "solo") is far more compelling. Still, all water under the bridge now. Sigh.

I think to many outside of these hallowed cyberhalls you mention the words Bryan Ferry and they instantly come back with "ah, Roxy Music". Just as if you say David Byrne people instantly say "Talking Heads". They are forever linked to the brand names that gave their careers their launch. It's surely the case that in the 90s Bryan's commercial stock fell to such a point that if I remember correctly the UK label didn't want to release As Time Goes By and I think Virgin Germany released it?

Going off at a tangent I wonder what Bryan's version of Don't You Forget About Me would have sounded like if he had recorded it and not turned it down? I can't imagine him doing the "hey hey hey hey" bits or the singalong coda.....

Cher True2Life,
W2 thinks that the very few artists who have both fronted a successful band and whom have gone on to have a successful solo career will inevitably have a dual consumer recognition. Robert Plant and Led Zeplin being a prime example.
That said, Windswept’s own experience whilst discussing Ferry is that most folk are probably more familiar with his solo work than they are with Roxy (exception Avalon).
With regards to the ‘90s W2 is a little perplexed - surely a decade that gave us ‘Taxi’, ‘Mamouna’, ‘ATGB’ and 2 sell out world tours must constitute success ?
Furthermore if some n’er-do-well at Bryan’s UK label didn’t want to release ATGB it must surely be a result of his taste buds being extracted at birth. As we all know it went on to be a massive success and heralded the third coming!
Salutations,
Windswept

Going back a little ways in this thread. WS2 states his belief that

"‘The Bonny Lad’'s... solo sales have probably outstripped those of Roxy many times over."

I started thinking about this and wondered if it was true. I can imagine that BF has in aggregate shifted more units than RM, but "many times over"? Hmmm, that seems a bit much methinks...

I presume that Avalon would be Roxy's biggest album seller, while Boys and Girls perhaps would likely be tops for BF, but maybe I'm wrong

BF has released more albums than Roxy, but some of them didn't sell particularly well (I think TBSB and Mamouna would fall into that category).

Here are the BF's album placements in Germany - since Avalon:
Boys to Girls: 9
Bete Noire: 21
Taxi: 26
Mammouna: 38
As Time Goes By: 22
Frantic: 12
Dylaneque: 18
Olympia : 15
The Jazz Age: 91
Avonmore: 23
Bitter-Sweet: 46
@UKRichard: I had forgotten that Boys & Girls was a number one album in the UK. Sorry !

For an artist who has as much style and sophistication as Bryan Ferry, I think that's a balance sheet that could certainly be improved... it's not for nothing that he was constantly on tour to offset the costs of the elaborate productions.

I would like to come back to the question I asked at the beginning of this thread: why doesn't any official dare to announce the end of Roxy Music? All the work has been done. What speaks against it?

The myth would live on like this...

So you are insisting on an offical end of the band Roxy Music, Uwe. Ok. But why?

If Roxy published a new album - maybe studio work from 2005/6 - let's say tomorrow, you wouldn't reject it because they had announced their end.

The 8 Roxy albums plus b-sides, remixes and outtakes are something like my musical bible. But don't forget that Bryan's solo works in the 70s were absolutely brilliant.

Everything after that was varying in its quality. I specially liked Bête Noire, As Time Goes By and Avonmore. The Jazz Age, to name only one, was not my cup of tea.

But let's not forget that Bryan Ferry is a musician that had so much influence on other musicians and - to be honest - was the real founder of Roxy Music!

And now I am looking forward to AM/PM - the next big thing from the Roxy "gang"

"Dare"? For a band largely defunct for a full 40 years, I think you're investing more importance in this than it warrants. Going back to some earlier comments, in my experience if you talk to your average young Brit (under 30, even 35) about either BF or Roxy you're likely to get "who?". Mention MTT and it might - just might - click. But then they'll say much the same about other artists of the time. Some wouldn't even know Elton John were it not for some of his dalliances with contemporary acts.

It was probably ever thus. Growing up in the 70s, I was probably only familiar with singers from 50 years previous because my parents were but also - and crucially - the entertainment we shared as a family was so much narrower back then and frequently featured such performers. Young people these days have been ploughing their own media furrow wholly independent of their parents and their parents influence for years. If it's not something utterly vacuous being promoted by a 'You Tuber'/'influencer' or has half a billion likes on FB, X, or TikTok, it's just not on the radar of whole swathes of the population.

I'm being somewhat facetious there, but I do fervently believe the world as a whole is dumbing down (and from the top down) and as we race headlong to the bottom we throw out all manner of baggage like heritage and culture in our bid to get there faster.