http://thequietus.com/articles/05305-br ... -interview

Approached it with a 'yet another Olympia interview...' type attitude, but was pleasantly surprised.

Great piece!

This is definitely worth reading, if only to experience how bizarre BF's relationship to Roxy and the other members of Roxy has become. At one point he actually references Roxy as being something that he's not a part of. And he describes the rehearsals for last summer's Roxy tour as lasting for about a week but he only showed up for the last day. Hmmm. That's an interesting way to build band solidarity! And while he acknowledges that Phil M co-wrote BF Bass/Ode to Olympia he also indicates that has no idea what PM thinks of the track because apparently he has never heard it. Wow. Despite all those summer concerts they played together, it seems that BF could never find a few minutes to let PM have a listen. Wow redux.

On other matters BF reveals bitterness over the tepid commercial success of Olympia and he lets on that the only way that he is maintaining his lifestyle is through paid appearances at private affairs and high-end "charity" soirees. (this latter point was something that webmaster JOB made reference to a few weeks back if I recall). And throat soreness is something that is clearly plaguing his singing.

BF's cultural sophistication is well conveyed in this interview, but he also comes across as rather churlish and he is definitely unhappy about the commercial success of Olympia.

The journalist seems to be a conaisseur of the finer things in life, such as David Niven and J G Ballard. He seems to finally have found a like minded person i Bryan. Bryan is happy as long as he isn`t asked about a new Roxy album.

The interview's a good read and I don't think BF comes across as particularly churlish.

For the record, he didn't say that Phil has yet to hear BF/Bass, but merely that they've yet to discuss it...

BF is happiest when he's talking about himself and his appreciation of fine culture.

What I found particularly churlish was the begrudging way he referenced Roxy's upcoming 2011 "For Your Pleasure" Tour. Maybe the fans are supposed to get pleasure out of it, but not him! He seems to consider the tour as a chore that is going to keep from doing other (unstated) things that he'd rather be doing.

I get that impresion too. Doesn't sound like he wants to do a Roxy tour but is forced into doing it. He even implies that his private gigs are money spinners to pay for his lifestyle. Suffering for your Art ? I'm not so sure.

The other problem highlighted is that he is dismissive of Country Life and Siren. Ok, Siren perhaps isn't the strongest Roxy album ever made but there are very many people who prefer Roxy albums 2-5 over anything else he has made.

The real problem is that he needs to focus on writing songs, lyrics and music first and foremost. The reason the covers on Olympic are so strong is that despite having the BF sheen applied to them, underneath it all is a song that can be performed by singer plus piano or guitar. Most of the original songs sounds like they would fall apart with the arrangement holding them together. It is perhaps like the world's greatest artist painting a perfect picture with a magnificent command of his artistic skills but of a subject that no one else would choose to look at.

Perhaps he should "cover" some of the Roxy songs that he is no longer satisfied with and bring them "up to date".

O

yap , its really seem a excellent one ,
thanks for sharing here ,
the link is really a good one ...................

Olympia should have sold better, a great record with what I thought was widespread appeal ( and its growing on me - some of the tracks I was not sure of at first just sound better with more listens ( Me Oh My, BF Bass, Heartache by Numbers) , with fine production on all fronts, a lot of promotion, TV and personal appearances and the highest public profile he's had for years .
I can understand why he's a bit pissed off with poor sales.
And I think the lack of radio play have had a hand in this.
however, I dont think You Can Dance was the best choice of first single.