|
 New
Roxy DVD details and
reviews 
You can now buy the new Roxy Music DVD, 'Thrill of it
all' a visual history of Roxy Music, signed by Phil by
following the links on this page.
To buy The Thrill of It All
DVD, signed by Phil, please click on the links below. The prices
shown all include postage and packing.
Please select the correct
shipping rate from the drop down menu. Selecting the wrong
shipping costs will lead to delays in posting your
DVD.
PLEASE NOTE: the DVD is
available in PAL format ONLY. This format may not be compatible
with DVD players and TVs in certain parts of the world, e.g. the
United States and Canada. Please check that your DVD player and
TV can play PAL DVDs before purchase as we cannot accept returns should the DVD
prove unplayable on your DVD and TV set
up.
To buy other signed
CDs and DVDs by Phil and Roxy Music please go HERE
The The Thrill of It All DVD has
received outstanding reviews. Go here to read the
first of them from Uncut and Q as well as interviews with Record
Collector and The Sun.
The
DVD is in PAL FORMAT (i.e. not suitable for all DVDs and TVs
ESPECIALLY in North America), and runs for 119 minutes.
The
track listing is:
Disc 1 1972-1976
1. Re-make/Re-model The Royal College Of Art, London 1972
2. Ladytron The Old Grey Whistle Test, BBC Television 1972
3. Virginia Plain Top Of The Pops, BBC Television 1972
4. For Your Pleasure Full House, BBC Television 1972
5. Do The Strand The Old Grey Whistle Test, BBC Television
1973
6. In Every Dream Home A Heartache The Old Grey Whistle Test, BBC
Television 1973
7. Editions Of You The Golden Rose Festival, Montreux 1973
8. Pyjamarama Musikladen, German Television 1974
9. Amazona Musikladen, German Television 1974
10. Psalm Musikladen, German Television 1974
11. All I Want Is You Top Of The Pops, BBC Television 1974
12. Love Is The Drug Supersonic, London Weekend Television
1975
13. Both Ends Burning The Empire Pool, Wembley, London 1975
14. The Thrill Of It All Konserthaus, Stockholm, Sweden 1976
15. Mother Of Pearl Konserthaus, Stockholm, Sweden 1976
16. Nightingale Konserthaus, Stockholm, Sweden 1976
17. Out Of The Blue Konserthaus, Stockholm, Sweden 1976
18.
Street Life Konserthaus, Stockholm, Sweden 1976
Disc 2
1979-1982
1. Dance Away ABBA In Switzerland, BBC Television 1979
2. Manifesto Manchester Apollo, England 1979
3. A Song For Europe Manchester Apollo, England 1979
4. Still Falls The Rain Manchester Apollo, England 1979
5. Ain't That So Manchester Apollo, England 1979
6. Angel Eyes Promotional Video 1979
7. Trash Promotional Video 1979
8. Over You Top Of The Pops, BBC Television 1980
9. Oh Yeah! (On The Radio) Top Of The Pops, BBC Television
1980
10. Same Old Scene Promotional Video 1980
11. Rain, Rain, Rain Rockpop In Concert, German Television
1980
12. Flesh And Blood Rockpop In Concert, German Television
1980
13. Jealous Guy Promotional Video 1981
14. The Main Thing Frejus, France 1982
15. While My Heart Is Still Beating Frejus, France 1982
16. Avalon Frejus, France 1982
17. My Only Love Frejus, France 1982
18. More Than This Promotional Video 1982
Bonus Tracks:
1. The Main Thing Promotional Video 1982
2. Avalon Promotional Video 1982
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Phil recording new instrumental album
Phil is the process of recording a new
instrumental album to be called 'Firebird VII'. The
release of the album will concide with the production of a new
range of Gibson Firebird guitars 'inspired by Phil
Manzanera'. The new album will consist
of seven pieces amongst which are ones written by Phil and one
each by old Quiet Sun alumni Charles Hayward and Bill MacCormick
which were written towards the end of the band's life in
1971. Phil is accompanied on the album by
Charles Hayward (drums, percussion and assorted noises off),
Yaron Stavi (bass) and Leszek Mozdzer
(keyboards).
Charles
Hayward is one of the leading experimental, jazz and rock
drummers in the country. You can read more about his
extraordinary career as well as hear samples of his music at
his web site . Charles, Phil and Bill all attended Dulwich College
in the 60s and played in various school bands before forming
Quiet Sun when they left. Charles went on to form 'This
Heat' which recorded widely and has since been a regular
performer around the world playing solo concerts as well as
working with people like Fred Frith, Lol Coxhill, Hugh Hopper,
Bill Laswell and a host of the best names in British and European
music.
Yaron Stavi
is a classicaly trained Israeli musician who has been playing in
the jazz and rock field in Israel, Europe and the UK for the past
fifteen years. In 2003 Yaron played on Robert Wyatt's album
'Cuckooland' and has since been a regular at Phil's
studio, playing on his albums 6PM, Vozero and 50 Minutes Later.
He has also worked with Brian Eno, Chrissie Hynde and others and
in early 2005 he pla7ed on David Gilmour’s newest album.
For more visit Yaron's web site .
Leszek
Mozdzer is probably the best known jazz piano player to come out
of Poland and has played internationally with some of the best
musicians around. Classically trained he has recorded extensively
since 1992 and his albums are the largest selling jazz CDs in his
home country. Pat Metheny, David Gilmour, Behemoth and Lester
Bowie are just some of the people Leszek has worked with in
recent years. He appears regularly at the leading jazz festivals
around Europe and recently performed in London fitting his
recording of Phil's album around his scheduled appearance.
You visist Leszek's web site here.
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801 Live double CD nears
completion
Work on a new release of the classis 801
Live CD is nearing completion, thirty years after the original
concert took place. The existing album has had some minor tweaks
(e.g. the proper ending to 'Third Uncle' has been
reinstated) but, in addition, a second CD containing the
band's last rehearsal on one of the sound stages at
Shepperton Film Studios has been edited and enhanced and will be
made available for the first tome since Bill recorded it on a
cassette player. Work is currently ongoing on the artwork for the
CD and we are in discussion with Virgin/EMI about its release.
Expect it early in 2007.
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Hear sample of Phil's new Latin
project
Phil has been working for some time now on a new Latin
project and you can hear a sample of the results at Phil's
special Corroncho page over at MySpace. To hear the track
'Lowrider' go HERE.
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Roxy
Music statement about Malmaison
Roxy Music would like to state
categorically that they have not made a deal with the Malmasion
Hotel Group as stated in The Times on 24.7.06, nor do they have
any plans to do so.
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Roxy back in the
studio
The band has spent a
productive couple of weeks in the studio recording some new
material, described by Phil as 'exciting, for a proposed new
Roxy Music album. More details when we get
them.
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Scotsman
interview (courtesy of Paula
Brown)
Remade/remodelled
AIDAN SMITH
The Scotsman
I'M DREADING the new Roxy Music album and
I'm thrilled about it. These are complex feelings and I'm
trying to convey them to Phil Manzanera, guitarist in Roxy, he of
the scary insect-like glasses, who has a solo record to promote
but is kindly indulging this fan - no, Roxy have aficionados -
and emerging as the first in the band to discuss the
reunion.
"We're full of trepidation, too," he says.
"We want it to be really good and we're aware that
recent records by the likes of Paul McCartney and the Rolling
Stones have not been well received. We're from the generation
behind them but the dilemma for us is the same: rock was supposed
to finish for you when you reached your 30s. If you don't die
before you get old, what are you supposed to do?
I'm 54 now and I've just been helping out
on Dave Gilmour's new album, which will be the 43rd of my
career. The 44th should be another Roxy one. I say
'should' because we'll only release it if we're
happy with it. We've already recorded nine songs and I'm
very excited about them. There were two more obvious routes open
to us: re-hash or just give up. But we're intrigued by what
artists of 30 years' standing who were once called
avant-garde might still have to say. There has to be that risk,
that element of danger, if you're going to produce good work,
and Roxy have always had a very complicated
dynamic."
He can say
that again. There was Manzanera in those bug specs. Andy Mackay
wore breeks of a dimpled Dalek design. Eno (the Brian was added
later) favoured feather-boas. Paul Thompson (his name was soon
prefaced with "The Great..." by the NME) sported
tiger-skin. And of course Bryan Ferry (Brain Fury, Byron Ferrari
... the music mag's nicknames were endless) married fashion
with rock like none before or since. No
other band looked like Roxy. Crediting your stylists ("Hair
by Smile") was unheard of in 1972, a very denim and
cheesecloth year, and was tantamount to an admission of
homosexuality. And the best way of checking that you weren't
gay was to lay on your bedroom floor and study the Roxy
cover-girls for a whole afternoon. Other groups didn't sound like them
either. When you turned Amanda and Kari-Ann over, the early
albums' gatefold sleeves revealed that Mackay not only played
saxophone but oboe, while Eno was "synthesiser and
tapes". How on earth did you "play" tapes? No
matter. It was, as Ferry warbled in 'Do The Strand', a
new sensation, a fabulous creation.
The timing of
the reunion is impeccable. Pop-culture pundits acclaim Roxy as
the most influential British band since The Beatles. One of them,
Michael Bracewell, is writing a book celebrating a whole movement
and calling it Roxyism. These days Roxy get more namechecks than
they used to give hairdressers, and from no one more than Franz
Ferdinand. Manzanera's three children love FF and he's
impressed.
"I like
their style. I don't think they sound especially like Roxy
but the link is there in the things they say, their approach,
their attitude. We were an art band influenced by the Velvets and
Franz Ferdinand seem to have that baton now.
"They're drawing
from a wide backdrop of art, the guitarist [Nick McCarthy] has a
pop sensibility - we were similarly unsnooty - and Alex's
[Kapranos] lyrics really stand out. His take on things is similar
to that of a young Bryan Ferry. They've invited me to their
London show this month."
MANZANERA HAS
vivid memories of the first time he encountered the trainee
lounge lizard. "I had a different trajectory to Bryan and
the rest of Roxy. I was younger, they'd all been to
university. They had bank accounts and cars - I was impressed by
that - and they seemed like special people.
A scene was already building.
Young designers waiting to make their mark like Anthony Price
were friends of the band. Anthony made my glasses and now he
designs dresses for Camilla Parker-Bowles. Nick de Ville, our art
designer - we had one of them, too - is now professor of visual
art at Goldsmith's College, and Wendy Dagworthy went from
creating the wonderful, way-out costumes for the For Your
Pleasure cover to being head of fashion at the Royal College of
Art. So you see the Roxy family spreads far and
wide."
I'm
pleased to report that Manzanera still has those mad specs. He
recently loaned them and his entire For Your Pleasure rig out to
Jarvis Cocker because the ex-Pulp frontman had, along with
Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, won parts as rock musicians in
the new Harry Potter movie and they wanted to look outr.
The Roxy family has indeed scattered and it's
always been reckoned that Eno has drifted too far from the
possibility of a reunion. "I try never to repeat
anything," the sonic wizard told Scotland on Sunday earlier
this year. But
Manzanera remains optimistic that while Eno wanted no part of
Roxy's festivals tour in the summer, he can be lured back for
the album sessions.
"Eno was
never designed to be in a rock band but if there's something
creative going on.. He's given us some songs for the new album and we
hope that when we resume recording in the new year he'll come
into the studio and twiddle a few knobs. He's a very cool guy
and I understand his philosophy. But this is going to be
different."
A remade and
remodelled Roxy, hopefully. Manzanera got Eno - and Mackay and
Thompson - to play on his new solo record, 50 Minutes Later,
which includes a track called 'Technicolor UFO'
describing how it all began for him. Born in Cuba during the
revolution, he moved to London in time to bluff his way, under
age, into the UFO Club for Pink Floyd's Technicolor Dream, a
seminal Swinging Sixties moment. True to
his psychedelic influences, he prefers early Roxy - their sound
later became "too smooth" - and so was thrilled to get
the chance on the summer tour to perform the likes of 'The
Bogus Man' for the first time in 23 years and also
'Pyjamarama', the great, lost second Roxy single
they'd only ever played live once before.=20
"We can't be ground-breaking any more,
but we can hopefully still be interesting, still be Roxy
Music," he says. Go for it, you crazy dilettantes. You always looked
like the resident band at a cocktail bar on some far-off
space-station 200 years from now. Your best may be yet to
come.
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Two '50
Minutes' reviews (both courtesy of Paula Brown)
Richmond
Times-Dispatch
Nov 24, 2005
Phil Manzanera
"50 Minutes Later" Hannibal/Rykodisc
Roxy Music is remembered usually for the stylish
vocals of frontman Bryan Ferry, but the band's pioneering
influence rests just as firmly on the soaring contributions of
guitarist Phil Manzanera and so-called "nonmusician"
Brian Eno. Manzanera and Eno now have
released solo albums that show their musical brilliance to be
undiminished more than 30 years after Roxy's debut.
With "50 Minutes Later," Manzanera has
produced a truly thrilling record. It combines power pop and
savage guitar lines with Latin fluidity and intriguing lyrics.
Thematically, the recording completes an autobiographical trilogy
that began with "Vozero" in 1999 (repackaged and
rereleased this year) and continued with last year's "6
p.m." But "50 Minutes Later"
is more than a culmination of earlier work. In it, Manzanera
finds a lyrical voice he might not have had since his first solo
effort, "Diamond Head," in 1975. The record opens with
a pulsating, irresistible guitar anthem, "Revolution,"
and raises the stakes with "Technicolor UFO," a rocking
anthem to the London music scene he entered in the late 1960s as
a young guitarist from Latin America. Manzanera shifts moods and tempos with
ease, as he surveys the past and embraces mortality. His cast
includes longtime collaborator Robert Wyatt, Roxy drummer Paul
Thompson and horn man Andy MacKay, and Eno, whose poetic
sensibility pervades "Bible Black," a sonic gem in both
short and extended versions.
A+ Michael Martz
Ottawa Sun
Manzanera mixes it up By ANDREW CARVER
Phil Manzanera
50 Minutes Later
Before his stint in Roxy Music, Phil Manzanera was
a guitarist for '60s British psych rockers Pooh and the
Ostrich Feather (later Quiet Sun) and a habituee of the hippy
music scene surrounding such legendary venues as Middle
Earth. On his latest solo album, Manzanera
takes a trip to those heady days in the company of his fellow
Roxy Musician Brian Eno, and he's roped in the singular
British musician Robert Wyatt. Like those
heady days, there's talk of Revolution; and there are
references to contemporaries like The Soft Machine (in which
Wyatt was an early member), Syd Barrett and Captain Beefheart in
Technicolour UFO. Musically, Manzanera
continues to draw on a number of stylistic influences, including
his work in Roxy Music and his South American
childhood. Sci-fi guitar tones and a hearty crunch are the
trademarks of his electric sound on 50 Minutes Later, while on
the more laid-back That's All I Know he goes with a gently
trickling acoustic and Desparecido has some jazzy accordion to
supplement its Spanish rhythms.
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top
Essential Guide
review
Essential Guide
Nottingham
28 October - 3 November 2005 Phil Manzanera
50 Minutes Later
4 stars
Ruefully melodic one moment, edgily arty the next,
Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera's new record could be his
best yet. Built around essentially the same team as last
year's attractive 6PM, Manzanera's seventh solo album
begins with two blasts of psychedelic nostalgia in Revolution and
Technicolor UFO, aggressively tuneful tracks bolstered by steely
bursts of tasteful solo guitar. The real dark heart of the set,
however, is the two tracks cooked up with old buddies Brian Eno
and Robert Wyatt. 50 Minutos Mas Tardes opens with sound effects
and spoken voices (one of them supplied by actress Gina Bellman)
before blossoming into the splendor of Wyatt's evocative
trumpet solo. Even better is the atmospheric and almost
disturbing Bible Black - the second, lengthier,
"Enotonick" mix owing a great deal to Eno's studio
processing. The prospect of Roxy's upcoming studio reunion no
longer seems quite so daunting. Out
now. SH
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top
Uncut review
Uncut
December 2005 Phil Manzanera
50 Minutes Later
2 stars
6PM follow-up from Roxy guitarist
Kicking off with a brace of Swinging London
flashbacks that namecheck UFO and IT, this at times recalls
George Harrison's Beatlesesque Cloud Nine in its determined
nostalgia. Far more interesting are collaborations with one of
that scene's key figures, Wyatt, and old mucker Eno. "50
Minutes Mas Tarde", especially, combines oxygen-mask breath,
jazz piano and Wyatt's fragile cornet and voice to open-ended
effect. Like the tango noir "Desaparecido", it also
invokes Manzanera's Latin American past. The undefined
experiments and flat-footed rock-outs don't really cohere; a
task for the reactivated Roxy, you'd like to
think. Nick
Hasted
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BBC review
50 Minutes Later
(Hannibal)
Phil's wry sleevenotes disingenuously refer to
his artistic freedom as being due to 'never being in
fashion'. This from the guitarist of art rock's hippest
band of 1973? Let's face it, he was always the coolest Roxy
member after Eno, and 50 Minutes - made, in part, with Brian,
Paul Thompson and Robert Wyatt - shows us how he's retained
such status for 30 years. Manzanera's
voice may not be too distinctive (except where he does a great
Wyatt impersonation on ''Desparecido''!), yet
this is a satisfying album compared with its lumpen predecessor,
6PM. His guitar playing was always the right side of avant garde
and here it shines amidst arrangements that bounce between
psychedelic rock and Argentinian ambience. It's on the latter that he really hits the spot:
''50 Minutes Mas Tarde'' could be from an early
solo Wyatt album. Meanwhile, the 10-minute remix,
''Enotonik Bible Black'', is a stunningly
disquieting confluence of electronica and free jazz. Let's
hope there's more on the way... Reviewer: Chris
Jones
You can here sample of the two
tracks from 50 Minutes Later on the BBC's web
site: Desaparecido Enotonik
Bible Black
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top
Q review
Phil Manzanera
50 Minutes Later
Hannibal
3/5
Roxy Music guitarist goes on disjointed
adventure. The follow-up to Manzanera's
2004 concept album, 6PM, which took a psychedelic trip back to
the '60s London of his youth, 50 Minutes Later widens the
remit to include South America and, er, outer space. Undoubtedly
the work of a man with too much time on his hands, there remain
sublime moments. The tango tracks are thick with atmosphere and,
with Brian Eno on hand to stretch the imagination, Bible Black is
as close to intergalactic travel as most are likely to get.
Sadly, intermittent rock posturing and sing-alongs bring it all
crashing back to earth. Dan Gennoe
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Record
Collector
review
Record Collector
December 2005 Phil Manzanera
50 Minutes Later
4 Stars
Hannibal
Thoughtful and considered solo album from Roxy
guitarist Manzanera describes his
latest work as a companion piece to 6PM, last year's wistful survey of
swinging psychedelic London, and indeed it inhabits at least some of the
same territory. Witness his swirling, hazy, observational stroll through
the 60s Covent Garden of The Middle Earth and UFO Club, Captain Beefheart,
Soft Machine and The 14 Hour Technicolour Dream on Technicolour
UFO. Elsewhere, he's mixing his
dual musical culturalism (English father, Colombian mother) to great
effect - a gentle collusion of Latin American strings and horns with
treated Pink Floydish space-rock keyboards. Particular highlights are his
composing collaboration with Brian Eno and Robert Wyatt, 50 Minutos Mas
Tarde featuring Wyatt's haunting, melancholy, cornet and the up-tempo,
graceful satisfaction of Swimming. Overall, the purveying sense is of an artist at ease,
producing a grown-up body of work with long-time collaborators (Roxy
Music's Paul Thompson and Andy Mackay are also contributors) and feeling
wholly comfortable in his creative skin. Ian
Abrahams
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Classic
Rock interview
CLASSIC ROCK
November
2005 Phil Manzanera
Interview:
Paul Ging
Welcome Back… Roxy Music plank spanker returns with a new solo
record and news of an upcoming new Roxy album. For a decade from 1972 onwards, Phil Manzanera helped
produce some of the most innovative and influential British rock music
ever made. With Roxy Music - along with Andy Mackay, Paul Thompson, Brian
Eno and of course mainman Bryan Ferry - Manzanera's strengths as a
guitarist and writer helped the group to record a string of classic
albums. Roxy Music are now limbering up for
their first studio album in over 23 years, and Manzanera is maintaining a
productive schedule with the release of his latest solo album 50 Minutes
Later, a worthy follow-up to his 6PM. Three other current or past Roxy men
are featured on the album as is close friend and
singer/multi-instrumentalist Robert Wyatt.
What motivates you
these days?
I've always loved music. I had a
groovy mother who started teaching me guitar in Havana in 1959. Then you
can throw in that whole blend of 60s music that was the soundtrack to my
teenage period. Music's still the thing that motivates me.
Is that why your
playing reflects everything from Latin rhythms to, say, Pete
Townsend?
Absolutely. It's all in there. The
reason it's coming out now is because it was only five years ago that I
started singing songs myself. It's sort of like arrested development.
These things should've been written when I was 20.
On your new solo
album, the track Technicolor UFO seems to hark back to the famous UFO Club
where the young Pink Floyd played, and there's also material reminiscent
of latter-day Floyd. Were you particularly into them?
When I was 17 I met two people who'd just become pop
stars. One was Robert Wyatt, who'd joined Soft Machine, and the other was
David Gilmour. So I had that connection to the beginning of the British
underground scene. I've always loved early Pink Floyd, and also what they
did after David joined. It's not surprising that elements of that come out
in my music, along with The Beatles and the Stones, South American music,
Miles Davis, the Velvet Underground… It's all part of what inspires me.
It's all in there somewhere.
There are also touches of early Roxy.
That energy comes from me playing with [drummer] Paul
Thompson again. Roxy have played a lot in the last few years and we've
re-established that connection. You can hear it on Technicolor UFO, for
example. It's all about what was going on in London between '66 and '68.
Me and my friends picked up on all the latest things. It's my memories of
the time, set to an early Roxy beat, if you like.
As well as Paul
Thompson, Andy Mackay and Brian Eno play on your new album. Wasn't there
any way you could get Bryan Ferry on there as well?
Funnily enough, there is a track I've been writing
recently which Bryan plays bass on, which I don't think he's done on
record before. It sounds terrific. If we'd finished it in time and weren't
considering it for the Roxy album, it would've definitely been on my
album.
From what you've said, I'm guessing the return to
Roxy of Paul Thompson for the 2001 tour onwards was an important thing for
you?
The minute we struck up Virginia Plain
with him, the whole sound was there. Paul left during the latter part of
Roxy, but on all the early tracks it was really important, and having him
on later tracks live made them more Roxy.
What can we expect
from the new Roxy album?
I can't talk about it
in detail at the moment, but we've already recorded quite a lot of tracks
and we're going to be recording more, so there'll be a lot to choose from.
Obviously there'll be great expectation, and we don't want it to be
rubbish [laughs] *50 Minutes Later is out now on Hannibal
Records.
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MAIL ON
SUNDAY - 23 OCTOBER 2005
REVIEW - David Bennun
'MANZANERA PROVES
HE IS A ROXY STAR'
There are certain words and phrases guaranteed to
make any music enthusiasts heart sink like a torpedoed rowing boat -
Westlife, rock opera, whimsical, Halliwell. But few exert an effect quite
so dismal as 'Solo Project'. When a component of a celebrated combo takes
time out to air his ungratified artistic impulse it would be a foolish man
who bets against an ensuing work of torpid, excruciating, pig-awful
conceit. Roxy Music are different. The verve and imagination that light up
one of the most lustrous catalogues in pop have tended to carry over into
albums by individual members (and that's before you consider the discreet
force that is Brian Eno). Phil
Manzanera's 50 Minutes Later (Hannibal, out tomorrow) - recorded by a
line-up that includes Eno and amounts to a Bryan Ferry-less Roxy- is an
unusually adventurous and pleasurable exercise in pastiche. The first
thing you notice is how strongly it impersonates early Roxy, which of
course, it has every right to. Moreover, the album is themed as a tribute
to the milieu that spawned the band-the late Sixties London art-rock
scene. Again given the preening smugness that characterises many of the
era's veterans, the results could have been dreadful. But Manzanera
adroitly swerves self-congratulation to deliver a barnstorming brace of
opening numbers. Revolution is driven, delicious psyche-pop. Technicolor
UFO knowingly evokes Virginia Plain - a song it cannot hope to equal -
with winking good humour. Thereafter the album settles down into a
leisurely, expansive mood, serving both as a showcase for Manzanera's
atmospheric guitar playing and as a musical travelogue that eventually
roams off into parts not exactly unknown, but certainly seldom explored.
If there were any doubts as to Manzanera's role in creating the matchless
art-pop of Roxy Music, they'd be put to rest by this album.
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SUNDAY EXPRESS - 23 OCTOBER 2005
REVIEW - Martin
Townsend
50 Minutes
Later ****
Phil Manzanera
Shades of early Pink Floyd, the Beatles and even
Santana, as Roxy Music guitarist Manzanera side steps self-indulgence in
favour of accessible melodies and some Sixties-flavoured mischief on the
splendidly titled Technicolor UFO. Vibrant, life-affirming stuff.
Back to the top
The Independent
21 October
2005
Phil Manzanera
50
Minutes Later
Hannibal
50 Minutes Later
is, in effect, an extension of last year's 6PM, involving much the same
crew of musicians - including his fellow Roxys Paul Thompson and Andy
Mackay, with longtime cohorts / chums Robert Wyatt and Brian Eno - and
focusing on similar themes, notably an affection for the experimentalist
attitude and positive vibes of the early hippy era. This is most
explicitly covered in "Technicolor UFO," a jolly, psych-rock reminiscence
of happier times with "OZ and IT, Syd and Hoppy, Zappa at the ICA." The
openness of that time contrasts with the more recent pressures of life
confronted in "Revolution," where the waspish thread of lead guitar
stitched through the track underscores a conviction that "the wheel needs
to turn again… everything's at odds I need revolution." There is bucolic
musing upon the beneficial effect of the pastoral lifestyle, in
"Swimming," "That's All I Know" and "Bible Black." Elsewhere, there's a
loping tango about a mysteriously missing thief ("Desaparecido"), and a
more abstract piece utilizing found sounds of traffic cornet and vocal
("50 Minutes Mas Tarde").
Rating: 3/5
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top
The Sun
21 October 2005
Phil Manzanera
50 Minutes Later
Phil Manzanera is the guitarist who brought
some zip and sparkle to original art rockers Roxy Music.
Since the Seventies, he's also carved a quietly
impressive solo career. On many of his own adventures in sound, Roxy
bandmates come along for the ride. Drummer Paul Thompson, sax player
Andy Mackay and master of computerised noise Brian Eno all feature on 50
Minutes Later, the companion piece to last year's 6pm. From the rocking
blast of Revolution to the calm mood of That's All I Know, here is a man
"refusing to go quietly."
CS Rating: 3
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50 Minutes Later now on
sale
You can now buy Phil's new album '50 Minutes Later'
at the Expression Shop.
Sunday Mail article
Franz ready to Box
with their heroes
It would be a rock 'n' roll marriage made In Heaven -
a super-group starring Franz Ferdinand and their heroes, Roxy Music. I can
reveal Franz want to play with the legendary band, led by singer Bryan
Ferry and guitarist Phil Manzanera. And when I met Phil last week lie
claimed Roxy are well up for a collaboration. He said: "Alex Kapra-nos sent a message saying if
Roxy ever fancied playing with them to get in touch. I'd be thrilled to
have a jam with them. In the 70s, I felt Roxy were carrying on the music
tradition of The Velvet Underground. Now, Franz have grabbed the baton
from us. I don't think they sound like Roxy but there are lots of
similarities in the concept of the band. The guitar riffs and the lyrical
content of their songs is amazing. They also have a very strong look - in
the way Roxy did when we started out." On October 24, Phil releases his superb new solo
album, 50 Minutes Later, which features guest appear-ances by his Roxy
mates Andy Mackay, Paul Thompson and original keyboard player Brian Eno.
He told me: "It was good fun to play with Eno again. We did a three-hour
jam session and it sparked off ideas for several songs." In his spare time, Phil has been co-producing
a new solo album by Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd. He's also recording tracks
with Ferry for a new Roxy album - their first since Avalon in 1982. Phil
said: "It's exciting to do another Roxy album but we're very aware it's
got to be really good. "We've had a great time playing live and there's
absolutely no reason why we can't do some great recorded work
too." SUNDAY MAIL
9th OCTOBER
2005
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What's On
review
What's On In London
19
October 2005
Phil Manzanera
50 Minutes Later (Hannibal/Ryko)
Slowly but surely,
the Roxy Music guitarist has become the most prolific member of this most
stylish of British groups. Manzanera has always thrived on collaboration
and this companion piece to last year's 6PM sees him once again working
with friends Robert Wyatt, Brian Eno, Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson to
flesh out a fine sequence of songs and mood pieces. The wonderful
'Technicolor UFO' in particular evokes the heady days of London's
psychedelic scene of 1968 while '50 Minutos Mas Tarde' puts a South
American spin on Eno's ambient layers. Phil has his own studio and can
thus record when the fancy takes him or when friends are visiting or
working on their own projects. This makes for many inspired moments,
especially on the shimmering, ethereal 'Bible Black' which gathers all the
principals. Roxy should be back with a brand new album next year but, in
the meantime, this will do just fine. Pierre
Perrone
4/5 Stars
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Classic Rock review
Phil Manzanera
50
Minutes Later
(Hannibal)
A varied and
imaginative set from ex-Roxy man. A companion piece to last year's 6pm,
Manzanera's latest album takes in all sorts of sounds and styles with
confidence and flair. The dreamy wash of Till The End Of The Line, a song
of delicate and beautiful melody, contrasts vividly with the toe-tapping
rock'n'roll that is Technicolour UFO and the bouncy, Beatle-ish pop song
That's All I Know. Naturally with Brian Eno, Robert Wyatt and Manzanera's
Roxy Music buddies Paul Thompson and Andy MacKay on board, there are
ventures into soundscape and the avant-garde, most pleasingly with the
late-night, smoky atmosphere distinguishing 50 Minutos Mas Tarde.
Highlights are the punchy Swimming, with effective male/female vocals, and
Desparecido, which has moments of real uplift. MOJO
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Classic Rock review and article
There is an interview with Phil in the
new edition of Classic Rock. We will post it here as soon as someone get a
copy to us!
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top
Mojo review of '50 Minutes Later'
Phil Manzanera
***
50
Minutes Later
HANNIBAL
Follow-up to last year's 6pm, with help from Eno,
Paul Thompson, Robert Wyatt and Andy Mackay. It's one of the unwritten
rules of pop that (lead singers aside) members of big groups are destined
for comparatively modest solo careers. This is a pity, because Roxy Music
guitarist Phil Manzanera has crafted a rather fine solo album - varied,
melodic and lyrical. On the odd occasion Manzanera appears to drift into
the mainstream, for example on the late-night snooziness of the angsty One
Step. But the opening brace of Revolution and Technicolor UFO are pristine
slabs of catchy rock, while Desaparecido is a winning meld of anthemic pop
and Latin swing, and Bible Black an uncompromising, old-style Roxyesque
art-rock collage. With a new Roxy album in preparation, Manzanera's
songwriting on this evidence seems in fine fettle. David
Buckley
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'50 Minutes Later' Press Release 
PHIL
MANZANERA RELEASES '50 MINUTES LATER'
24 October
2005 Phil Manzanera, releases '50
Minutes Later,' his new album, on Hannibal Records on 24 October 2005, the
follow-up to last year's critically acclaimed 6pm. He is joined by his
Roxy band members Paul Thompson and Andy Mackay and Robert Wyatt and Brian
Eno 50 Minutes Later is brimful of Manzanera's febrile
musical and lyrical talent. He again surprises with his knack of painting
vivid pictures, spanning his rock and roll dream that takes place in
psychedelic London of '68 at the UFO club, Buenos Aires and out in the
stratosphere of space, embroidered within a musical context that is always
full of invention.
Manzanera's signature guitar virtuosity,
at times lyrical and at times explosive is much in evidence,
counterpointing his 'storytelling' vocal style: it is an album that is 50
minutes of music richly textured and often inspirational.
50 Minutes Later passes through musical and
geographic locations, times and dramatic mood changes from the haunting
Bible Black, to his quest for peace on That's All I Know, to hyper reality
in the 'happy 'snaps' on Swimming. The 10 minute Enotonik Bible Black
bonus track features sounds, courtesy of Manzanera, Eno Wyatt, Mackay
,Thompson, amongst others, that have probably never been heard this side
of a black hole! Manzanera: "6pm needed a companion so here it is ,it lasts 50
minutes and has pretty much the same people on it, fellow musical
conspirators, grown up men and women with nothing better to do than get
playful with music in a studio and in their front rooms! We are all part
of a new generation…rock kids that have grown up and continue to make
music, changing the boundaries as we all get older and refuse to go
quietly!"
Tracklisting:
1 REVOLUTION
2 TECHNICOLOR
UFO
3 THAT'S ALL I KNOW
4.
50 MINUTOS MAS TARDE
5. DESAPARECIDO
6. DUSZA
7. ONE STEP
8. SWIMMING
9. BIBLE BLACK
10. TILL THE END OF THE LINE
11. BONUS TRACK
ENOTONIK
BIBLE BLACK (MAINSTEAM VERSION)
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New album '50 Minutes Later'
Phil has just
finished his new album called '50 Minutes Later'. It will be released in
October on Expression/Hannibal.
Musicians involved:
Phil Manzanera Guitars Vocals Keyboards
Robert Wyatt perc keyboards vocals cornet
Brian Eno Chaos drums keyboards,Enotonik treatment
Claire Singers Vocals
Paul
Thompson Drums
Andy Mackay Soprano Saxophone
Jamie Johnson Bass
Yaron
Stavi Acoustic bass
Paddy Milner grand piano
Brendan Jury viola
Nigel
Simpson Grand piano
Romano Viazzani accordion
Andres Cajon
Lucho Brieva
Voice
Gina Bellman Voice
Mark McCarthy sound effects
Bill MacCormick production
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Vozero - new
edition released
Phil's album Vozero is being re-released with new
artwork and bonus track 'Tropical', sung in Spanish with Robert Wyatt on
drums and keybords and Yarron Stavi from the 'Gilah Atzmon and the Orient
Express' band on double bass. Reviews of the album should be appearing in
Mojo (July 4), Word (July 15), Classic Rock (July 21) and Record Collector
(July 20).
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Phil gets married - pix and report
Phil married his long time partner Claire Singers at
a ceremony in Leatherhead on Saturday, 7th May. Phil met Claire at the
Guitar Legends festival in Seville, organised by Phil, in 1991 and they
have been together now for ten years. So, it was about time she made an
honest man of him! Amongst the guests were Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and
his wife Polly, Robert Wyatt and his wife Alfie, Roxy's Paul Thompson and
Roxy producer Rhett Davies. Robert has been working with both David and
Phil at Phil's north London studio. Phil and Claire are now on honeymoon
in southern Spain and, on his return, Phil will start planning for the
Roxy concerts due to start in early June. To see pictures from the wedding and the reception
click on the thumbnails to see a bigger picture.
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Age of Enlightenment The Times T2
My greatest fear
is of being in a plane crash. I've been flying regularly since I went to
Havana with my parents in 1957. It was a Stratocruiser with giant
propellers, and I feel as if I've been through the whole history of
aviation over the years, but it hasn't become any less terrifying. I
remember sitting next to Bryan [Ferry] on a Roxy Music tour when our plane
was struck by lightning between Chicago and Washington. That taught me the
power of prayer.
I no longer worry about my
career. It took me years to get off the rollercoaster of competing as a
musician, always worrying about how much money f was making. Now I'm much
happier.
I regret that
I didn't have more time with my father. He died when I was 15 and I feel I
never got to know him. From my parents I learnt the values of travel and
cultural difference. We were always on the move - Cuba, Hawaii, Venezuela
- and this itinerant lifestyle not only taught me to cope but gave me an
early insight into how different people live. My father was very English,
my mother Colombian and that duality has informed my whole life. I took my
mother's name because it seemed a little more appropriate for a band
member than Targett-Adams. I hate any dictator, of course. But I grew up
in the midst of the Cuban Revolution, I experienced the shooting. the
murders under Batista. I formed my left-of-centre political views from
these experiences.
I
admire anyone who overcomes adversity without bitterness. My friend
Robert Wyatt fell out of a window in the 1970s. and has been in a
wheelchair ever since. But that hasn't stopped him making inspiring
music.
I cope with
disappointment by acknowledging it and moving on. I'm very much a
glass half-full person.
When I am annoyed I tell myself that is it's OK
to feel like that, that annoyance is often justified and there is no point
hiding it
My favourite
song is a Spanish one called Paloma. It was used in Almodovar's Talk
to Her. I played it for my mother in Havana when I was learning the guitar
and it has stayed with me throughout my life.
My favourite book is Gabriel Garcia Marquez's
autobiography Living to Tell the Tale. He went to school near where I
lived as a child in Baranquilla, Colombia. The worst thing about family
life is the selfishness of teenagers. I've seen it in my own and in
others'. There's no cure for it.
The unfinished business I have is Roxy Music. I
believe we can make a new album and I keep banging on to the other guys
about it, but I think I'm more optimistic than them. It took us 18 years
to get the last world tour together.
If I could change one law it would be Murphy's
Law, it doesn't fit with my positive outlook.
I relax by swimming. I learnt in the ocean around
Hawaii and I was quite good at school.
My most embarrassing moment, despite what I just
said, involves swimming. Having splashed around in oceans on the other
side of the world I suddenly found myself, aged 9, in a cold pool at an
English boarding school. I didn't know how to go under water without
holding my nose, so being forced to dive to the bottom in front of the
whole class, flailing with one arm, was deeply humiliating.
I'd like to be remembered
for my music. I hope that it might attain some kind of resonance.
My attitude towards death
is influenced by the loss of my father. I realised then that death is a
part of life, that you have to accept the inevitable. My mother died of
cancer ten years ago and there was a sense of relief then that it was all
over. You have to get on with things. The piece of advice I would pass on
is: always turn a negative into a positive.
Phil Manzanera's
new album is 6pm (Hannibal). Interview by Ed Whitworth Back to the top
Mojo and
Observer Music Monthly reviews
Mojo
Phil Manzanera 6pm
Ex-Roxy man's
affecting, if reserved, sixth solo album. Manzanera's thin, dreamy, Dave
Gilmouresque voice could define 'polite' in the OED. Gilmour himself is
featured on the album, along with Chrissie Hynde and Robert Wyatt, and a
trio of old Roxy Music chums, Mackay, Thompson and Eno. But in truth,
there's very little overlap between the Manzanera we get here and anything
issued under the Roxy banner. What we do get, though, are some excellently
played art rock songs, a tad muso at times, but never less than pleasingly
woozy. Wish You Well is a moving tribute to his friend, the late, great
music writer Ian MacDonald, while Sacred Days, like much else here,
infused with a trippy psy-chedelia. Best of all is Green Spikey [sic]
Cactus, a superbly catchy pop song, and just enough to keep the
long-suf-fering Roxy faithful happy. David Buckley
Observer Music
Monthly
PHIL MANZANERA:
6PM
(HANNIBAL RECORDS)
Robert Wyatt and Chrissie Hynde
join the Roxy Music trio of Brian Eno, Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson, and
it's all pretty cool; if only Bryan Ferry had played ballad.
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"One of the rock albums
of the year" - more reviews
Lancashire Evening
Post
6PM - PHIL
MANZANERA
Former Roxy Music guitarist Manzanera has conjured a
fascinating new solo album here, which effectively achieves the aim of
evoking the "world of sixties London psyechedelia" where Pink Floyd would
rub musical (and often physical) shoulders with Fairport Convention and
Jimi Hendrix. The Floyd influence is especially strong - at times this
sounds like a lost Syd Barrett era recording - but then it does help to
have David Gilmour guesting on a couple of tracks along with old mates
like Brian Eno. A massive mix of good songs, prog sounds and magnificent
music, this is one of the rock albums of the year.
Leicester Mercury
6PM - PHIL MANZANERA ***
The man who used to play those distinctive guitar
riffs for Roxy Music returns after some five years away, on this
psychedelic album which includes three of his Roxy mates and the likes of
Robert Wyatt and Chrissie Hynde. Despite the high average age of those
involved, this is a fresh and dynamic set, full of rich playing and
interesting lyricsm. Huntingson
and St Ives Evening News (yes, really) Phil Manzanera 6pm
- ALBUM OF THE WEEK
When rnusicians of former
glory release new albums, they invariably fall into the trap of either
rolling out the same tired old dad rock, or enlisting some hip young
tunesmiths in a cringeworthy attempt at. gaininq street cred. Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera avoids
both these pitalls on his latest epic-sounding release which features the
likes of Chrissie Hynde, Dave Gilmour and Brian Eno This is the diametric
opposite of garage rock; Manzanera is a studio animal and he carefully
crafts every part of his music, from the cloud level guitar sweeps to the
rusty sawblade harmonica and sax breaks, which glint off a distant highway
like the late afternoon sun. Wake
up Sting, this is how it should be done.
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Guardian Review
Phil
Manzanera 6PM (EXP) ****
Although the recent Roxy
Music: reunion never made it to the studio, various members continue to
work together. Following Bryan Ferry's 90s coupling with Brian Eno,
guitarist Manzanera's sixth solo album reunites Eno, saxophonist Andy
Mackay and drummer Paul Thompson. Manzanera has a curiously Syd
Barrett-like vocal and the occasional presence of Pink Floyd's David
Gilmour adds to a sense of Roxy colliding with Floyd plus 801, Eno and
Manzanera's short-lived but marvellous 70s supergroup. Even given the track records, the songs are
surprisingly strong, from the hazily psychedelic Broken Dreams or Love
Devotion, which sounds like Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon being blasted in
outer space. Mackay delivers trademark sax and oboe; Eno contributes
gadgetry and synth squiggles. But the album hurls in surprises, from
Always You's space-love ballad to Wish You Well, a touching tribute to
late rock writer Ian MacDonald. The chemistry here suggests that if Roxy
have considered making another album, they should grasp the nettle
now. (DS)
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Various reviews
Daily Record
Phil Manzanera 6pm
****
GUITARIST with Roxy
Music, Phil is accustomed to critical acclaim. But with this, his sixth
studio album, Phil must be on the brink of mass acceptance. Quite aside
from the fact that 6PM brings together music legends such as Chrissie
Hynde, Brian Eno David Gilmour and Robert Wyatt, this is a gloriously
textured album which is both inspirational and enjoyable.
Laden with melodic harmonies and great acoustics 6PM
has an epic appeal and there is a sense that every lyric and chord has
been created with tender loving care. Phil himself claims that his
inspiration comes from the Sixties and certainly that retro appeal is
present throughout. Standout moments include opening track Broken Dreams,
the spiritual Love Devotion and touching Wish You Well.
Birmingham Evening Post
PHIL MANZANERA 6pm
Roxy Music's guitarist has recruited bandmates Andy
Mackay, Paul Thompson and Brian Eno to join guests David Gilmour, Robert
Wyatt and Chrissie Hynde for his sixth solo alum of atmospheric soft rock.
And there's even a 15 minute, five-song concept segment to close
proceedings.
Evening
Standard
Phil Manzanera
6pm
(Hannibal)
HATS off to
Phil Manzanera, because he is a brave man. If there has been any other
album released in recent times which paid so little heed to any of the
zeitgeists zipping around the musical spheres, I have not heard it.
For this, the ex-Roxy Music guitarist has enrolled
three of his old band mates, including Brian Eno, plus a number of chums,
such as David Gilmour and Chrissie Hynde.
The
result is a record of epic moments stretched to infinity, with layers of
guitar and instrumental allsorts building in a confident yet aimless
vacuum. The world that the disc inhabits, apparently, is one of "Phil's
unconscious memories of psychedelic London".
The
latter part of the record is a five-song cycle called The Cissbury Ring,
which tends to confirm that diagnosis. The puzzle of this record's
existence definitely needs careful unlocking. Pete Clark
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to the top
Independent review
Phil Manzanera
6pm
EXPRESSION
By Andy
Gill
The
suicide of his close friend the rock journalist Ian MacDonald has inspired
the Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera to the most assured work of his
solo career in 6PM, an album that looks fondly back to the late-Sixties
ideals on which their friendship was built. Accordingly, the musical tone
of the album draws heavily on that era, with an early Pink Floyd feel to
tracks such as "Broken Dreams" and "Love Devotion", and old chums such as
Robert Wyatt and Dave Gilmour appearing on the closing, 15-minute
five-part suite "The Cissbury Ring". Eno's treatments, along with the
presence of the drummer Paul Thompson and the reedsman Andy Mackay, lend a
pronounced Roxy feel to parts of the album, too; the latter's plaintive
oboe on "Love Devotion" is particularly evocative. The stand-out tracks
are "Green Spikey Cactus", whose confident swagger and "come together
right now" chorus embody the optimism of the Sixties, and "Wish You Well",
Manzanera's send-off to MacDonald, in which 12-string guitar and harmonica
(by Chrissie Hynde) carry the fond epitaph: "You found a way to make
yourself be heard/ Seems like the time had come to leave The People's
World."
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Phil and his record collection
(SR Magazine)
Guitarist Phil Manzanera scored 10 number one albums
with Roxy Music during the Seventies and Eighties. He joined Bryan Ferry
and cc last year for Roxy's US tour and hints the band could soon be back
in the studio. Phil, 53, who is half Colombian, released his sixth solo
album, 6PM, this month, with a host of rock legends including Chrissie
Hynde, Dave Gilmour and Robert Wyatt. "I never look backwards," he says,
"but being a teenager in the Sixties was great - that's what my new album
is about." Phil, a father of three, was divorced three years ago
and now lives in a converted warehouse in a quiet north London mews with
his vinyl collection. Here's his top 10... '
1.ARMANDO MANZANERO
El
Grande Volume II (1958)
Manzanero is the most
famous writer of bolero which, in South America, is the equivalent of the
blues. In Mexico they get drunk on tequila and sit around complaining
their girlfriend left them to this music. In the Fifties and Sixties
growing up in Cuba and Venezuela this was the closest we had to pop. My
mother bought me a little guitar when I was a child and those are the type
of songs I first learned to play.
2. ELVIS PRESLEY
Golden Recordings (1958)
The
one bit of rock that had hit South America by this time was Elvis, and
this had all the classics. I can still remember this good-looking guy
wiggling his bum on TV - I could relate to that! Soppy English pop was too
tame, but Elvis cut it.
3.
WEST SIDE STORY
Movie Soundtrack (1961)
It's the story of a bunch of Puerto Ricans in New
York, combined with dancing and great written music by Bernstein - it's
the whole package. It was like rock 'n' roll for the theatre and, in the
absence then of what was to come later, it was totally cool. It's real
-life drama and the issues in it are still current.
4. THE BEATLES
Revolver
(1966)
I heard this stuff coming out of England on
the radio and it was so exciting I forced my parents to send me to a
boarding school in south London. I was obsessed with The Beatles and used
to go home to Venezuela wearing a Beatle wig and jacket - I looked
absolutely stupid. I once met John Lennon and Yoko at a hotel in Japan and
didn't know what to say, but I've met Paul many times down the years and
he's lovely.
5. THE SOFT
MACHINE
The Soft Machine (1968)
The first pop star I ever met was Robert Wyatt [of
Soft Machine] and the second was David Gilmour [of Pink Floyd]. When I was
17 they were my heroes so I went to all their early gigs and I've stayed
friends with them and they are both on my new album. It's lovely because
lasting friendships are what you should get into music for.
6. THE VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO
The Velvet Underground (1967)
This is the classic art-and-music combination. Lou
Reed, as a lyricist, is up there with Dylan. It was a very important album
for a lot of people, including Bryan Ferry. I worked with Nico, who was
delightful, and I produced John Cale's solo album when I was 24, which was
scary.
7. THE DOORS
The Doors
(1967)
The Doors came over and played at The
Roundhouse in London and it was so exciting to be there. The Doors had a
great frontman in Jim Morrison with his enormous voice and he looked
fantastic. When these people die young you don't see them get old and
manky Years later I jammed with Robby Krieger, the guitarist, so that was
like living out a fantasy.
8. FRANK ZAPPA AND THE MOTHERS OF
INVENTION
Hot Rats (1969) They also came over to
England and played a seminal gig, which I saw. Frank was very cheeky and
took the mick out of all sorts of things, and when he played at the Albert
Hall the establishment was completely outraged because he ran up and
played Louie Louie on the big organ. It was wonderful. He stood for
breaking all the rules.
9. BRIAN ENO
Taking Tiger Mountain (1974)
Even after Eno left Roxy Music I worked with Brian
for four or five years before he went off to work with David Bowie, then I
didn't see him again until the last 18 months. We've actually seen quite a
lot of each other lately. This is the first album I co-produced. It has
just been re-released and has had fantastic reviews.
10. 801 (Brian Eno, Bill MacCormick, Simon
Phillips, Lloyd Watson, Phil Manzanera, Francis Monkman)
Live! (1976)
We formed for
three gigs, and on the website (manzanera.com) this still sells most. It's
still the most prestigious thing I've been involved in, apart from some
Roxy albums. Bill MacCormick plays bass on my new album and runs the
website so it's still the same people hanging out, making music and
keeping it low key.
INTERVIEW BY MARIE KEATING
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What's On and Leicester Mercury
reviews
What's
On
Phil Manzanera 6PM
(Hannibal)
While Bryan Ferry is off playing
country houses, the Roxy Music guitarist is releasing his beautifully
sequenced sixth solo album recorded with the help of friends such as Brian
Eno. Manzanera has always excelled at drawing the best out of his
collaborators and the swaggering 'Green Spikey Cactus' features some mean
fuzz harmonica from Chrissie Hynde while 'Love Devotion' uses Andy
Mackay's oboe to create an elegiac mood. On this track and 'Wish You Well'
- a tribute to the late Ian MacDonald. the music journalist and friend of
Phil's who died last year - Manzanera's touching vocals recall Ray Davies.
Easily the equal of Robert Fripp and Mike Oldfield, the guitarist glides
all over the instrumental title track and 'Mantra'. then returns to the
theme of friendship and loss on 'The Cissbury Ring'. a pastoral suite
recorded with Robert Wyatt and David Gilmour which echoes the work of
Kevin Ayers and Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother. Quite a trip...
**** PIERRE PERRONE
Leicester Mercury
6PM - PHIL MANZANERA ***
Hannibal Records. Out on Monday
THE man who used to play those distinctive guitar
riffs for Roxy Music returns after some five years away, on this
psychedelic album which includes three of his Roxy mates and the likes of
Robert Wyatt and Chrissie Hynde. Despite the high average age of those
involved, this is afresh and dynamic set, full of rich playing and
interesting lyricsm
Back to the top
Time Out review
This from Time Out:
Phil Manzanera
'6PM' Hannibal When you have
contacts like former Roxy Music cohorts Brian Eno and Andy Mackay and
you're mates with Robert Wyatt and Chrissie Hynde your albums are as good
as your birthday parties. This is Manzanera's sixth solo album, and
although the first came out in 1975 (no rush here, then), this sounds
fresh, funky and positively youthful in its poppiness. A collaborator on Wyatt's own solo albums and an
artist still with strong links to South American music, Manzanera's style
is understandably eclectic, from the elegant piano and dou-ble bass-led
interlude 'Mantra' to the chunky melodies of 'Waiting For The Sun To
Shine'. Only on the title track do you feel this guitar legend lets rip in
(albeit modern) rock solo mode. Lyrically, the songs evoke his memories of
'60s London and psychedelic culture, but there is no sense that the
artist's music is living in the past. Even when the last five tracks come together as 'The
Cissbury Ring' - including Wyatt on trumpet, David Gilmour on guitar and
Manzanera's personable voice fronting the ensem-ble sound - the result is
creatively contempo-rary, with just the odd echo of the past. Not bad
considering most of the crew played on that first album 29 years
ago. Laura Lee Davies
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Times review of 6PM
From The Times, July 10th
The Roxy Music
guitarist's sixth solo album is probably as near as we'll get to a new
Roxy album, for although there's no Ferry, it features the saxophonist
Andy Mackay and the drummer Paul Thompson, as well as Brian Eno, a notable
absentee from Roxy Music's reunion tour. Manzanera's voice doesn't have
Ferry's power, but his songwriting is full of invention and 'Green Spikey
Cactus' and 'Waiting for the sun to shine' sound like great Roxy tracks.
There are nods to 1960s avant-gardism, reinforced by the presence of
Robert Wyatt and David Gilmour, who conducts an eloquent guitar
conversation with Manzanera on ' Sacred Days'. But best of all is 'Wish
you well', a tribute to the author and music critic Ian MacDonald, who
died last year. Manzanera's homage is as honest and heartfelt as a gift
from a great musician to a great writer could be. *** Nigel
Williamson
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Classic Rock's rave review of 6PM
Phil
Manzanera 6pm
(Expression)
In 1975, Roxy Music's innovative - and very
underrated - guitarist Phil Manzanera released his first solo album,
'Diamond Head', which critically usurped albums from his more glamorous
cohorts. Although five solo albums and 28 years come between 'Diamond
Head' and '6pm', the link between the two is profound. '6pm' is a dream in
a plastic case, a lovely drift back to late- 60s London where
multitudinous influences from Beefheart to Pink Floyd, Miles Davis to
author John Fowles, would bubble inside the young guitarist's mind.
Here they are again, reborn, fresh and
full of wit and zest. Aided by a stunning gathering of mates that include
Eno, Chrissie Hynde, Andy Mackay, Robert Wyatt and David Gilmour,
Manzanera delivers 13 songs brimming with surreal lyrical twists and
dipping, swirling folksy melodies that recall, among so much else, the
most inspired moments of Fairport Convention. Here is a world of beanbags,
cacti, Habitat furniture, tattered Camus paperbacks, the swirl of illicit
smoke, and Soft Machine crackling from the Dansette. '6pm' is playfully
evocative, blissfully serene and mature. ***** Mick
Middles
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6PM Word review
and Billboard piece 
Review of 6PM from next month's Word
magazine:
6pm exemplifies the
Roxy man's way with tasteful understatement.
But
more va-va-voom would be good
By Paul Du
Noyer
The
solo albums of Roxy Music's for-mer guitarist remind you what a vital
element of that band he was, but also that he is not one of rock's natural
born frontmen. True to form, 6PM cannot be faulted for its well
con-structed instrumental layers but it can struggle to command the centre
stage of your attentions. The
record was apparently prompted by Manzanera's memory of London's late '60s
psychedelic scene, and reunites with him some long standing friends of
that period including Dave Gilmour and Robert Wyatt, as well as the Roxy
alumni Brian Eno, Paul Thompson and Andy Mackay There is even a brave-ly
prog rock gesture in the form of a five song cycle, The Cissbury Ring,
hymning that prehistoric and Tolkienish Sussex site. But
the most effective moments are the simplest - specifically his openly
romantic songs Love Devotion and Always You. And the record's heart
rending triumph is a farewell to the late journalist Ian MacDonald, Wish
You Well that tenderly invokes its subject's spiritual leanings; the track
is augmented by MacDonald's brother Bill on bass and Chrissie Hynde on
backing vocals.
Nowhere is Manzanera more than a
diffident, politely English sort of singer, but the material at its best
is strong enough to carry some serious emotional freight. Roxy Music
showed how rock'n'roll irony might delight the mind, but in the end it's
always sincerity that touches the soul. From
Billboard: Eno, Roxy Members Have
Brief Reunion Four founders of
Roxy Music reunite on "6PM," the sixth solo album by the band's guitarist,
Phil Manzanera. He is joined by original keyboard player Brian Eno,
saxo-phonist Andy Mackay and drummer Paul Thompson. Eno was the sole
founding member who did not par-ticipate in Roxy's 2001 reunion
tour. With only frontman Bryan
Ferry absent, "6PM" is the closest thing to a new Roxy Music album fans
are likely to hear. It will be released July 19 in the United Kingdom on
Expression Records through Ryko/Hannibal. U.S. release plans are not
finalized. Guests include Pink Floyd guitarist David
Gilmour. The dozen songs include "Wish You Well," a tribute to music
writer/author Ian MacDonald, who committed suicide in August 2003. The
track features Chrissie Hynde on harmonica. "Everyone on [it] knew Ian,"
Manzanera says. "He gave Chrissie her first job on (British weekly music
magazine] NME in the mid-'70s, and I'd known him since we were at school
together in the early '60s. I even used some old lyrics he wrote."
NIGEL
WILLIAMSON
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Independent interview Read Phil's Independent interview here
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First reviews
and articles
These two pieces will appear in next month's
Uncut:
DISPATCHES
I Mac remembered
Former Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera has
recorded a song about Uncut contributor Ian MacDonald, author of the
acclaimed Beatles tome Revolution In The Head who died in August last
year, aged 54. The track, "Wish You Well", appears on Manzanera's sixth
solo album, 6pm, and features Chrissie Hynde on harmonica and backing
vocals as well as MacDonald's brother and former Matching Mole bassist
Bill MacCormick, playing the instrument for the first time in 25
years. "Everyone on the track
knew Ian, even the engineer," says Manzanera, who first met him at school
in the early '60s. They went on to play together with MacCormick in the
band Quiet Sun, while Hynde was given a job on NME by MacDonald when she
first arrived in Britain in the mid-70s. "When Ian died I was about to go
on holiday with my daughters," Manzanera says. "I took a guitar with me
and wrote the song. I tried to recapture the feel we used to get when we
first played together in Ian's parents' front room in the '60s, and even
used a few lyrics from his old songs." 6pm is out now on Expression Records.
REVIEW
Phil Manzanera 6PM EXPRESSION
***
Master guitarist with all-star guests
The sometime Roxy Music man's sixth solo album (hence
the title) is his first for five years, and the Roxy reunion has drawn in
Eno, Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson, not to mention David Gilmour, Chrissie
Hynde and Robert Wyatt-many of whom quested on his 1975 debut Diamond
Head. Recorded in his own west London studio, it has the feel of an
ambitious if occasionally unfocused collective effort. Manzanera claims
it's '60s-influenced, but it exudes a faint art-house aura, with his
detached vocals contrasted against the jagged pop of "Broken Dreams" and
"Green Spikey Cactus" (where Hynde's backing whoops are stellar). It
climaxes in a 15-minute concept piece, "The Cissbury Ring". Never less
than inventive. CHRIS
ROBERTS
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PHIL MANZANERA RELEASES 6PM - July 19th
New album
with David Gilmour, Robert Wyatt, Chrissie Hynde, Andy Mackay, Paul
Thompson and Brian Eno
 Phil
Manzanera releases 6PM, his new album, on 19 July on Hannibal Records. 6PM
follows on from the critically acclaimed Vozero, released in 1999, and
features many of Phil's close musician friends, notably the 'Roxy' trio of
Eno, Mackay and Thompson, with David Gilmour, Robert Wyatt and Chrissie
Hynde. The album features 12 original tracks written and sung by
Manzanera. 6PM was recorded at
Phil's new Gallery Studios in West London with musician friends passing
through to add their own magic to the album, except for the Eno-tonic
treatments which were done at Brian's studio, and Phil's guitar
conversation with David Gilmour, which took place at David's home studio
with him engineering.
Phil Manzanera,
Roxy Music's guitarist, said of 6PM: " 6PM is my sixth solo album with a direct link to my
first, 'Diamond Head' (1975). A lot of the same people play on it and the
inspiration seems to come from 60's London, specifically from 1967 onwards
when my South American adventures came to an end and London became my
world. My musical influences come from that period, the meeting of Robert
Wyatt and David Gilmour, when I was 17, informed my musical taste, as did
the influence from the Maccormick brothers. All my solo albums have been very personal
experiences, working with friends and sharing the joy and love of making
music together. 6PM embodies all the influences and reasons why I became a
musician and continue to be one." 
The world 6PM inhabits is that of Phil's
unconscious memories of psychedelic London. It's a world of dreams,
surreal cacti, Captain Beefheart, the early Soft Machine, Pink Floyd, the
'Christmas on Earth' event at Earls Court, Fairport Convention, Terry
Riley, John Fowles' 'French Lieutenant's Woman', Julie Christie in 'Far
From the Madding Crowd', Miles Davis, The Beatles with Sgt Pepper and the
Magical Mystery Tour. Lyrically the songs look backwards and forwards to
the present, they speak of loss, 'Broken Dreams', love found 'Love
Devotion', friendship 'Wish You Well', dedicated to the late Ian McDonald,
and much more. The music is beautifully layered and textured, at times
almost classical, featuring oboe, viola, double bass interwoven with
Manzanera's incomparably expressive guitar lines. Given the cast of world
famous players on 6PM, it is no surprise that the sonic landscape of 6PM
is rich, startling and unique.
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Phil's new album.... and other
stories
Things may have been quiet on the site for a few
months, but that's because Phil has been racking up the hours at Gallery
Studio working on, not one, not even two, but, in true Manzanera style,
THREE (count' em) new albums.
6PM - no prizes, but big
brownie points, for guessing the origins of the album title - an ingenious
name dreamed up by Alfie Benge (Robert Wyatt's better 'alf [geddit!] for
those not in the know). 6PM will be released in early July 2004. Phil has
written all twelve tracks and has had quite a few friends drop by adding
their talents to the album: Chrissie Hynde on vocals and harmonica, David
Gilmour, Robert Wyatt, Eno and Roxy's very own Andy McKay and The Great
Paul Thompson. Oh, and erm, your very own webmeister has dusted down the
bass and makes an appearance on 'Wish You Well'... reason enough to order
your copies now! Phil helms the
album, engineered by Jamie Johnson, taking on lead vocal duties (he's
getting quite good at this singing lark) as well as guitar and some
keyboards. The album is promising to be a great one, full of great music,
great playing and plenty of sonic surprises along the way. A few clips
from the recording sessions will be coming to a web site near you
soon!
Running in parallel is CORONCHO, the product of a musical collaboration
with Colombian artist (and next door neighbour) Lucho Brieva. Corroncho is
an album/live project started by Phil and Lucho in 2003. It emerged on one
track 'Complicada' whilst collaborating on a Spanish track for Chrissie
Hynde and proceeded via the track 'Lowrider' to a fully blown album and
concept, i.e. that of two Latino males, their trials and tribulations,
good and bad points, loves and hates, political correctness and
incorrectness but ultimately, their good humour, good heart and ability to
dance! So,
that makes two. Album Number Three has as yet not title and no release
date but, as Phil is nothing if not prolific, he found there were four
unused tracks left over from the 6PM sessions. And hey, then, whilst
clearing the fridge of some well-passed-its-use-by-date extra blue cheese
(that is now helping medical science cure diseases that haven't even been
invented yet) he discovered several little songs quietly lurking there.
Checking the wrapping he realised they had been there for years but,
heaven save us!, they were all in perfectly audible condition. So, he's
whipping up a nice little confection of new and old songs to be released
later this year as a compliment (or should that be condiment) to the main
dish of 6PM. How' bout dat!
We cannot go
on meeting like this... By complete
coincidence, Phil passed through Hong Kong at the same time as one Bryan
Ferry and his band arrived on the final leg of their Asia Pacific tour.
Phil was there to play a solo gig. But not just any old solo gig. Donning
a white tux and fronting a battery of computerised hardware, Manzanera was
transformed into a guitar-toting James Bond. Cocktail in one hand and Les
Paul in the other he was playing at the opening of a fabulous new building
designed by a mate. So, what do mates do? Why, they fly you half way round
the world so you can perform psychedelic versions of John Barry theme
tunes to a bunch of bemused socialites, who ended up shaken AND
stirred. Then, a couple of day's
later, our secret guitarist was to be found lurking in row G when Mr Ferry
announced that the co-composer of 'Out of the Blue' just so happened to be
in attendance and would the audience like to hear him play a few notes?
Step forward our gallant gaucho who proceeded to 'whip it out' on tracks,
some of which he'd never heard before let alone played (OK, I jest!). Our
heroes then retired for a few days of much needed R&R on some
sun-soaked beach in Thailand. As ever, it is a tough old life being a rock
and roll star.
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San Jacinto Festival report and photos
For a report on the Festival and some exclusive
behind the scenes photos go here.
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Uncut Interview
To read the complete Uncut interview with Bryan, Phil
and Andy go here.
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Roxy Music Live CD reviews
To read reviews of the new Roxy Music Live double CD
go here
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Phil plays live in London 
Phil played at the
Royal Festival Hall on Friday, May 2nd with Colombian band Aterciopelados. Phil writes: "The gig at the Royal Festival Hall went very well
and here is a pic taken backstage. The band went down very well and played
to an ecstatic audience of mainly Colombians who generally ran riot in the
normally sober hall! Most of the audience also managed to get backstage
and the fiesta continued. It was great fun!" Aterciopelados have been hailed by Time magazine as
"one of the ten best bands on planet Earth" their witty, trippy playful
gigs are a revelation. "The term Rock en Espanol does little justice to
the no-borders reach of the quintet's art-dance bounce or the Esperanto
magnetism of singer-guitarist Andre Echeverri, a tropical Nico with the
electric whoop of Bjork" (Rolling Stone). Phil produced their album LA
PIPA DE LA PAZ in 1996 which was nominated for a Grammy Award.
For more about the band go here
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Phil produced album charts in Spain
 Last summer Phil spent several
weeks in a studio north of Barcelona (poor bastard) and then again in
another studio in Ealing (lucky chap!) producing an album by Spanish band
Elefantes. The album has now charted in Spain. Reviews (below) and
prospects in Latin America and the USA look good.
ELEFANTES (Hispavox/EMI) Supported by a slew of veteran Spanish rockers,
Elefantes quickly established themselves as a band with a bright future.
On their debut, Azul, the quartet introduced their unique sound, nearly
achieving gold status in the process. For this year's La Forma de Mover
Tus Manos, they hooked up with ex-Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera, who
beefed up the production, adding a contemporary edge without sacrificing
their quirkiness. "Phil [Manzanera] understood the concept immediately,"
says EMI's artistic director, Diego Toran. "The marriage of the English
rock sound with distinctly Spanish and Arabic flourishes."Somewhat
surprisingly, the band has become a cult force in Latin America and the US
without having released a record to date. Through two tours opening for
Enrique Bunbury in 2001, and last years Vock en N, the band found an eager
audience in the US, Mexico, and Argentina. To capitalise, EMI will release
a compilation of the two albums later this year. Music and Media, 26th April 2003
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