Review Summary: This is an amazing live album. A great introduction to their music.
“Viva!” is the debut live album of Roxy Music and was released in 1976. The line up on the album is Brian Ferry, Andrew MacKay, Phil Manzanera, Edwin Jobson, John Wetton and Paul Thompson. The album has also the participation of John Gustafson, Rick Wills and Sal Maida as guest musicians. The backing vocals are supported by The Sirens.
Roxy Music is a very special band. Their career can be divided into several phases. The first phase includes their first two studio albums, “Roxy Music” and “For Your Pleasure”. This is the experimental period of the band and it’s the most interesting period for prog fans that corresponds to the time where Brian Eno was in the band. The second phase includes the third, fourth and fifth studio albums “Stranded”, “Country Live” and “Siren”. This is a less experimental period turned more to art rock. The third phase includes the sixth, seventh and eighth studio albums “Manifesto”, “Flesh + Blood” and “Avalon”. This is a more commercial phase much more turned to the pop and disco rhythms.
After the concert tours in support of their fifth studio album “Siren” in 1976, Roxy Music disbanded. As Roxy Music took an extended hiatus, their first live album “Viva!” was only released in 1976. It has some of the material recorded on the live tours of 1973, 1974 and 1975. The recordings were taken from the band’s shows at the Apollo in Glasgow in November 1973, City Hall at Newcastle in November 1974 and at Wembley Arena in October 1975. “Viva! Roxy Music” is a powerful live document of Roxy Music at the peak of their power, featuring a choice of some of their best tracks.
“Viva!” has eight tracks. “Chance Meeting” and “If There Is Something” are from “Roxy Music”. “The Bogus Man”, “In Every Dream Home A Heartache” and “Do The Strand” are from “For Your Pleasure”. “Out Of The Blue” is from “Country Live”. “Both Ends Burning” is from “Siren”. “Pyjamarama” is a song originally released as a single in 1973, to promote their album “For Your Pleasure”. In reality, it wasn’t released on that album because it was excluded from it.
About the tracks, “Chance Meeting” is one of the most original, avant-garde and experimental songs of the band. “If There Is Something” is a song with two distinct parts, starting as a calm song but that gradually becomes more intense. “The Bogus Man” is one of the most original, experimental, adventurous and artistic songs of Roxy Music. “In Every Dream Home A Heartache” is a dark and melancholic song with two distinctive parts, one dominated by vocals and the other by the instruments. “Do The Strand” is an excellent song plenty of energy and with a fantastic vocal work by Ferry. “For Your Pleasure”, is a magnum opus, a very weird and dark song with many strange sound effects. “Out Of The Blue” is a great rock song with plenty of energy with great vocals, good piano, great synthesizer effects, a fantastic violin solo and an amazing guitar work. “Both Ends Burning” is a classic Roxy Music’s song with a fantastic and incredible performance. “Pyjamarama” isn’t a great song, for me. No wonder that it was left behind as a leftover song.
At the end of their progressive phase, Roxy Music presented this live album. The recordings were made with different casts. But, the main difference is in the position of the bass player, which has no stylistic effects and therefore makes the album appears as one. As I mentioned before, the song selection is focused almost entirely on the experimental side of the band. Five of the nine songs come from the first two Roxy Music’s albums, on which Brian Eno provided the electronics. In addition, there’s only one from “Country Life” and another from “Siren”. Finally, with “Pajamarama” there is a piece that was only released as a single at the time of Roxy Music’s debut album. Unfortunately, there’s no recording in which Eno was still involved, but Eddie Jobson is a worthy successor and sets his own accents with his virtuoso violin playing. So, “Viva!” offers a good overview of the early phase of the band, the concentration on the material from the first two albums is excellent, for me. The sound quality is also ok. If you only knew Roxy Music as a supplier of smooth ironed pop dozen goods, you probably won’t believe this is an amazing good live prog album, really.
Conclusion: The repertoire, the performance of the musicians and the performance of the songs are great. Brian Ferry is excellent as always. Andy MacKay and Phil Manzanera are fantastic proving to be the real right arm of the band. John Wetton and Paul Thompson are the wonderful support of the band. Finally, Edwin Jobson has his best performance on this album. On the studio albums he has a modest role but on the live shows he is simply fantastic, indeed. The live performances of the songs are all fantastic, even “Pyjamarama” that I never liked too much. But there are some of them that deserve special emphasis. “Both Ends Burning” is absolutely great and is one of the songs most performed live by the band and especially “If There Is Something” which has a live performance fantastic and unforgettable. “Viva!” is a great live album and one of the best albums released by the band. For some people this is their best musical work too.
Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)
