The best music will always sound ahead of its time. Then and now, Such is the case with the best music. I'm thinking now particularly of Bowie and Roxy. But actually the same applies to any number of bands, artists and records and indeed books and films which came out in the Seventies. Glam, Folk, Soul, Funk, Reggae, where Ska went next. Krautrock, New York Punk, London Punk, the places where both headed off to. Disco, New Wave, Post Punk from there. Into the Eighties. Onwards until today. That was the decade that I grew up in.
We constantly hark back to the Sixties as a culture to idealise. I'm not quite sure why. Perhaps with an idea that it was some utopian dawn. Man got to the moon. To this day, some don't believe it. But to say it was a Golden Age would be an astonishingly naive conclusion to draw.. Look at the violence of the Sixties,. The assassinations. The widespread murder. The injustice. It's always the way actually. This is the world we live in. Take solace in the culture. The Music. The Books. The Films. But try to learn from them. Don't just put them on your shelves and walls. That's decoration. Not appreciation.
Great Culture generally comes from the Left. Advocating Change and Freedom. The Right is not a good place to look to for great culture.Look at Hitler's paintings. The Right doesn't trust Culture. Never mind produce it or appreciate it. .Galleries are something to loot for personal profit. Books are things to burn. Ideas are things to denigrate. Artists are people to persecute 'Federico Lorca's dead and gone.' So for that matter are Shostakovich. Berthold Brecht. Thomas Mann. Authoritarians of any stripe try to appropriate culture for personal gain and profit.. If you ask David Cameron which music he likes he will reach for an Ian McEwan paperback because someone's advised him to. A Smiths record. But he doesn't understand either. All that man understands is his bank account. Meanhwile look at his legacy..
The Seventies is the place where the Sixties got really interesting. And going. The realisation set in that we'd never get back to the garden. So where to to go next. Roxy Music and David Bowie had any number of ideas. And they both set off with the same instinct as to where their ultimate destination should be. The stars. I started Sunday Morning thinking about a Polling Day taking place in Germany. Millions of people going to vote. Many of them with a sense of dread. This is not a period of great hope let's face it. Though it's important not to forget. It's great to be alive. With life comes responsibility.
Many of the people going out to vote are my students. Clients. I really like them..I actually begin to think of them as friends. Though I know first and foremost that I need to help them. To do what they want to do better.The last thing they need to fret about is their English on top of everything else.
I will meet them online during the coming week. Meanwhile I've been thinking about the Weimar Republic. Listening to Roxy Music. Greatest Hits. Always a good place to start with any band. Ask Alan Partridge. When asked for his favourite Beatles album he always responded Best Of the Beatles. Qute right Alan ! Quite right !
A lot of the people I talk to these days says they can't face watching the news. That they're seeking solace elsewhere. But there's no escaping the news. Just watch it accumulate over the coming year.There'll be no stopping it..There's no escaping change. I'd say it's best to embrace it. To challenge it if necessary. Not to hide from it. This is our basic responsibilty as human beings. To learn from the past and think about how best to face the Present. Do our bit to change the Future. You could do worse than listening to Roxy Music. Now there was a band that knew how to live in the present and not to stand still. To head into the unknown. Some take a pop at Bryan Ferry. They shouldn't. He led this great band. Sensationally.
Start with Virginia Plain. A song without a chorus. That wasn't on an album. Until it was appended on one as an afterthought. What more could you ask from a single. Or for that matter a Top of the Pops appearance. Eno left after a couple of years to chase and realise his own destiny. Roxy meanwhile didn't pause..Listening to this abum you couldm't really tell which tracks had Eno on and which didn't. Unless you're a musician. Or a pedant. What does it matter. Every song on here is extraordinary
Roxy have toured. Fairly recently. But I'm not interested in seeing them. The records are more than enough. A permanent statement.. Of cool. Of style. Of grace. Ambition. Achievement. You couldn't ask for anything more. Of artists. How much does this record warrant? Fourteen out of ten.
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