Roxy Music Debut Album Getting Box Set Treatment

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The self-titled debut album by Roxy Music was released on June 16, 1972, when the band had fewer than 10 gigs to its name. Now, on Feb. 2, more than 45 years later, Virgin/UMe will release the 3-CD/DVD Roxy Music boxed set. The set begins with the demo tape that caught the attention of writer Richard Williams that ultimately led to the band’s deal with EG Management and then Island Records.

Pre-order Roxy Music 45th Anniversary Edition here. (Those in the U.K., pre-order here.)

Included are the John Peel BBC Sessions that saw the group honing its craft as it prepared to record its debut album. The second CD in the set captures Roxy’s working methods in the studio: Alternate session versions are offered for every album track, plus their first single, “Virginia Plain.”

The original album is presented in the 1999 Bob Ludwig master, while the remainder of the audio has been mastered by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road Studios.

The set’s DVD includes promos and BBC TV appearances, as well as rare footage of Roxy at the Bataclan Club in Paris in November 1972, the only surviving visual document of this lineup live onstage. To round off the audio/visual elements of the set, Steven Wilson has mixed the album into 5.1 DTS 96/24 and Dolby AC3 Sound.

Early Roxy Music

The boxed set also contains a 136-page book, featuring many rare and previously unpublished photographs and an essay by Williams, who first wrote about the group in Melody Maker in 1971.

Looking back on the album, singer Bryan Ferry reflected, “We never really felt accepted. I can see how the old guard would have felt threatened by it, because it was so jammed full of ideas and a massive amount of energy. But we hadn’t paid our dues, not in the same way. And we’re still not a part of it, not really, even to this day. That’s been very hard over the years, to try and make it work without being one of them. The ‘them’ is always different, but we’re not part of it. It’s been one of the triumphs, that we’ve managed to stay sane. Or sane-ish. We’re a part of it all, somehow, but still on the outside.”

Watch Roxy Music perform “Re-Make/Re-Model”

Roxy Music—The Debut Album 45th Anniversary (3-CD/DVD Super Deluxe Edition) Track List

DISC ONE: THE ALBUM
Re-Make/Re-Model (5.14)
Ladytron (4.28)
If There Is Something (6.34)
Virginia Plain (2.57)
2 HB (4.31)
The BOB (Medley) (5.49)
Chance Meeting (3.10)
Would You Believe? (4.03)
Sea Breezes (7.04)
Bitters End (2.08)

DISC TWO: DEMOS & OUTTAKES

EARLY DEMOS April/May 71
Ladytron (5.21)
2 HB (7.16)
Chance Meeting (4.22)
The BOB (Medley) (5.39)

ALBUM OUTTAKES
Instrumental (0.32)
Re-Make/Re-Model (8.13)
Ladytron (5.29)
If There Is Something (7.06)
2 HB (4.43)
The BOB (Medley) (6.20)
Chance Meeting (3.05)
Sea Breezes (2.38)
Bitters End (6.04)
Virginia Plain (3.33)

DISC THREE: THE BBC SESSIONS

THE PEEL SESSIONS 4/1/72
If There Is Something (6.38)
The BOB (Medley) (5.50)
Would You Believe? (3.48)
Sea Breezes (8.18)
Re-Make/Re-Model (4.58)

THE PEEL SESSIONS 25/5/72
2 HB (3.46)
Ladytron (6.14)
Chance Meeting (3.01)

THE PEEL SESSIONS 25/5/72
Virginia Plain (4.03)
If There Is Something (12.15)

BBC IN CONCERT 3/8/72
The BOB (Medley) (5.51)
Sea Breezes (7.13)
Virginia Plain (3.27)
Chance Meeting (5.31)
Re-Make/Re-Model (6.28)

DISC FOUR: DVD
The full album remixed in 5.1 by Steven Wilson

VIDEOS
Re-Make/Re-Model The Royal College Of Art, 6/6/72
Ladytron The Old Grey Whistle Test, 20/6/72
Virginia Plain Top Of The Pops, 24/8/72
Re-Make/Re-Model Full House, 25/11/72
Ladytron Full House, 25/11/72
Would You Believe French TV, Bataclan, Paris, 26/11/72
If There Is Something French TV, Bataclan, Paris, 26/11/72
Sea Breezes French TV, Bataclan, Paris, 26/11/72
Virginia Plain French TV, Bataclan, Paris, 26/11/72

Roxy Music—The Debut Album 45th Anniversary (2-CD/Digital Deluxe Edition Track List)

DISC TWO: THE BBC SESSIONS

THE PEEL SESSIONS 4/1/72
If There Is Something (6.38)
The BOB (Medley) (5.50)
Would You Believe? (3.48)
Sea Breezes (8.18)
Re-Make/Re-Model (4.58)

THE PEEL SESSIONS 25/5/72
2 HB (3.46)
Ladytron (6.14)
Chance Meeting (3.01)

THE PEEL SESSIONS 25/5/72
Virginia Plain (4.03)
If There Is Something (12.15)

BBC IN CONCERT 3/8/72
The BOB (Medley) (5.51)
Sea Breezes (7.13)
Virginia Plain (3.27)
Chance Meeting (5.31)
Re-Make/Re-Model (6.28)

ROXY MUSIC
180-GRAM VINYL LP

SIDE 1
Re-Make/Re-Model
Ladytron
If There Is Something
2 HB

SIDE 2
The BOB (Medley)
Chance Meeting
Would You Believe?
Sea Breezes
Bitters End

Watch Roxy Music perform “Virginia Plain” in 1972