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The Blitz was common currency, Ireland was at War (Bloody Sunday, Jan 1972), the Miners were cutting off the lights, and it was all a bit cold and drab across the sceptered isle. Three channels (BBC 1, BBC 2, and ITV) held a captive audience of 17-20M UK viewers culled from a population of 56M. It was all in the air, of course: Monty Python was launched on staid BBC 2, and only co-opted in later years by BBC 1 and Hollywood. The problem with the track is also echoed in the lyric: the ironic stance trips over itself, meta-awareness in spades from a group of art students hip to the Velvet Underground and John Cage. The track starts with an eerie synth drone, early “ madcap technophile” Eno at the helm, before crashing into Bryan Ferry’s hysterical shrill: ‘The Bob (Medley)’ is as arty, funny, indulgent, worthy in subject matter and approach, but has not aged well, much like early Pink Floyd epics Ummagumma (patchy) and Atom Heart Mother (wretched). At the time we said this was ’50s, ’60s, ’70s and’80s rock’n’roll! We had everything in there from King Curtis to The Velvet Underground to systems music to ’50s rock ‘n’ roll. We’d start off with ‘Memphis Soul’ Stew, and then we’d go into ‘The Bob (Medley)’, this heavy bizarre thing about the Battle Of Britain with synths and sirens. The music was exciting art-collage for the cognoscenti: The Peel version recorded nine months later demonstrates a tighter approach, highlighting the increasing musical confidence of the band.
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The Bob’s heritage is marked by its inclusion as part of the early John Peel BBC sessions, first recorded in January 1972, in which the track opens with the sound of air raid sirens and Eno’s sinister pulsing VCS3. Working hard to get the band a record contract – “ Make me a deal and make it straight” (‘ Virginia Plain‘) – Ferry’s attention to detail was exemplary (“I was quite obsessive”) as he composed the songs, compiled the tapes, ensured the artwork was striking and new, and worked the phones to get the songs in front of the right people – all this a mere four months before Roxy had played their first gig. Promotional sticker for the original Roxy Music demo tape// Malcolm Bird So I played the tape, and thought it was pretty extraordinary. But there is a note in my diary for March 1971 which states, “Brian coming in to drop off tape ” – and that was Bryan. People didn’t normally send out tapes out of the blue in those days…To this day I don’t know how Bryan found my home address. A year after The Bob was recorded, the band mothballed the track and never performed it again.įor all its shortcomings, The Bob did mark an important plot point for the early Roxy line-up as it was one of the songs recorded for the demo tape sent to the talented Melody Maker writer Richard Williams in 1971: This one is strained though, and for the first (thankfully rare) time on a Roxy Music album, the lyrics are trite and forgettable – perhaps intentionally so.
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Of its time, ‘ The Bob’ is another first album punning titles (The Battle of Britain) and the song delivers yet another dramatic vocal performance from composer and singer Bryan Ferry. War is hell, and The Bob (Medley) isn’t much better.