Search - Roxy Music :: Reflection

Vintage Roxy video and audio

Wayne Klein | My Little Blue Window, USA | 01/19/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Recorded for various television appearences on Germany's television programs Musik Laden and German Beatclub, In Reflection is a combination CD/Cd-Rom with both the audio and video performances. The primary reason to own this is the rare footage of Eno performing with the band as well as the classic line up of featuring former Curved Air keyboardist/violinist Eddie Jobson.The audio is in mono and varies from quite good to so-so given the age of the tapes. The video is a pretty good transfer using Quicktime. Divided up over two discs with audio and video on each one, this collection supercedes the imports Valentine and Vintage which had the same tracks and video. Burning Airlines has done another outstanding job with the packaging. There's a generously illustrated booklet and essay.For those who have long wondered why A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall sounds exactly like the album track from Ferry's These Foolish Things, it's because it is the original recording with Ferry miming (solo) along to the music. As to why the band didn't perform it live, it's probably because the five piece needed additional backing vocalist to bring it off live."

Reissue of Vintage and Valentine

kireviewer | Sunnyvale, Ca United States | 04/10/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"THE ONLY REASON TO BUY THIS IS TO SEE WHAT ROXY MUSIC LOOKED LIKE IN THE EARLY DAYS.

OTHERWISE, THE SOUND IS TOO BAD AND LENGTH TOO SHORT TO PAY THIS HIGH PRICE.



This is two multi-media CD's. The first disc was originally released as Valentine and the second as Vintage. Both are no longer in print but can be found used. These come from German TV shows from 1972 and 1974 that showed the band in live performances at small bars.



The first CD contains 6 songs and the second CD has 5 songs. The songs are in two formats: CD audio that can be played on any CD player and Quicktime video that can be played on a computer.



The CD's are short. The first is 29 minutes and the second is 26 minutes long.



The sound quality is very poor. It is what you might expect of sound quality taken from a European TV show in the early seventies.



The video quality is OK. It is a little dark, being filmed in a bar. When played on a PC in the little Quicktime window, it is tolerable. When played full screen, it starts too look bad.



The editing of the video is great. An excellent job is done focusing on the right musician at the right time and holding the shot. It is so much better than concert DVD's that are made today (like Roxy Music's most recent), where the camera is always zooming in and out and a shot is not held from more than 2 seconds before jumping to the next angle. With video on Reflections, you can really get a feel for the concert, even with the small window.



The first CD is mostly from 1972 (except for the last song) and the only reason to buy this set. It shows the band in the early glam rock days, complete with Brian Eno in a feather costume.



The second CD is from 1974 and has almost no redeeming qualities (except some good editing). By now, the band looked more or less like any other rock band, so there is nothing special about the video.



Overall, I don't think the track song selection for these CD's was the best of a Roxy Music concert. The only really good tracks/performances are a very interesting and stark In Every Dream Home a Hearbreak, a lively Remodel-Remake and stirring violin solo during Out Of the Blue.



Of course, the other songs would definitely be more enjoyable if the sound quality were better. It is just these three stand above the poor sound."