Roxy Music reappeared last year to mark its 50th anniversary with a North American and United Kingdom tour. The moment is now followed by a memoir that reveals guitarist Phil Manzanera’s memories. From Revolution to Roxy, published by Biblioteca Efeeme, appeared first in Spanish before an English edition, a curious detail reflecting the author’s strong Spanish roots. He notes that the Spanish text is a personal favorite, saying it brought laughter and made it accessible to his Colombian cousins in their 60s as well.
What follows is a journey into Havana as the tale unfolds. Aged eight when Castro’s revolution began, Manzanera’s childhood chapters are recast by a narrator who begins with the musician’s father, a senior BOAC employee, whose career and family moves tinted the boy’s early world with a string of international stops. From Cuba, to Hawaii, through New York, to Caracas, and eventually back to London, the arc traces a life lived across continents.
David Gilmour’s friend
Manzanera, of Colombian maternal lineage, and Targett-Adams, his British paternal line, chose a stage name that echoed the acid-rock era and evoked associations with Santana and Jerry Garcia. Time has clarified how chance moments shape a career. A friend of his older brother happened to be David Gilmour, who had joined Pink Floyd not long before. The guitarist reflects on a life guided more by chance than by a fixed plan, preferring a life steeped in music as a form of freedom.
London hosted his adolescence, a scene saturated with legendary venues where Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, and even Jimi Hendrix performed. He recalls hearing the Beatles as spectators and feeling the sheer audacity of what was happening around him. In 1972, he joined Roxy Music with a mission to shape a sonic world for Bryan Ferry’s voice, bringing in Brian Eno and exploring new textures and atmospheres. The band’s inventive art-rock runs through the early 1970s, while the later 1979–82 period produced a record that became both the most popular and financially rewarding, Avalon.
like musketeers
Roxy Music is depicted as a group with internal friction between its vocal leadership and the rest of the members. The dissolution came as Ferry sought to lead alone, a development that intensified when personal turmoil followed changes in the lineup. Manzanera is candid about the mythic Three Musketeers ideal—loyalty, unity, and collective ambition—but acknowledges that factions can fracture even the strongest bonds. He recognizes Ferry’s dual-brand dynamic, balancing Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry, and notes the need to value both aspects.
Looking ahead, Manzanera expresses interest in adding a new chapter that highlights his ties with Spanish artists for a future reprint, noting direct connections that include Heroes del Silencio and Enrique Bunbury. He recalls recording Roxy Music’s Oh Yeah for a remixed project and appreciates Bunbury as a close friend, even joking about the strong influence of these collaborations.
A recollection from recent years features a call from Bryan Ferry about a possible collaboration for the 50th anniversary. Yet the 2022 tour voyage nears its end, and Manzanera suggests there may not be a live reunion in the near term. He has released an album with fellow saxophonist Andy Mackay and is planning another project with Crowded House’s Tim Finn. A boxed set of forthcoming solo material is teased for the next summer, with the confidence that the name Manzanera travels well across cities, whether London or New York, where audiences respond with greater warmth to the name.