Product Description

"Re-make/Re-model" recounts the story of the individuals and circumstances that would lead over a period of almost twenty years to the formation of Roxy Music - a group in which art, fashion and music would combine to create in the words of its inventor, Bryan Ferry, 'above all, a state of mind'. Written with the assistance of all those involved, "Re-make/Re-model" is also the account of how Pop Art, the avant garde underground of the 1960s, and the heady slipstream of London during that decade were transformed into the fashion cults of revivalism, nostalgia and pop futurism in the early 1970s.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #249216 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 400 pages

About the Author
Michael Bracewell is the author of six novels and two works of non fiction, including the much acclaimed England Is Mine. His writing has appeared in The Penguin Book of Twentieth-Century Fashion Writing and The Faber Book of Pop. He is also a Turner Prize judge for 2007.

Customer Reviews

....less of a history, more of a journey....
This is a lovely, lovely book. It is not a history of Roxy Music as an operating unit - indeed the story ends soon after Phil Manzanera replaces David O'List. It is a fascinatng account of the journey England took from its post-war drabness to the explosion in the 60's of Pop Art, fashion and the development of rock. I found it a great read

Pretentious cultural history, NOT the early story of Roxy Music
When I bought this book I was aware that it was not a straightforward history of Roxy Music, or even the creation of the band. As someone who regards Roxy Music MK 1 as one of the finest bands ever I thought this would be a fascinating insight into the creative forces that generated something so new and so radically exciting. I was wrong.

The author would appear to have used up every pretentious and meaningless phrase he could find - it really is written in a very self-indulgent way. Having said that, much of the book is made up of quotes from the major players, and these provide some interesting information, but I found the narrative almost unreadable.

It also has changed my view of Eno. He comes across as a very middle-class, very indulged, very escapist youth. Michael Bracewell quotes extensively from his workbooks of the time, stating his adoration for Eno's philosphical insights into art and life - however, I felt I was reading the ramblings of a 13 year old public school boy so divorced from life and the real world that he might as well have been on another planet.

The book follows this style to its end. There is much that is interesting, but it is so deeply buried in hyperbole and uncritical adoration that it is hard to read. I also think it is wrong to market it as a book about Roxy Music. It is about how a wide range of people's artistic and cultural beliefs and views shaped a way of thinking that led to the creation of Roxy Music. The band is actually peripheral to the 'action'. I also think sticking a picture of Kari-Ann Moller on the front is misleading to the point of deception.

As you can tell I didn't enjoy the book, and I find it hard to imagine who will.