Roxy Music share unreleased early “Pyjamarama” ahead of “For Your Pleasure” reissue

Roxy Music have unveiled a previously unreleased early version of “Pyjamarama”, the single they put out in 1973. The recording catches the song at an embryonic stage and heralds a reissue of “For Your Pleasure”, due in early November on UMR/Island EMI across CD, vinyl, Blu-ray and DVD, according to OndaRock.

The rarities also include footage of the band on “Top of the Pops” in March 1973. Long thought lost from the BBC archives, the clip turned up in the private collection of DJ Roger Hill. A period photo by Ian Dickson shows Bryan Ferry and guitarist Phil Manzanera working on the song with a blue Hagstrom guitar. As Ferry was still new to the instrument, Manzanera devised an open tuning that let him play the chord progression by moving his hand between four positions on the neck. In the studio, the slack strings made tuning hard to hold, and Manzanera had to build solos and overdubs around the unusual part.

Released in March 1973, “For Your Pleasure” was the band’s second album and the last with Brian Eno, alongside Ferry, Andy Mackay, Manzanera and Paul Thompson. It reached number four in the UK and features “Do The Strand”, “Beauty Queen”, “Editions Of You” and “In Every Dream Home A Heartache”. In a 2022 Guardian interview, Ferry said the record, made at Air Studios above Oxford Street, felt more mature and darker, with better singing.

Roxy Music formed in London in 1971, blending art rock, glam rock and new wave, and split in 2011. Their newest studio album on MusicBrainz is “Avalon” from 1982.