Roxy Music Share Rediscovered ‘Pyjamarama’ TV Performance

Roxy Music have shared a rediscovered performance of “Pyjamarama” from Top of the Pops in March 1973, alongside the song’s previously unreleased original demo. Unveiled on October 2, the releases preview the expanded editions of For Your Pleasure, due November 6 via UMR/Island EMI. The television recording, missing from the BBC archive, was recently recovered from a collection belonging to mobile disco DJ Roger Hill. Now available on the band’s official YouTube channel, it will also appear on the DVD accompanying the forthcoming 3CD+DVD Super Deluxe Edition.

The demo, titled “Pyjamarama – guitar & vocal,” captures the first recording of the song with Bryan Ferry singing and playing acoustic guitar. It marked the first time Ferry had written a song using the instrument. Guitarist Phil Manzanera helped by showing him an open tuning that allowed him to play chords with one finger. “The whole of ‘Pyjamarama’ is just sliding between four positions on open-tuned guitar,” Manzanera recalled. Developing the studio recording presented another challenge: the tuning left the strings loose, making it difficult to keep the guitar in tune as he added solos and overdubs.

The recording joins material preserved on cassettes Ferry made at home and during a songwriting retreat to a remote Derbyshire cottage owned by his friend Nick de Ville. With the band balancing touring commitments and preparations for its second album, Ferry spent several days there working alone, bringing keyboards, a guitar, recording equipment, and writing materials. The Super Deluxe Edition brings together the original album, remastered by Bob Ludwig, with demos, rehearsals, AIR Studios outtakes, live sessions, singles, and instrumentals. Its DVD collects television and concert performances from 1972–1973, while a 116-page book includes new interviews, essays, unpublished photographs, and Ferry’s work-in-progress lyric notes.

The “Pyjamarama” releases follow August’s unveiling of a previously unheard 1971 “Grey Lagoons” demo, recorded before the band’s debut album. Originally released on March 23, 1973, For Your Pleasure was Roxy Music’s second studio album and the last to feature Brian Eno. Alongside the Super Deluxe set, the November release suite includes a 2CD hardcover digibook, double vinyl on black or exclusive blue pearl vinyl, digital editions, and an exclusive Blu-ray through SuperDeluxeEdition.com. The Blu-ray features new Atmos, 5.1, and stereo mixes, with additional 5.1 mixes by Steven Wilson.

Shop Roxy Music’s For Your Pleasure on multiple formats here.