In Roxy Music, Phil Manzanera was the guitarist who put the addictive hooks into hits such as Love Is The Drug and Angel Eyes. A lifelong sonic innovator, Phil worked closely with Brian Eno to create Roxy Music’s experimental pop classics of the 70s – but Roxy’s albums also showed him to be a player of rare taste and poise. Phil’s also produced albums as diverse as David Gilmour’s On An Island and John Cale’s Fear – but he’s far from done making his own music. In fact, he’s just completed a new album entitled Caught By The Heart with Tim Finn, formerly of Crowded House and Split Enz. A multilayered melange of sound with a Latin heartbeat, it brims with soulful sounds from all corners of the world.
Despite its eclecticism, Caught By The Heart was recorded while both Phil and Tim were confined to their home studios, separated by thousands of miles, during lockdown. With the album now out and the music world slowly emerging from the long shadow of Covid, we joined Phil in the ‘hut’ that became his musical sanctuary to hear his perspectives on the art of recording, learn how he crafted Roxy’s timeless guitar lines, and find out what guitar gear has captured his heart in recent times.