The Best of Roxy Music [ENHANCED]

Roxy Music

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 3, 2001)
• Original Release Date: June 19, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Label: Virgin Records Us
• ASIN: B00005CDUE
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,851 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Roxy Music appeared to have beamed in from another planet when they appeared in the early '70s. Impossibly alien and exotic, they bucked trends by being kitschy, avant-garde, and unashamedly pop. Bryan Ferry was the sensual frontman, Brian Eno threw his deconstructionist spanner into the works, and they played songs that sounded like demented, sexy logarithms. After Eno left in 1973, frustrated that Ferry was marginalizing his input, Roxy became a different beast entirely, developing a suave, sophisticated pop-soul sound and abandoning the art-rock niche to enlist a wider audience. This lush compilation, released to accompany their reunion tour (minus Eno), captures both sides of Roxy and, true to the subversive spirit that informed their early years, does so in reverse order. This anti-chronology means they open with the languid, supper-club croon of 1980s hits "Avalon" and "More Than This," plus the beauteous cover of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy," then peel back the years through midperiod gems such as "Dance Away" and "Love Is the Drug," before closing with the hyperventilating, superbly twisted bubblegum of "Pyjamarama" and "Virginia Plain." The sequencing may be bonkers, but this is an essential souvenir of a band in a million. --Ian Gittins

Product Description

Roxy Music Photos

More from Roxy Music

Country Life	Avalon	For Your Pleasure
Roxy Music	Stranded	Siren

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great introduction to the band..., August 24, 2004

By	A. C. Johnson (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This CD is obviously not meant for the Roxy Music fan, but rather is meant as an hors d'oeuvre platter for those wanting to sample their music.

In that regard this album is perfect. It is jam packed with music. Every one of their albums is represented on this CD providing a listener a reasonable way to find out 'which' version of Roxy Music they find themselves drawn to.

After owning this for about a month, I had a good sense of which songs I liked and went and bought the album that those songs came from - Siren - and now a few months later am happily listening to their first album Roxy Music.

This band is extremely difficult to approach. It is one of the greatest aquired tastes in pop music (especially their earlier stuff) and I highly recommend this album for anybody interested in them, but overwhelmed by how to approach getting into them.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fine overview of seminal band, August 26, 2001

By	Wayne Klein "If at first the idea is not absu... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Complain all you like but this is a pretty good overview of the band. Yes, there are glaring omissions and some of the choices are kind of goofy. All things considered this is a pretty fine single disc compilation. I actually like the sequencing--it makes it interesting telescoping their career in a very interesting fashion. I caught the show in Northern California (it was actually at the Chronicle Pavillion) and was impressed. The passion that was sadly lacking during the Avalon tour was back. Clearly these guys were having a blast and it showed. As a long time fan I appreciated hearing the pre-Avalon stuff again. Out of the Blue still sounds as fresh as it did in '74. You could easily argue that any best of should be divided into two discs (by the time of the last three studio albums the band had not only streamlined their sound but given up any appearence of being a band)but this fine disc captures all the highlights. I do have to disagree with what one reviewer stated. While some of their later albums were a bit spotty (particularly Flesh & Blood)their 2nd, 3rd and 4th albums are uniformly strong albums. Around the time of Siren the quality control began to slip (and it was clear that the album-tour-album thing was both growing old and wearing). Manifesto despite a some weak tracks still had enough teeth to make it interesting. If this single disc compilation intrigues you I'd suggest For Your Pleasure, Stranded and Country Life as additions to your collection. All three have more than their fair share of highlights that are not represented here. After the disappointing final tour for The High Road (essentially an extension of the Avalon tour from the previous year), it's great to see Ferry, Manzanera, MacKay and (yeah!)Thompson enjoying themselves again.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An intriguing & successful retrospective..., June 19, 2002

By	nicjaytee (London) - See all my reviews

Compiling a one CD "Best of Roxy Music" is a tough task. Why?... well, not only did the group re-invent itself in personnel & style on at least three occasions during its 10 year life but, the strength of its most effective albums (in particular "For Your Pleasure", "Country Life", "Flesh + Blood" and "Avalon") lies in their cohesion, making the selection of individual tracks out of context extremely difficult. So... better to forget any pretensions to a "Best of..." title and to consider this compilation for what it actually is: an intriguing and successful retrospective.

Intriguing because it's sequenced "back to front", starting off with the "radio friendly", beautifully crafted tracks produced at the end of their career and then progressing backwards (in time at least!) to the distinctly less "easy listening" and far more radical outings from the beginning of their career. Compare this album's first track ("Avalon", from their last studio recording) to its last track ("Re-Make/Re-Model", from their first record) to witness the scale of the change involved. Successful, because it gradually takes the listener from the familiar to the "strange" and, in so doing, pretty effectively maps out the group's career while providing, on the way, an excellent "sampler" of what's to be found on their individual albums. A job well done but, "The Best of...": unlikely/impossible!