Customer Reviews

Roxy Music - Street Life: 20 Greatest Hits

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This collection is older, but it's 20 tracks long, and does include most of the essential Roxy/Ferry songs. Included amongst all these killer songs is "Love Is The Drug", "More Than This", "Avalon", and "Slave To Love". It would truly be impossible to fit everything on one disc, but the only things I really miss is Roxy's "Mother Of Pearl", and Ferry's "Kiss And Tell" and "Limbo". Otherwise it actually does a great job as a "best of". This being currently out of print however, you may have to hit the used stores, or deal with another "hits" album.

This is one of the more intelligent bands of the 70s. They might have been served better if it was a Roxy only set. Editions Of You, Song For Europe, Mother of Pearl, Thrill of It All, etc should have been on this. Hopefully, they will see fit to make a Roxy Music anthology soon. This CD served its purpose when it first came out as an overview to Roxy and Bryan Ferry's career. However, with a lot of lesser bands coming out with boxed sets or anthology packages, surely Roxy deserves one now.

Though this compilation may lack a few songs (Thrill of it all being missing really makes this album lose a few points), it gives an overall good or general overview of the band's career. Though I can't say all the tracks were strong, I definitely liked Avalon and More than This. Street Life is rather interesting and I'd give a little more credit as it did include Pyjamarama which I think would be needed in any overview of this band. Not a bad compilation. I would recommend it to a few casual fans, someone who just wants a taste of Roxy Music (and Bryan Ferry), or perhaps a newbie to them.

While uneven, this compliation CD is a great representation of one of the most influential bands/singers of the last 20 years. Ferry's "Oh Yeah" is steller as is "Same Old Scene" but the inclusion of "Avalon" and "Love is the Drug" make it a must have. Brian Ferry is one of the coolest singers to emerge from the 70s and Roxy Music is a taste everyone should acquire.

This collection contains 20 of Bryan Ferrys biggest hits from both his band Roxy Music and from his solo career spanning from the glam rock days of the 1972 self-titled debut to the dreamier pop sounds of 1982s swansong Avalon all the way to Ferrys 1985 solo masterpiece Boys & Girls. Many fans will love this CD. I do. It's like a kaleidascope of many styles ranging from the campy glam-rock of the early 70s Roxy Music to the disco rock of Siren and finally the dreamy romantic pop of Flesh & Blood, Avalon & Boys & Girls. Unfortunately this set doesn't have anything from his strongest album Bete Noire nor anything from 1993s Taxi or 1994s Mamouna. Ferry had a top 40 hit called Kiss & Tell from 1987s Bete Noire but unfortunately that single isn't included on this set because even though there are 20 tracks on here this collection was released in 1986, a year before Bete Noire came out and because of that this set doesn't really offer the very best of Ferrys solo works in my honest opinion. The 1999 More Than This. 2000s Slave To Love: Best Of The Ballads & 2001s Best Of Roxy Music are stronger CDs that span Roxy Musics and Ferrys solo career mainly because Ferry made strong material long after this 1986 20 track set was released. That's probably why this CD is diffficult to find nowadays. I in no way am saying leave this CD alone, far from it. It's just not the best place to start your Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music CD collection. The other three compilations I mentioned are better bets even though they too aren't the best places to start either. Ultimately it's probably the wisest choice to eventually buy all of Ferrys solo albums and all of Roxy Musics albums too. This 20 track set is a CD worth owning but just that it's now kind of outdated.

This is a crummy compilation of a great band. The 1977 'Greatest Hits' is better. Unfortunately, it is out of print. The most glaring omission is 'The Thrill of it All.' In all, five songs are missing in action. A great Roxy Music collection should include, Manifesto, Avalon and the earliest Greatest Hits.

While this isn't the definitive representation of the band(the boxed set, or every album would do Roxy better justice), this is a great taste of Roxy Music and presents an overview as to how they developed as a band. The track selection is both very generous and good, although some key tracks are missing(due to time constraints no doubt)from their best albums(COUNTRY LIFE, FOR YOUR PLEASURE, STRANDED & AVALON). The omission of the hard rock version of "Angel eyes" is probably the worst sin of this disc(included is the single, disco version issued after MANIFESTO was released. The disco version replaced the hard rock version on all the later pressings of that album and is only available, so far, on the boxed set) and is one of the reasons this album doesn't earn 5 stars!

Also, again, time constraints probably prevented this, but there could have been a little better selection of material from Ferry's solo albums including BETE NOIRE(which, due to constractual reasons is not represented at all). Still, this is a excellent "singles" review of the band's(and Ferry's solo)career. A great place to start, but if you like what you hear pick up the boxed set for the rarities, or the individual albums.

Your opinion of this boils down to one issue: Do you think of "Roxy Music" as:

1. A band made up of five gifted and irreplaceable musicians, or
2. a backing group for lead singer Bryan Ferry?

If your answer is 2, it's an OK-- not great-- pickup. Otherwise, skip it.

Roxy Music released five albums between 1972 and 1975 before Ferry quit to pursue his solo career. Each featured Ferry, guitarist Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay (sax and oboe) and drumemr Paul Thompson. Two (ROXY MUSIC and FOR YOUR PLEASURE) featured Bryan Eno; three (STRANDED, COUNTRY LIFE and SIREN) had Eddie Jobson.

People argue about which releases are better (I prefer the songwriting in the Jobson era), but no one disputes that these are the band's best work. Only five of the 20 cuts from STREET LIFE are from this period.

In 1979, the big four released MANIFESTO with a bunch of studio musicians. It wasn't awful-- but it sounded more like a Ferry solo project. Thompson quit afterward. FLESH & BLOOD was even worse in that regard; AVALON got fairly close to SIREN-era stuff. STREET LIFE includes nine cuts from this era.

Ferry also had a solo career, where he presented straightforward crooning. It's quite good if you like that sort of thing (infinitely less cheesy than Michael Buble), but the innovations and edginess one finds in the band's albums is absent. Six of these tracks were included.

If you're looking for some understanding of what made the band great, get the 1977 GREATEST HITS (which is also in the bargain line and thus cheap). If you like some of the 1979-82 era, the 2001 THE BEST OF ROXY MUSIC has seven more tracks. (I'm assuming you're not a big enough fan to spring for the excellent 4-CD box set.)

But even if you're a big Ferry fan and wish those other guys wouldn't make so much noise while he's trying to sing, this isn't a great pickup. It's better than the the 1988 issue (THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION has five songs less) but 1995's MORE THAN THIS gives you Ferry's better work, I think. Also, there are three compilations purely of Ferry's solo work.

No rarities, nothing you can't find anywhere else. The music isn't bad-- the rating just means there are better collections in the oeuvre of both artists.

this is a awesome CD it is full of great music ,get it you will be delighted

Street Life: 20 Greatest Hits being a compilation of both Ferry's and Roxy Music's hits and includes such hits as "Slave to Love", "More then this" and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" to mention a few. The booklet is quite bad with a strange photo of Ferry. 4/5.