Customer Reviews

Thrill of It All

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I personally only heard a of a few Roxy Music tracks before buying this set. My only other experience was whith Brian Eno's music which i had already a large collection of. Needlees to say even the tracks whiout Brian Eno amazed me and im very glad I bought this set. The only problem, wich i soon found out, was that a few album tracks were not includded because of cd size. Personally, i believe they should have included another disc like Velvet Underground's boxset so it could handle all the albums completly. For those interested these are the tracks includded and those not.

M = Tracks from the albums that are not includded.
Disc 1.

Roxy [Debut]
1.Re-Make/Re-Model
2.Ladytron
3.If There Is Something
M. Virginia Plan - for some reason its in the fourth disc, probably because it was originally a single and not in the UK pressing of the album.
4.2HB
M.The Bob
5.Chance Meeting
M.Would You Belive?
6.Sea Breezes
M.Bitters End

For Your Pleasure
7.Do The Strand
8.Beauty Queen
9.Strictly Confidential
10.Editions of You
11.In Every Dream Hom a Heartache
12.The Bogus Man
M.Grey Lagoons
13.For Your Pleasure

Stranded
14.Street Life
15.Just Like You
16.Amazona
M.Psalm

Disc 2. (Stranded is split between the two discs)

M.Serenade
1.A Song For Europe
2.Mother of Pearl
3.Sunset

Country Life
4.The Thrill of it All
5.Three and Nine
6.All I Want Is You
7.Out of The Blue
M.If it Takes all night
8.Bitter-Sweet
M.Triptych
9.Casanova
10.A Really Good Time
11.Prairie Rose

Siren
12.Love is the Drug
M.End of the Line
13.Sentimental Fool
M.Whirlwind
M.She Sells
14.Could it Happen to Me?
15.Both Ends Burning
M.Nightingale
16.Just Another High

Disc 3

Manifesto
1.Manifesto
2.Trash
3.Angel Eyes
M.Still Falls the Rain
4.Stronger Through The Years
5.Ain't That So
M.My Little Girl
6.Dance Away
M.Cry Cry Cry
M.Spin Me Around

Flesh + Blood
M.In the Midnight Hour
7.Oh Yeah
8.Same Old Scene
9.Flesh and Blood
10.My Only Love
11.Over You
M.Eight Miles High
M.Rain, Rain, Rain
12.No Strange Delight
M.Running Wild

Avalon
13.More Than This
M.The Space Between
14.Avalon
M.India (In B-side form on disc 4)
15.While My Heart is Still Beating
M.The Main Thing
16.Take A Chance With Me
17.To Turn You On
M.True To Life
18.Tara

Disc 4 (singles, rare and unissued material)
1.The Virginia Plan (single)
2.The Numberer (unreleased song)
3.Pyjamarama (single)
4.The Pride And Pain (unreleased song)
5.Manifesto (New Version)
6.Hula Kula (unreleased song)
7.Trash 2 (unreleased song)
8.Your Application's Failed (unreleased song)
9.Lover (rare song from Miami Vice soundtrack)
10.Sultanesque (unreleased song)
11.Dance Away (extended version)
12.South Downs (unreleased song)
13.Angel Eyes (extended version)
14.Always Unknowing (unreleased song, though avalible as a bonus song in some new Avalon editions.
15.The Main Thing (extended remix)
16.India (B-side to More Than This Single)
17.Jealous Guy (single)

Overall there are 23 missing album tracks (not counting Virginia Plan and India wich appear in Disc 4). Though this may prove as a negative factor, i can safely say that all the Roxy Music classics (and a few rare ones in Disc 4) are essentaly all you need to be a basic Roxy Music Fan.

This box set gives the listener the chance to really learn about the band, which, in America, is not too easy to do. From the moment I heard my first Roxy Music song nearly 20 years ago, I have yet to hear anyone sing as passionate and deeply hynotic as Ferry. Their music caputures the mind and soul and twirls it through endless thought and reflection, soothing and inspiring the listener with blissful joy and wonderment. The lyrics are intelligent and flow magnificently with the music at every turn. Listening to the four discs in progression, one can experience first-hand the progression and maturity the band develops. Disc three, in particular, is packed with fresh and unique love songs that still sound up to date and in line with other songs of today, only better!!

The disc includes many photos and comments on some of the songs, and is interesting reading. What a fantastic opportunity for today's listener to grasp a powerful and majestic collection of masterpieces. A treasure chest of relentless passion and energy!! It is a disc worthy of being at the top of the list of ANYONE'S collection!!

Roxy Music was always underappreciated in America. Less accessible than Bowie, the band didn't find its audience until their four U.S. album(SIREN) and their last studio album(AVALON). This collection gives a view gallery viewing of what Roxy began as and what it became over time.

This collection puts together most of the band's essential album tracks(as well as, rare b sides and remixes)into a package that allows the listener to sit in the development of the band. Like the Beatles, Roxy was always moving forward, trying to find the next "fling" that would set their artistic heart afire.

The band's two best early albums FOR YOUR PLEASURE and COUNTRY LIFE are well represented by more than a handful of cuts. Just listening to Bryan Ferry's mannered vocals develop into sweet, supple singing allows one to appreciate the growth of the band, as well as, Ferry as a performer. BOYS AND GIRLS (Ferry's 4th solo album) would never have been possible without the journey the band-and Ferry-made and, more importantly, the solo Ferry albums of covers wouldn't have been possible without that journey either.

The melodies and playing are outstanding. Of particular note is Phil Manzanera's tasteful, unusual guitar solos and fills and Andy MacKay's mournful sax playing. Paul Thompson, always the underrated member of the band, creates the heat with his drumming focusing Ferry's lanquid melodies and keyboard playing.

The ability to contrast the early material with Eno playing sythes(and creating "treatments" of the other solos)to the much more melodic later material with Eddie Jobson on keyboards and electric violin(a clear Jean Luc-Ponty influence there!)creates a fuller picture of the band.

If you only know Roxy Music from AVALON then you've only heard a small part of the story. THE THRILL OF IT ALL delivers most of the story complete with conflict, love and adventure in a concise package.

My only complaint is that it would have been nice to have had more comments on the songs and perhaps a handful of demos. A review of the band's history (and revolving door of bass players)would have been nice.

Highly recommended!

ok, let's settle this argument once & for all. the best rock band that ever was or is...The Beatles or The Rolling Stones? nope...it's Roxy Music & this box set is proof of it. i would put up the first 3 discs in this set against any four & a half hours of any other bands material. disc 4 is b-sides & extended versions & has some must have tracks as well. the remastered sound is incredible too. i thought i would get by with my treasured lps but these cds are a revelation. on a side note...Bryan Ferry obviously sold his soul to the devil at some point. he gets better looking all the time...and of course, there's his voice.

Roxy Music were undoubtedly one of rock's greatest bands. Their unique style of sophisticated soul mixed with rock and roll and jazz influences paved the way for the development of "adult alternative" and they were also innovative in terms of their synthesiser experiments throughout their career, which influenced much music during the 1980s.

They possessed brilliant players in Phil Manzanera on guitar, Eddie Jobson on violin and Andy Mackay on oboe and saxophone, and in Bryan Ferry a vocalist whose ability to use a range of voices could be reminiscent of the most hyperfeminine women in rock. At their peak during the Jobson era, they clearly showed considerable versatility, too. Lyrically, the band was unequalled in its ability to express romantic longing, but they could (overlooked) move effectively into a more mystical side.

This four CD boxed set could, if well chosen, represent a truly essential collection from a band who produced some of the most important music in rock history in a ten-year evolution interrupted by Ferry's movement into a solo career.

However, when one looks at the selections closely, one ought to be seriously disppointed in some ways. The Brian Eno albums - interesting at times, but often self-indulgent and not as unconventional as usually thought - are perhaps over-represented. Here, Eno's very slow synthesiser drones tended to weigh the music down quite a bit and the unusual expressiveness was lost, with the exception of "If There Is Something" and "Ladytron". For Your Pleasure, which lacked the avant garde compositions of the other early albums like "Sea Breezes", "Amazona" or "Bitter Sweet" is almost complete here. Nonetheless, one of that album's strongest tracks, "Grey Lagoons", is the only one omitted.

Unfortunately, Stranded (their first absolute masterpiece) is split over two CDs and the magical "Psalm", one of if not their best songs, is omitted. "Psalm"'s amazing movement throughout its eight ecstatic minutes showed how the band was freed up when Jobson joined - and it is significant in being apparently the first song Bryan Ferry ever wrote. "Psalm" and the also-omitted, oddly accessible medieval "Triptych" showed that Roxy were equally effective writing about mysticism and explicit sexuality - generally overlooked. Probably their best album Country Life is well represented, but it is unfortunate that "End Of The Line" and the hot rocker "Whirlwind" (both from Siren) are omitted. Whilst Siren was more earthbound than the previous two Jobson-era masterpieces, it did contain many impressive and moving songs.

The following two albums, the pop-savvy Manifesto and Flesh and Blood were their least effective, showing clearly the absence of Jobson's ecstatic melodies. Both albums are wisely cut in half.

Roxy's final album, Avalon was a brilliant and unexpected return to form, with the sparse atmospheres giving full reign to Ferry's expressive voice on "The Space Between" and the title tune. Avalon's atmospheric, even ethereal tone was a major influence for many British bands during the 1980s - indeed this beautiful collection of songs marks the end of the 1970s in musical terms. However, one of Avalon's best songs, "The Main Thing", is presented as an extended mix which is not usually to most people's tastes. Moreover, "The Space Between" is actually omitted, leaving another gaping hole.

The non-album material on the last disc will be worthy for the collector as most of it has not been available on CD previously but is not really that significant for the casual fan. One is left asking, though, if it would not have been that much better to include such material as bonus tracks on the remastered versions of their individual albums - which was never done when the remasters were issued in 1999.

On the whole, an incomplete collection, but the music is certainly very worthy with such brilliant songs from an unquestionedly great band as "The Thrill Of It All", "Street Life", "Casanova", "Love Is The Drug" and "Avalon".

Firstly - Roxy Music are/were fantastic

Secondly - Key tracks are missing (well documented in earlier reviews). It should have included all released output instead of reinventing history to pretend that tracks like 'Midnight Hour' never happened.

Thirdly - The fourth disc of non LP releases (b sides etc) should be available on it's own to enable all of the band's loyal followers (from 1972 onwards) to complement their already complete collections of the original albums... And while I'm at it - who made the pitiful decision to include the non album single 'VP' on the first eponymous release on CD?!! It was not even presented as a bonus track but clumsily shoehorned between songs that had coexisted without its obvious interferance. The sound quality mismatch makes my toes curl every time I forget it's there!!!

Lastly - There's no denying that the music included is 5 star - BUT it would be far more satisfying and probably cheaper to buy each album individually instead of this expensive dog's dinner...

Very lastly (Third point reinforced again!!!) - I'm still furious that the real fans have to buy this cynical record company spin off to access non album tracks that have eagerly been awaited since the birth of CD media. Shame on the record execs AND Bryan Ferry for letting this happen...

While not complete it is certainly an excellent way to get an overlook of the career of Roxy Music. The only better way is still to own all the albums.

I have 200+ box sets in my collection, and this one has to rank at the very top. Every key album track and single are here, plus a 17 track 4th CD of rarities! And to top it all off, there is a glossy, full-color book with commentary on every song by Mr. Ferry himself, not to mention tons of cool B&W and color photos. I have been searching this one out for years, and finally found a used copy for $75.00, so yeah, it won't be cheap, but you won't regret owning this gem once you have your grubby little fingers on it. I know I didn't!! An absolute must!!

Thrill of It All being a 4 cd multi-box set released 1995 is a real dandy of a release and was received well by the critics. Allmusic gave it 4.5 stars and I give it 5 stars. Here we get all the Roxy Music hits from "Do the strand" to "Avalon" and many more. In fact we also get some tracks not released on CD prior to this release. The booklet is massive and contains 68 pages. We get liner notes written for many of the tracks and many great photographs from the time when the albums were recorded. 5/5.

My husband is going to flip for this Chistmas present. It's all he wanted. Thanks for the fast shipping too.