Roxy Music - The Best Of - [CD]

A new collection of their hits to coincide with a North American summer reunion tour. This is the first time in twenty-five years that Roxy Music have toured the U.S. Track listing includes "Avalon," "More Than This," "Jealous Guy," "Over You," plus lots more.

At the start of the 1970s, when the music world was ruled by grim longhairs and wafflesome prog rockers, Roxy Music appeared to have beamed in from another planet. Impossibly alien and exotic, they bucked contemporary trends by being kitsch, avant-garde, experimental and yet unashamedly pop. Bryan Ferry was the louche, sensual front man, Brian Eno threw his deconstructionist spanner in the works and they played songs that sounded like demented, sexy logarithms. After Eno left in 1973, frustrated that Ferry was marginalising his input, Roxy became a different beast entirely, developing a suave, sophisticated pop-soul that abandoned the art-rock niche to embrace a wider audience. This lush Best Of 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 mid-period gems like "Dance Away" and "Love Is The Drug" before closing with the hyperventilating, superbly twisted bubblegum of "Pyjamarama" and "Virginia Plain". A bonkers track-listing then but an essential souvenir of a band--and a talent--in a million. --Ian Gittins