THE THRILL OF IT ALL*

This CD collection contains approxiamately two thirds of Roxy's studio output, plus many single b-sides and various re-mixes, which makes it a fairly thorough look at this incredible band. The only songs I noticed lacking from inclusion were The Bob (Medley) and Bitters End from their first album, Out of the Blue from Country Life and the two great covers from Flesh and Blood; Eight Miles High and Midnight Hour. Also there are no cuts from their live album Viva.

Since I already own all of their studio albums I was mostly interested in disc four which includes instrumentals they often put on the b-sides of their singles and dance oriented re-mixes of some of their hits. The second cut on this disc, The Numberer, is an interesting 60s style exotic instumental that has surf and hot-rod influences. The Pride and the Pain is a brooding gothic instrumental that sounds like a movie soundtrack. There are also a couple of experimental tracks that feature Bryan Ferry on synthesizer. Both of these cuts sound a bit similar to some of ex-band member Brian Eno's solo work.

A lot of the dance re-mixes included here are not improvements over the originals except for track thirteen, Bob Clearmountain's re-mix of Angel Eyes. Bob opens up a lot of space in the mix so that individual parts stand out, such as Manzenera's crisp guitar rhythms.

Another nice inclusion on this collection is the original mix of Trash, which when released on Manifesto was a great throwback to the band's ealier punkish days. Unfortunately the mix usually included on CD re- issues is a much more commercialized version.