THE BEST OF ROXY MUSIC

'The Best Of Roxy Music' is a compilation album of Roxy Music. This is a compilation album that represents all the musical phases of the group where all the studio albums of them are represented. Curiously, the band and their record label decided put the songs in a descending order, from the newest to the oldest, probably for commercial reasons.

'The Best Of Roxy Music' has eighteen tracks. 'Avalon' is from 'Avalon'. It has good lyrics and the music is perfect inviting us to dance slowly like when the party is over. The voice of Ferry is great and the female chorus is warm with a nice touch. 'More Than This' is also from 'Avalon'. It's a commercial pop song made for an easy radio listening. This is a hit pop song of the 80's. 'Jealous Guy' is a cover of an original of Lennon. It was originally released on 'Imagine' in 1971. It was released as a single, and was made after the dead of Lennon as a tribute to him. It was never released on any of their studio albums. This is a great version. 'Over You' is from 'Flesh + Blood'. It has a melodic guitar work with pulsating drums and bass. This is a catchy pop song, well made, reaching its objectives well. 'Same Old Scene' is from 'Flesh + Blood'. It has a strong bass line, nice vocals, great keyboards and a fantastic saxophone work by MacKay. This is a great Roxy Music's song. 'Oh Yeah' is from 'Flesh + Blood'. It's a very catchy pop song, well made, and that improves the good commercial quality of the song writing on 'Flesh + Blood'. 'Angel Eyes' is from 'Manifesto'. It's a pop oriented song featuring a rock style. It's better than many songs on 'Manifesto'. It's well performed despite be a merely a simple song. 'Dance Away' is also from 'Manifesto'. Despite it has nothing of progressive, it has good simple lyrics, a nice melody and a great dancing rhythm. 'Both Ends Burning' is from 'Siren'. It's one of my favourite songs, one of the most loved and one the most performed live by the band. It has a fantastic incredible performance. 'Love Is The Drug' is also from 'Siren'. It's an incredible song, melodic and with good quality. It has an incredible performance. MacKay and his saxophone are great, Manzanera and his guitar work is great too and Ferry and his vocals are fantastic, as always. 'Out Of The Blue' is from 'Country Life'. It's a great rock song with plenty of energy, nice vocals, good piano, great synthesizer effects, a fantastic violin solo and an amazing guitar work. It became as one of the favourite songs in their live concerts. 'All I Want Is You' is from 'Country Life'. It's a powerful song full of energy, very melodic and with a fantastic guitar work by Manzanera. 'Mother Of Pearl' is from 'Stranded'. It has the spirit and the avant-garde experimentation of their two previous studio albums. It's divided into two parts. The first is a crazy rock rhythm, aggressive and chaotic and the second is more a conventional slow ballad with emotional Ferry's singing supported by an amazing chorus work. 'Street Life' is from 'Stranded'. It has an enjoyable pop/rock style and is composed in the commercial vein. It's well performed and Ferry's vocal style is good. 'Do The Strand' is from 'For Your Pleasure'. It's a song with a fantastic vocal work by Ferry that sing curious lyrics, and that has also some great guitar, keyboards and saxophone performances, very well accompanied by some strong and vigorous drums. This is an excellent song plenty of energy. 'Pyjamarama' was never released on any studio album of the band. It was released as a single to promote their second studio album 'For Your Pleasure'. It was also released as a new single, together with 'Virginia Plain'. It shows the true essence of Roxy Music. Like many of the early Roxy Music's tracks it rocks nicely. The guitar work is great. 'Virginia Plain' was the song released as their debut single. The song wasn't present on the original version of their album 'Roxy Music' and hasn't been recorded when the album was released. However, after the success of their debut studio album, it was included on later reissues. It was also released as a new single, together with 'Pyjamarama', in 1977. It's a very interesting song which was made originally to be released as a single hit. It has some good interesting musical appointments by Eno. 'Re-Make/Re-Model' is from 'Roxy Music'. It opens nicely their eponymous debut in a great rock style. This is a perfect card for the music on their first two albums. It's a song where each member could shine, especially MacKay and Manzanera which would become the two pillars of the group, with Ferry, of course.

Conclusion: 'The Best Of Roxy Music' is a compilation album very well representative of the entire history of Roxy Music with the concern of having about two representative songs from each of their studio albums. We can say that the choice of the songs was very good. Most of them are some of the best songs written by the band and many of them were usually performed live by the group. However, it has some problems. I can't believe that 'A Song For Europe' has been excluded when it's one of the best songs written by them, an authentic hymn of the group. I can't understand why they choose a disco/pop version of 'Angel Eyes' when the original version is much better. Finally, and this is only a question of personal taste, I don't agree with the inclusion of 'Pyjamarama'. Despite good, I never liked particularly of that song. So, I can only rate this compilation with 3 stars. If it weren't for that, I probably would have rate it with 4 stars.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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