THE THRILL OF IT ALL*

For your pleasure, there's the definitive Roxy Music collection. One of the most beautiful packages in the market, "The Thrill of it All" has almost everything a box set should have: all the great hits, the most significative album tracks and a full disc of rarities, non-LP singles, B-sides, remixes. But it's not perfect: it lacks an historical essay and live material (and their fantastic cover of Neil Young's "Like a Hurricane" is MIA). These are the only faults of this box-set, but, since Roxy Music was a great band in concert, the latter is the major fault. All the territory between "Roxy Music" and "Avalon" is covered extensively: "Roxy Music" (6 tracks out of 10; seven if you count "Virginia Plain", which was not at the initial UK pressings of the first album); "For Your Pleasure" (7 of 8 tracks); "Stranded" (6 of 8 tracks); "Country Life" (7 of 10 tracks); "Siren" (6 of 9 tracks); "Manifesto" (6 of 10 tracks - on disc 3, we have original versions of "Angel Eyes" and "Dance Away", which were replaced on CD versions of the original LPs by remixed versions - both also available at disc 4); "Flesh + Blood" (5 of 10 tracks; no surprise, this was Roxy's weakest album); "Avalon" (7 of 10 tracks). There are notes concerning almost all tracks, with some useful information about session men, trivia and descriptions of composition processes. The booklet has a treasure of band photos, magazine covers and outtakes from original albums covers. There's also a good LP discography (although a singles discography would be welcome, this was forgotten), covering all original releases and some relevant compilations. This box set deserves 4 stars because it has only four discs; with a fifth disc of live material "The Thrill of it All" would be a 5-star release. PS: John Wetton fans, be warned: there's nothing here recorded during his brief stint with the band (I think he only played live with Roxy Music; any corrections?).