Street Life: 20 Great Hits
Arty, classy, smug yet occasionally self-deprecating, Roxy Music took the excesses of glam and refined them into a beautifully stylized thing. Earning themselves a reputation as much for their fashionable attire as for their haute couture rock & roll, Roxy Music earned a string of hits with "Pyjamarama," "Do The Strand," and their club classic, "Love Is the Drug." Roxy Music's sense of rhythm had a certain sophistication that was further enhanced by the vocal phrasings of the consummate rock sophisticate, Bryan Ferry. His handling of Wilson Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour" is a classic in and of itself. "Dance Away" and "Same Old Scene" had an aching sentimentality to them, with Ferry proving it was hipper than hip to romantically croon. In his solo career, Ferry sounded even more like a new-school Sinatra with "Slave to Love." Two of Ferry's finest moments though were with his band, the soaring "More Than This" and the stunningly beautiful "Avalon." Their inclusion further makesStreet Lifeindispensable. --Steve Gdula