Whenever a band splits up, you can usually expect some kind of compilation or other contractual release in short time. Back in 1983, Roxy Music’s old American label put out The Atlantic Years 1973-1980, heavy on Manifesto and Flesh + Blood, adding only “Love Is The Drug” and “Do The Strand” from before the hiatus, with a fetching model’s face on the cover.While it has its charms, they band deserved a more comprehensive career overview, and they got one. Not released in North America until 1989, once the catalog had been collected under the Warner Bros. umbrella, Street Life does a yeoman’s job of not only pulling together Roxy’s best, but including six Bryan Ferry solo tracks for context. The cover boasted “20 Great Hits”, which filled up the compact disc’s mid-‘80s capacity of 74 minutes, which made for short LP sides.
Right away there’s left turn, as the pounding glam of “Virginia Plain” is nudged aside by Ferry’s inane interpretation of “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”. The obscure “Pyjamarama” single appears in a remix before “Do The Strand” and back to Bryan for “These Foolish Things”. “Street Life” and “Love Is The Drug” fight for space among two more Ferry cover attempts and the superior “Sign Of The Times”. Five terrific choices from Manifesto and Flesh + Blood are very welcome, but they also include the hideous “In The Midnight Hour”. “More Than This” and “Avalon” help to complete the story, with “Slave To Love” slotted in before their reverent cover of “Jealous Guy”.
For the beginner, Street Life was a good way to dip into the Roxy world, with the caveat that Ferry was in the lounge. A later set called More Than This was evenly split between the band and Ferry solo, with some selections jettisoned in favor of newer songs. A proper best-of Roxy, with nothing but Roxy in reverse chronological order, appeared in the new century and did the trick.
Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music Street Life—20 Great Hits (1986)—3½
Roxy Music The Best Of Roxy Music (2001)—4
“Street Life” is enough for casual fans such as me. Sonically, it’s fine, but audiophiles might want to pick up collections with remastered sound. Random thoughts:
ReplyDeleteBy far, the weirdest tracks are "Pyjamarama" and “Virginia Plain”. No doubt due to our friend Brian Eno. It was inevitable that he wasn’t going to be content to be a sideman for Ferry.
By far, part 2: the worst tracks are the two from “These Foolish Things”. I can’t think of a more boneheaded misreading of a Dylan song than this version of "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall". Making it into an uptempo pop song with female backing vocals? It absolutely misses the mark. He overcamps to the extreme on the title track, also ruining that one.
Not that I’m necessarily opposed to Ferry doing standards. He does “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” better than these guys, which had been (unfortunately) all over the radio two years earlier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QeHEjYKEiY
I didn’t realize that “Let’s Stick Together” was, basically, the same song as this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuQwIyvQ9p0
For some reason, I got it into my head that Ferry was recording an “original” rip-off!
The first couple of notes of “Love is the Drug” makes me think that “Psycho Killer” might be its second cousin.
I don’t think that their version of “In the Midnight Hour” is all that bad. They simplify it, but they still keep the basic groove, and there’s Ferry’s voice, of course.
I heard “Dance Away” and “Angel Eyes” quite a bit when they were first released. They proved to me that Roxy could be both dancey and dreamy. On the other hand, “Avalon” and “More Than This” are just plain dreamy and gorgeous. They are my two favorite Roxy songs.
Except for one. As is usually true for a collection like this, there will always be one deep cut that somebody thinks should have been included. In my case, it’s “Mother of Pearl”, which I first heard in this excellent cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHC6P1PdUBA
I had to download Roxy’s original after hearing this, but I was surprised. That’s because Johnette and her band left out the bizarre, cacophonous intro. It has nothing to do with the rest of the song! It’s still cool, though. Ferry goes WAY over the top with his imagery when he extols his girlfriend, but it’s marvelous.
Beyond that, I haven’t had the urge to dive further into the world of Roxy and Bryan. “Street Life” is fine.