Roxy Music The Best of Roxy Music

Most Bryan Ferry compilations divide their time between his solo recordings and Roxy Music hits, so 2009’s The Best of Bryan Ferry is noteworthy in how it focuses entirely on his solo work, running from the ‘70s and into the new millennium. At 21 tracks, the collection is generous, so it’s not a surprise that it contains all the hits and staples, from “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” and “Let’s Stick Together” to “Slave to Love” and “Kiss and Tell,” with the deluxe edition going one step further and collecting 28 music videos, including many singles that don’t show up on the CD. This DVD is an enticement for the diehards who already own everything on the CD, but seen as just an aural collection, this is the best overview of Ferry’s solo recordings yet assembled.

Raymond Scott is best known as the composer of famous tunes that pop up throughout Warner Bros cartoons. In the late 'Thirties, his celebrated Raymond Scott Quintette was a huge commercial success, a singular ensemble playing a unique and unmistakable style of jazz, full of whimsy and bravura. By the late 'Forties, he had become an electronic music pioneer, both as an instrument inventor and composer. His music is everywhere these days, not just cartoons. For example, Lizzo's recent hit 'Tempo' samples (sips from?) his 'Nescafe,' and he is heard in the recent Netflix hit show Hollywood. The lost chapter between the Quintette and his electronic music was every bit as compelling, starting with the first multiracial radio big band, the 'CBS Big Band'whose ranks included legends Ben Webster, Cozy Cole, and Charlie Shavers. Not only did this unit swing hard, they could also execute the intricate passages for which he was so famous. Hemidemisemiquaver: Buried Treasures of the Raymond Scott Big Band collects 26 exciting cuts, mostly unreleased radio broadcasts recorded by Scott himself and restored by Gavin Ross at Steady Studio in Burbank, CA.

Thirty years after their first recordings and almost twenty after they disbanded, british prime new romantics came back with a new CD (containing re-recording of some of their most popular tunes plus a couple of new songs) and a tour in 2009. Recorded live at the famous O2 Arena in London, this DVD caught the band in an inspired night: it's hard to believe they were away for so long, since their perfomance was so hot, tight and, at the same time, so relaxed it seemed they were never apart. They surely didn't lose any of their musicanship. And none of their elegance either, for the matter.