Live

Roxy Music's low-key reunion tour of 2001 was an unexpected pleasure,a "just because" endeavor that allowed the influential outfit of the ‘70s andearly ‘80s a chance to tie up some loose ends and reclaim its vaunted positionin the pop music pantheon. On a musical level, meanwhile, it worked because Roxyand its principals—frontman Bryan Ferry, guitarist Phil Manzanera and saxophonistAndy MacKay—did it right. They recruited original (and never bested) Roxy drummerPaul Thompson, put together a crack band that included seasoned second guitaristChris Spedding and four backing vocalists, and played the hell out of a repertoirethat came from any true Roxy fan's dreams.

Roxy Music Live captures an entire11-song set across its two discs (recorded at 15 different shows), with a bonusvideo rendition of "Both Ends Burning" culled from the companion Roxy Music Liveat the Apollo DVD. The hits are all here—"Love Is the Drug," "Virginia Plain,""Do the Strand," "Avalon"—but the best moments from Live are some of the lesswell-known tracks, including the live debut of the sumptuous "Mother of Pearl.""A Song for Europe" comes as a lush eight-minute epic that provides a showpiecefor MacKay, while Manzanera gets one of his several chances to shine in "My OnlyLove," also extended past the eight-minute range. "Both Ends Burning," meanwhile,is a percolating tour de force spiced by Julia Thornton's polyrhythmic bongo tattooand instrumental work by all three of Roxy's main men, including Ferry on harmonica.Ferry and the others talked of the tour as a one-off, with no plans for furtherRoxy activities, but the transcendent Live leaves us hoping they'll change theirminds and do it again—preferably as soon as possible.