(Album cover for Roxy Music’s “Country Life” featuring Constanze Karoli & Eveline Grunwald)

Roxy Music need no introduction, but here’s one anyway… Founded in 1971 and led by the inimitable Bryan Ferry, the band have been hugely influential on multiple genres of music spanning several generations. I mean really, how many groups or individual performers can you think of that were simultaneously influencing punk bands like the Sex Pistols and pop acts like Duran Duran? Their musical range and originality still influence artists 40 year later.

They put out several great records between 1972 and 1982, all but one of which featured album art made up of super-hot supermodels in various costumes, becoming a trademark feature of the band’s image. Individually they’re all pretty solid albums, but for my tastes the best overall Roxy Music album is actually “The Best of Roxy Music”, released in 2001. A lot of “best of” records seem to fall short, suffering from bad decision making or publishing copyright issues that seem to always leave one or two great songs off of the list. However, “The Best of Roxy Music”  shines from start to finish. It is a great introduction to the band as well as a great go-to record for devoted fans. Check out the weird but genius, “Mother of Pearl” or the hard driving pop masterpiece, “Virginia Plain”. Or tune out the world and listen to the sugary sweet ballad, “Oh Yeah.” It’s all good stuff so you can’t go wrong. Get the album on iTunes, or on Amazon right here. Unfortunately this record isn’t available on vinyl, but write your Congressman and cross your fingers…you never know. And of course, if you really can’t bring yourself to buy a compilation record there’s also a great box set, including every studio album the band made. Happy listening!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cjR5QHFpEo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUy-Vbrt9o4