Street Life - 20 Greatest Hits

Bryan Ferry has never written conventional hits, but as this 20-song retrospective shows, his peculiar recipe for pop music has found its way onto the charts again and again. Though he's renowned for his early work with Roxy Music, there's no segment of Ferry’s career that outshines another. Instead, his musical life has been a continuous process of kneading disco, jazz, and glitter rock into a singular concept. 20 Greatest Hits wisely blends songs from Ferry’s time as the leader of Roxy Music with selections from his solo work, as the two enterprises were fairly interchangeable for much of the '70s and '80s. “Pizzazz” and “sensitive” are two words that define Ferry’s art. His unparalleled knack for the eccentric and insistent dance tune (“Virginia Plain,” “Love Is the Drug,” “Angel Eyes”) was equaled by his penchant for smoldering torch songs (“These Foolish Things,” “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” “Oh Yeah!”). Of course, the best songs combine both aspects. “More Than This,” “Avalon," and “Slave to Love” are the works that best embody Ferry’s atypical union of old-world romance and futuristic atmospherics.