Good Bryan Ferry solo compilation?

I've been a long time Roxy Music fan, and I have These Foolish Things but after seeing his show (and really enjoying his performance of "Let's Stick Together") I want to explore Ferry's solo career more.

Is there an ideal compilation out there? I looked at a few and a lot of them mix his solo hits in with Roxy Music.

In the meantime, I tried putting together a playlist - it just covers his second through sixth albums for now, but these seem to be the highlights unless I'm missing something:

1 The 'In' Crowd 04:36
2 Smoke Gets In Your Eyes 02:54
3 (What A) Wonderful World 02:56
4 Let's Stick Together 02:59
5 Casanova 02:46
6 Shame, Shame, Shame 03:15
7 The Price Of Love 03:28
8 You Go To My Head 02:43
9 This Is Tomorrow 03:41
10 Tokyo Joe 03:55
11 Sign Of The Times 02:28
12 When She Walks In The Room 06:24
13 What Goes On 04:11
14 Carrickfergus 03:47
15 That's How Strong My Love Is 03:17
16 Slave To Love 04:26
17 Don't Stop The Dance 04:19
18 Windswept 04:33

 

There was one with a white cover in the 80's (I think) that was Roxy/solo stuff but it was the only place you could get the cover of He'll Have To Go (Bride Stripped Bare outtake). I think it also had Help me (from the movie Fly).
Don't know if those songs are now found elsewhere now. I eventually sold the collection, the songs it picked weren't my cup of tea.

 

Just buy all of them and make your own

 

Sounds like this one:
Bryan Ferry With Roxy Music - The Ultimate Collection

Appears to be a cheap & available import (no US release).

 

yep that's it

 

Although not a compilation, I strongly recommend getting Avonmore, his last album, definitely one of his best works.

 

I would definitively include something from Bete Noire and Frantic in your list.

 

Yes, his albums are really good. I had this idea that they'd be mostly filler, but that's not the case. In Your Mind is as good as any Roxy Music album from that era.

 

You need These foolish Things and A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall from the first album!!

 

I personally would throw "Don't Want To Know" from Mamouna on that playlist. A bit of a deep cut, but a great song.

 

Bryan Ferry - The Greatest
This one comes pretty close.
Bryan Ferry - The Best Of Bryan Ferry
as does this
Strangely whenever they put together a Ferry best of, they seem to almost always include Roxy tracks, which is a little bit of a put down to both, in my eyes.
Roxy can certainly have a great best of comp. As too can Ferry.

 

I don’t have a specific suggestion other than to echo a previous poster... get everything. The man is completely brilliant.

 

Another one mixing a few (late era) Roxy Music tracks in with solo material, I enjoy Slave to Love - The Best of the Ballads (2000) nevertheless. I believe it has two songs, "Crazy Love" and "Sonnet 18", which hadn't been on his albums previously. It just flows together very well.

 

How does this one sound in SACD?

 

I would include his cover of Dylan’s Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues off of Dylanesque.

Great track.

 

Ferry's solo career bounced around the ring... Roxy Music was in the center. As such, I think that any strictly-solo compilation will sound scattershot.

His first three albums [of mainly cover versions] are something of an acquired taste.

In Your Mind was his first solo album of original material. It has its highlights, but it's not as good as any of Roxy's albums.

The Bride Stripped Bare is stunning; half original material and half covers. It has a unique sound in his oeuvre. Highly-recommended.

Boys And Girls is an excellent and well-written album. I don't like Bete Noir nearly as well.

Taxi and Mamouna were recorded concurrently and I think that mixing the tracks together improves the listening experience over either album on its own merits. As a double-album, I think it's great.

To my ears, it's diminishing returns after that.

 

Olympia is very good.
In Your Mind is his best.
His latest, Live 1974, is stupendous.

 

Two great albums and the solo debut is fantastic.

 

There has only ever been one solo compilation, the Best of Bryan Ferry. Initial copies came with a dvd of promo videos.

 

This set is good. 3 CDs, 45 tracks. Yeah, it's a mix of Roxy and Bryan. But it's a good sampling.



Bryan Ferry + Roxy Music - The Platinum Collection

For cheap, the Streetlife compilation, which got a US release, is generally dirt cheap and it's good, but leans toward Roxy:



Bryan Ferry / Roxy Music - Street Life - 20 Great Hits

 

This is the one to own. The DVD is great.

 

I have this one, works for me, very cheap with decent mastering, circa 1995 I think

 

Avanmore is a fantastic album, a real late career high...

 

The hidden gem in the BF catalogue—B-side of “This Is Tomorrow” with a fantastic Fripp solo

 

It sounds quite nice and has “Help Me” from The Fly which is a nice tune.


QUOTE="sekaer, post: 24059505, member: 70512"]The hidden gem in the BF catalogue—B-side of “This Is Tomorrow” with a fantastic Fripp solo

[/QUOTE]
I,love this tune and have it on the Japanese CD Mamonoa single. As I recall, it’s an older song that Ferry wrote with Eddie Jobson that wasn’t finished for Siren.