Time plays strange tricks.

My memories of Roxy music were locked in their later period, when Bryan Ferry had become too schmaltzy for his own good and the band had released a couple of mediocre albums which you could pick up in the bargain bins within weeks of their release (with the exception of the excellent 'Avalon').

I'd actually forgotten the fact that I used to be a fan, seeing them live on more than one occassion.

This album, released this week, has brought it all back to me. Yeh Roxy Music were a great band...and talk about weird!

Drawing material from only two years, 1972 and 1973, it contains 16 tracks which, in these days of sterile dance monotony, show that music can be both serious and fun at the same time. Yeh, I'd forgotten I actually used to dance to Roxy Music...we all did!

And you know what else...as the photos on the sleeve show, they looked great as well!

Phil Manzanera with his fly lens shades, Eno with his feathers and rhinestones, and Bryan Ferry with his sparkly satin suits...brilliant!

Almost thirty years on, and this band could still freak out today's college kids.

If, like with me, time has played strange tricks and you have forgotten how good the early Roxy Music were, get a copy of this album and it will all come flooding back to you. And if you are too young to remember them first time round, this album could be the hippest thing you buy this year.