'Street Life' was a great, well packaged and hugely successful compilation. Yes there were omissions but that was largely to fit the '20 great hits' format that prevailed at the time, and seems rather quaint these days.
Aside from 'minor' releases 'The High Road' and 'The Atlantic Years', this was the fourth consecutive RM/BF release to reach number 1.
The Avalon tour was still a fairly recent memory and, personnel issues aside, the slick content of that outing reflected the pinnacle - commercially at least - that had been reached. It's hard to imagine where the band could have gone in terms of live performances after that - the tour was a visual and musical triumph of latter day Roxy and, had the band continued, a return to their roots as we witnessed in 2001 wouldn't have worked back then. Maybe there always was a master plan!

Interesting thread. I too like the Street Life compilation, my aunt made me a tape recording of it in the mid-90's when I was getting into RM/BF and that really sealed the deal for me. In fact, I was about to purchase it on CD but then the More Than This compilation came out and I bought that instead. This might sound like heresy to some but I actually prefer More Than This tbh, the five Ferry tracks included (Don't Stop the Dance, Is Your Love Strong Enough, Kiss and Tell, I Put A Spell On You, Your Painted Smile) collectively trumped the five tracks that they replaced from Street Life (Pyjamarama, Do the Strand, Sign of the Times, Over You, In The Midnight Hour) and I just feel it holds together slightly better. The original artwork was also a bonus on More Than This (who cannot love BF in that long-tailed red coat and cowboy hat & boots combo). In saying that I really like the cover of Street Life as well, so much so in fact that I had a canvas of that image of Ferry from the Remake Remodel video hanging in my flat for several years.

Just to stir the fires of controversy even further, I also think that the Avalon tour wasn't up to much and it always embarrasses me when that is shown on TV as a representation of Roxy live. Ferry's next tour (New Town in 1988) was vastly superior.

Cher True2Life,
W2 has very positive memories of the show.
We were down there on holiday so it was a case of pure serendipity.
Yes,it was Andy Newark on drums but he did a great job and there was also another guy on percussion. Also, Alan Spenner was on base so the rhythm was excellent.
One thing W2 remembers, he’s pretty sure it was the first time he heard them play ‘Like A Hurricane’ and it was extremely well received. You could have heard a pin drop.
The rest of the set list was also superb and the acoustics in the arena were good but hey, Roxy en Le Côte D’Azur - what’s not to like ?
Salutations a tous - good job we had TRAH before lock-down.
Windswept

I think the percussionist was Jimmy Maelen. I believe he died a few years back.

I think the percussionist was Jimmy Maelen. I believe he died a few years back.

Indeed, he was only 47 when he succumbed to leukemia in 1988.

However, the request or invitation to play at a benefit concert for JM's family was responsible for bringing BF back to our stages; during the Frantic tour in 2003 he was quoted thus:

"When Jimmy Maelen - the percussionist who played on Avalon and Flesh And Blood - died, there was a benefit concert for his family in New York. If I hadn't been dragged out to do that I might never have played live again. Now I see it as part of my life. There's something about the energy you get back from a live audience that is very inspiring. I'd missed that."

I was at that show. I remember it was the Sunday night after Bryan was on SNL. It was the Ritz now Webster Hall and maybe that name has changed too. I haven’t been back to NYC for years. I think Paul Schaffer put the shoe together in a short time. It was full of all the performers Jimmy had played with. The place was packed when Bryan went on at Midnight. His band was the same as the group he had on SNL the night before. He did The Right Stuff, Kiss and Tell,Limbo,
Love is the Drug and Jealous Guy. The crowd went wild. When he left the stage so did the crowd. The place was empty for the rest of the show maybe 5 or 6 acts. The next up was Patty Smyth. I stuck around because I wanted to hear her cover of Downtown Train. Then I left.
Jimmy passed I think less than a year later. Very sad and a yet a great benefit for him. A lot of people in the industry loved the guy.
Funny to think it had that much influence on Bryan because it seemed very soon after that came the Bete Noire tour.

Hipsters,
What a great piece of music history from AzArtist & Smudge.
It’s difficult to imagine a time when ‘The Taste Tarantula ‘ was reluctant to perform, particularly given the number of shows we have enjoyed since ‘88.
Doubtless all will be explained in his biography ?
Salutations a tous,
W2

Great post, always wanted to know more about that benefit concert and not even this site has much info about it. Ferry was very reluctant to perform live at the time so it makes sense that that was the turning point. In saying that, there were two more long sabbaticals from touring in the 90's and he looked shaky and uncertain upon his return so didn't really appear to learn his lesson until this century when he has been touring constantly.

Ferry has talked openly about this in the past. The Avalon tour being the "straw that broke the camels back" and him deciding that he was going to become a studio musician henceforth, making comparisons with Duke Ellington etc. One interview from Q Magazine in 1988 records an amusing incident at a lunch with his record company where he totally ignores a question from them about getting back on the road. It was only during the As Time Goes By tour in 1999 that he began to appreciate the importance of singing to an audience again and he really hasn't stopped since then.

I think it's common knowledge that PM & AM were pissed off at the end of that tour too.