To be honest I think the packaging - the LP size holder for the CD's with accompanying book plus the coloured LP set will far outstretch the contents of this release. I do consider there is an overload of The BFO tracks - I don't quite understand why.

They did miss out on including so many rare tracks and mixes - which thankfully I have on other releases. I have made compilations of his albums with appropriate extras culled from various CD singles - for example Bête Noire - Boys and Girls - Taxi.

As for the cover with the dreaded cigarette? Well I'm so pleaded this photo was used and not airbrushed or camouflaged. I really can't abide airbrushing in any form - leave history alone.

Hi Noelfitzsimons,

The packaging will, I'm sure, be lush. Who would expect anything less? And I do concur when it comes to the BFO content: way too much when you apply any degree of context. So much BFO content at the expense of 'real BF' rarities!

As for the cover - I totally agree with your sentiment about airbrushing, but then again it wouldn't be an issue at all if team BF had indeed left history alone and chosen something from the immense gallery sans the "dreaded cigarette"!

Anyway, I wish 'Retrospective' every success and especially hope that anyone fairly new to the BF back catalogue who invests in any of the packages, won't be disappointed.

I like the cigarette pose. It's of It's time.

Noelfitzsimons: "I do consider there is an overload of The BFO tracks - I don't quite understand why."

Me too, Noelfitzsimons. The only reason I can think of is that it's a matter of Bryan's heart. I love jazz music, too, and, of course, the Pasadena Roof Orchestra that had a leading role within BFO. But Roxy songs rearranged, mostly instrumental and in a crude shellac sound - not my kind of jazz.

UK Richard: "So much BFO content at the expense of 'real BF' rarities!".

That's it, Richard, as we sadly miss songs like "As The World Turns", "She's Leaving Home or "She" with Charles Aznavour etc. What a missed opportunity!

UK Richard:" ... but then again it wouldn't be an issue at all if team BF had indeed left history alone and chosen something from the immense gallery sans the "dreaded cigarette"!

As a lifelong non-smoker I tend to your opinion (although I have always been tolerant when friends asked to smoke at my home). But I don't like this photograph anyway, with or without BF's cigarette ...

- Peter -

I do wonder to what extent Bryan may have chosen the track selection here following the catalogue sale a few months back. It implied that he still maintained an interest but would the record company have picked a whole disc of jazz renditions? Probably not.

Well said, Peter. I'm a lifelong non-smoker too and I'm entirely accepting of friends who choose to smoke. Whilst I'm also mindful of those who don't wish to see an inordinate amount of attention attached to this, I can't help but to continue voicing a degree of concern about it. Yes,we shouldn't airbrush 'history' and yes, it's of its time. But that time is not 2024 and even the person concerned no longer smokes. So....why? It's just SO out of touch, you might as well.have put a fox hunt photo on the cover. That's not being churlish - it's a very 'timeline relevant' analogy. Things move on....but obviously not for everyone.

@pianoman

These rare songs will be heard in ten years when Bryan releases his greatest retroperspective.
On the cover you can see him sitting at a table with a cigarette in his mouth and a half-empty bottle of gin in front of him....

It's also a pity that we won't hear any of Bryan's new solo material, recorded before the Roxy tour in 2022.

Phil in an Interview , 08.02.2024: https://www.grammy.com/news/roxy-music- ... issue-2022