IN the summer of 2001, Roxy Music played their first gig in 18 years. The place was Dublin and the fans went wild. Just as they did 30 or so years ago when Bryan Ferry, (vocals/piano/ harmonica), Phil Manzanera (guitars), Andy Mackay (sax/oboe) and Paul Thompson (drums) and Zev Katz (bass) first burst on to the music scene.

Many riffs and lyrics have passed over the footlights since those heady days but, as this double CD of 22 superb live tracks taken from their world tour of 2001 proves, Roxy are still as foxy as ever.

Back then I did not mind missing the Ferry, so to speak. That all changed when I saw his spine-tingling show at York Barbican Centre last year. I became hooked.

For anyone like me this CD is a great intro into the world of one of the planet's coolest bands. It gives you the chance to go on Roxy's world tour, taking in places such as Hamburg (Street Life), Tokyo (More Than This), Avalon (London), Dance Away (Adelaide) and Love Is The Drug (Perth). Or you could even Do The Strand in Vancouver. And there's more, lots more and all of it excellent.

Add the sublime talents of Chris Spedding (guitars), Colin Good (piano), Zev Katz (bass) and Lucy Wilkins on violin and you have lush musical arrangements to thrill the senses.

It's as if Roxy had never been away. We are not talking nostalgia here. Far from it. Yes, Ferry is still the King Of Cool but the man with the corrugated voice demonstrates here, in double measures, why he has never renounced his crown.

The pulsating rhythms on numbers such as Virginia Plain, Ladytron and Jealous Guy are truly timeless for lovers of style, glamour and, whisper it loudly, romance.

Get it!

Updated: 12:09 Thursday, July 17, 2003