Best Bryan Ferry song ever

"All I Want Is You"--the most concise song of his, I think, and my vote for all-time best Roxy song too (with stiff competition from "Amazon," "A Really Good Time" and yeah "Va. Plain."

I actually don't know the solo stuff, but I hear the covers are the thing?

>-- Alex in NYC

better than Marshall Crenshaw's version, on "Miracle of Science"?

what about his Dylan cover Alex--is that "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall"?

Me, man, I don't know. He's one of those guys who did so much in the seventies (easily as much as, say, Bowie did in the same decade) that it's hard to select one thing. Maybe for right this second "Mother of Pearl" for being two fantastically great songs in one. Or then maybe I'd say "The Bogus Man" -- or "Editions of You" -- or "Both Ends Burning" -- or...ARGH!

I actually don't know the solo stuff, but I hear the covers are the thing?

His covers are the thing, the most obvious being "These Foolish Things", "Let's Stick Together" and, yes, "Hard Rain" and the Blockbuster ad-endorsing "The In-Crowd". Though I do like the very un-PC "Tokyo Joe" (from In Your Mind).

The version of "2HB" on LST is, yes, far superior. No one did the phased clavinet thing like The Immortal Eddie Jobson.

I like them all. In fact I went to bed last night with all my Roxy mp3s playing on random. I need more Ferry solo. Renegade Soundwave sampled the piano intro to the In Crowd on Positive ID.

If not, then "Love Me Madly Again"

Second place is "Beauty Queen". When he sings "What you and I share is an ideal of beauty" there's an ache in his voice that's the absolute definition of glamour and louche anomie.

And at the risk of losing a testicle, I'd pick "More Than This" third, because it's another great circular song and the perfect valediction for Roxy's work.

(it's hard for me to skim threads like this because every time I see the word "Roxy" I think someone is talking about me and there is a tiny glimmer of wtf.)

Oh and maybe "Sentimental Fool" for the backflip after the angsty intro.

(Disclaimer: I've never heard any solo Ferry, aside from "Hard Rain" a coupla times.)

"Your Painted Smile"

"Whirldwind"

"This Island Earth"

"Running Wild"

Thoughtful pick.

"This Island Earth"

Word — great song on a serious let-down of an album.

"Mother Of Pearl", for being two great songs in one (thanx Ned), and for the fascinating anecdote about its recording - how a seemingly overlong, way-repetitious 3-chord vamp was magically transformed into a song with the mere addition of the vocal track.

I have a bootleg of Roxy in 1976 (in Stockhom, I think) where they play "Mother of Pearl" — intead of the awesomely slow, lumbering of the second half, the tempo here is several shades faster. For that matter, The Immortal Eddie Jobson plays those three chords not on piano, but on (once again) phased, flanged clavinet. And it fucking smokes.

That would be "Dance Away" then :-)

(although there are several better ones on "Avalon")

No love for his album of covers, "As Time Goes By"? Hmmm.....

Of course, he didn't write it. And there are some who love that rendition.

I also love "Don't Worry, Baby" - it's more fragile, vulnerable, and otherworldly than the original (and it's got a great Manzanera solo too).

That is a great one.

man, forgot how AWESOME "don't stop the dance" is. sheesh. also, near mint vinyl of this album sounding so sweeeeeeeeeeeet.

i never hear any modern stuff with this vibe that even comes close. they want to. but they rarely ever do. this shit is for pros.

the 12" mix with the extended Nile guitar is a thing of beauty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiqcS1bIRW0

"Do The Strand"

i am in love with this futuristic spin on "Do the twist" (and Brian Eno's Christmastree tinsel sweater!). Ferry is Silly Elvis here. it's like every line he is a different cartoon character, some kind of Bugs Bunny Private Eye.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/apr/28/bryan-ferry-i-did-a-lot-of-whistling-on-my-paper-round-as-a-lad

Will read but that's an amazing url

a glam rocker would kick a ball on the street

His answers to the questions are all good.

They are but the interview is from a year ago, how did you come across it?

I can’t remember exactly. I even went to the browser window just now to see what I was searching for but it wasn’t clear.

Just to add to the excitement, I have been floating a challops in my head that Bryan Ferry is a better singer than Bowie, and I say this as a fan of both.

Ugh, just looking at that after I typed it, it seems really ill-formulated. “Better.” Maybe something can be said about the different approaches and some of the advantages of the Bryan Ferry method.

One thing that preceded me finding that interview was a friend sending me this, although once again I still don’t know what exactly I was searching for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5_NjVaeGoI

1972 is the only year that Ferry's singing might have been weaker than Bowie's.

I feel sad for those Manifesto songs that Ferry has abandoned.

That Ferry clip from the Leno clip was my intro to him.

Manifesto's one of his best albums, but those songs he condemns rightly suck.

I'm going to cry, cry, cry, cry, cry! But it's their most uncertain album.

Chris Thomas says that when he was producing Roxy Music, Procul Harum, one of his other clients, disparaged them; although that would have been after Trower left.

I disagree: it's one of their most focused albums, a disco-inflected L.A. studio-rock effort. Which doesn't mean some of it doesn't work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2crIrmkE2M

a disco-inflected L.A. studio-rock effort

These are the two genres that came out on top, but they were also uncertain enough to release multiple versions of half the songs, trying to find the proper blend of New Wave and art rock that would give them both acclaim and success.

Graham Simpson, meanwhile, was their most inventive bassist, but it's probably for the best that they used more conventional musicians in that role going forward. John Gustafson is the secret weapon on those mid-period albums (but I don't know that most Roxy fans will find much of interest in his earlier band Hard Stuff).

Gary Tibbs weeps

ICYMI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWhzG9cQGgc