Best Bryan Ferry solo album?

This video for "This Is Tomorrow" is sick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmqrTUNrWSM&feature=related

If this thread started today I'd probably vote for Dylanesque.

The "Positively 4th Street" on that record is outstanding.

I really like the whole thing! I haven't heard every Ferry solo album but those I have feel a lot more grab-bag and/or just buried in "atmosphere."

<i>Dylanesque</i> >>>>>>>> <i>I'm Not There</i> soundtrack, too.

The "let's get my live band and run through a bunch of Dylan songs" concept works in large part because Ferry's such an idiosyncratic artist himself, and one who normally stultifies everything with studio perfectionism. The relative (and I mean relative) tossed-off quality is really charming.

Alfred, I've been (slowly) listening to Scott & your discussion re. the Roxy/Ferry albums, and today listened to the Stranded piece. I thought what you said about "Psalm" being 70s-Elvis-style gospel missed the mark, because "Psalm" is more unrestrained than any 70s Elvis I know. But then I listened to Another Time, Another Place for the first time, and thought that the Elvis connections here were more clear, in particular with the 1971 album Elvis Country. That album is mostly a covers album, full of introspective country-folk songs that frequently venture into ennui. While ATAP isn't a country-folk album, it's not so far from one (and of course Roxy at the time played with country, cf. the opening of "If There Is Someone" and "Prairie Rose"). I'd say that ATAP is akin to that Elvis album, in the sensibility it explores. Heck, it even shares a song ("Funny How Time Slips Away"). I was surprised at how much I loved ATAP today---def. will be returning to it again soon.

I thought what you said about "Psalm" being 70s-Elvis-style gospel missed the mark, because "Psalm" is more unrestrained than any 70s Elvis I know

You could be right. I've listened to maybe two albums' worth of Elvis in this period, and what made the comparison plausible was the way Ferry flitted between camp and sincerity using the restrained voice he essayed on For Your Pleasure's "Beauty Queen." A couple of my judgments were improvised. I'm pretty sure if I heard "Psalm" now I'd change my mind.

thanks for listening, by the way!

i grew up with Bete Noir and Boys and Girls being staples in my house as a little kid, and then got really into Roxy later in life. now I'm really pissed that I never heard Foolish Things until just now. was missing out.

xp yeah, it's been interesting---I was looking for a way to structure/motivate my listening through Ferry's oeuvre in particular, and this is doing the trick.

Trying to form thoughts on the B+G-Bete Noir period was my favorite part, actually.

"Don't Stop the Dance" from Boys and Girls sounds like the most amazing thing to me right now. I want to start a band and make music based on the way this song feels.

Incredible song.

have you heard the 12" single?

Truly. Good fucking music.

that Nile Rodgers slink-guitar stretched out gorgeously

Putting in a plug for my friend/sometime ILM poster sw00ds (couple of posts on this thread), who'll be writing about Ferry's cover albums this week at One Week//One Band.

http://oneweekoneband.tumblr.com/

Needless to say I'm interested in Ferry invoking Cthulhu here.

He's singing the melody line from "Mamouna."

Yes, it's the verse of "Mamouna" and the bridge of "Your Painted Smile". I imagine that, starting with these sessions, Ferry would do a lot of reconfiguration of parts of songs in the attempt to create finished masters.

i disagree that it's an unspeakable horror. It's interesting. Is it vital and necessary? no, but it's not a total embarrassment. On the whole horoscope feels unfinished, which it is; and Mamouna is an infinitely better finished product (my personal second favorite Ferry solo release)

I remember, when Mamouna first came out, my friend suggesting that the then-unknown Horoscope must have contained eleven other Zodiac songs in the vein of "Gemini Moon".

The version of “Mother Of Pearl” is an unspeakable horror.

I had no idea such a thing existed so it was the first thing I checked out. Of course it pales next to the original, almost everything does, so remake/remodeling it was rather pointless, but it's a sultry groove and fun to sing along with. I didn't hate it.

There are also very few examples of Ferry remaking/remodeling pre-1976 Roxy in the post-1979 style. I’ve written before how incongruous certain aspects of the transition seem – in that sense, the Horoscope “Mother of Pearl” is a bit of a missing puzzle piece.

So they have released the ‘89 instrumental and final versions of “Your Painted Smile” from this edition as well. The former, which appears to be all Ferry on keyboards, is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1FsWsme3pU

It seems the message is “Here is Bryan’s process for arriving at this record.” And it is indeed a very interesting process.

it's cool because they haven't done this before with his solo albums; and this wasn't the obvious one to do (that would have been boys and girls; but maybe there isn't as much outtake material for that)

I've long wanted a Ferry + synths/Ferry + keyboard Rick Rubin project.

Andy Zax has been involved in solid reissues, but I truly don’t care about his personal opinions regarding music

His opinion about the re-made re-modeled "Mother of Pearl" isn't any better or worse than other assertions in this thread.

I've long wanted a Ferry + synths/Ferry + keyboard Rick Rubin project.

it's cool because they haven't done this before with his solo albums; and this wasn't the obvious one to do (that would have been boys and girls; but maybe there isn't as much outtake material for that)

that would be great because Frantic is likely my third favorite ferry solo album.

I wonder what else exists of the Roxy sessions that then morphed into the rest of Olympia

Soooo great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75cRAMGGAIc

Edit of Mamouna title track instrumental demo from 1989 and fading into the 1994 track now also available. I again enjoy listening to Bryan putz around on his ROMpler.

Raga and Mother of Pearl redux are both amazing.

Yep. “Raga” was one of the first things I checked out. It was called “Blinded By the Life I’m Living” on the boot I had – but the Nth generation sound on that one completely obscured what an absolute corker it actually is.

I do not think "Mother of Pearl" is amazing.

The attempts to get "Your Painted Smile" and "The Only Face" right suggest he could've written first-rate instrumental music.

The deluxe is a fun listen. Oddly, most of Ferry’s ROM-pler demos are richly atmospheric and more in keeping with the final versions on Mamouna than Horoscope, which while detailed and layered feel like they are missing a final layer of lacquer typically associated with most of Ferry’s work.

Some initial thoughts and observations:

“Gemini Moon,” likely a central tune to the Horoscope concept, is more a straight funk number there, absent the swampy Duane Eddy-ish guitar on the record proper.

The same is true of “The Only Face” which, according to Jonathan Rigby’s (excellent) Both Ends Burning book, had been kicking around since 1976 – its descending circular chord progression bears more than a passing resemblance to Roxy’s “My Only Love,” which Ferry also beat into the ground over the years. The sweeping demo and piano and vocal drafts included here are great.

Interestingly, the version of “Loop De Li” on Avonmore actually begins with an overdubbed version of the demo included on this – none of the mostly completed Horoscope version is used, including the vocal which may not be from 2014 but is certainly post-Frantic.

By contrast, “Midnight Train” here hews pretty closely to the completed version – again, the vocal may have been re-recorded for Avonmore but generally this sounds far more similar, albeit with a slightly less prominent disco rhythm guitar.

“N.Y.C./Desdemona” as noted upthread was clearly conceived as part of an urban suite here. The original sketch is pretty similar to the final version on Mamouna, albeit a bit more programmed and leaden, with most of the little touches—the whistling in the intro, the Maceo sax, the live drums—added as it progressed. It’s possible Nile Rodgers’ part was added later as well, tho he may be just mixed lower on the Horoscope version.

“Raga,” as mentioned, is terrific, particularly once it transitions from its languid opening section about 3:05 in. Why wasn’t it included or finished is a bit of a mystery. It may have been that the phrasing if it’s refrain was too similar to the “Tick tick time/It don’t mean nothing” of “Gemini Moon.”

Will try to add some more thoughts over the course of the holiday week.

We got Alfred review

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/bryan-ferry-mamouna-deluxe/

Hurrah!

Great review!

Thanks! Labor of love

I’ve never heard a note of this, & that review made me very intrigued. Very much enjoying so far. Nice slow burn on ‘The 39 steps,’ loving it.

Try this. Beautifully sung.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDHOLIvgD2E

lovely review Mr. Soto

That's a lovely review of Mamouna, Alfred. Always thought that the middle section of the album - 'Your Painted Smile' to 'Which Way to Turn' - could be Ferry's strongest solo work.

This run of goodness abruptly ends with 'Wildcat Days' - it didn't help that I originally misheard the title of the song as being 'W**ker days (and lonely nights)'. I know you're cultivating the image of the romantically frustrated lothario, Bryan, but have some decency, man.

"Gemini Moon" is a nothing too. "Chain Reaction" tho is one of his strongest closers.

Ah but “Gemini Moon” has this one sublime moment during the slightly atonal bridge just before the two minute mark where he sings about the “hangman card.”

Also, since we’re talking about them, I have just noticed that for some reason he’s swapped the sequencing of “Wildcat Days” and “Gemini Moon” on the deluxe.

Man I adore "Your Painted Smile". The live versions I've heard are fine but lose that studio crafted melancholy.

oh and thanks all!

"Gemini Moon" is a nothing too. "Chain Reaction" tho is one of his strongest closers.

I'll save "The 39 Steps" for those reasons and for Ferry's double-tracked vocal; I'm a sucker for singers who overdub themselves singing in a higher register.

We fans needed all the strange mid-90s Ferry could muster.

Also, bereft of the double tracked vocal, but a more illuminating window into Bryan and Brian’s then-resurgent partnership than the song they wrote together:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPh7EKKwDI4

Eno does his best to enliven "The 39 Steps" in that remix, but it's for naught. Ferry hasn't written a good one-chord song since "The Bogus Man", except maybe "The Main Thing". He claims to write all his songs on piano, how the hell do you write something like "N.Y.C." that way? Play a minor triad in 4/4 at mid-tempo and say, "OK, that's my song"?

His two-chord songs of this era can be good ("Which Way to Turn") or bad ("Wildcat Days").

The 39 Steps >> The Main Thing

"The Bogus Man" may be the first song where he does the octave doubling on the vocal.

I've heard this now. Horoscope would definitely be the worst Ferry album if not for Dylanesque. None of the songs are better than their better-known versions, though "The Only Face" is an interesting alternate up-tempo take, and "Mother of Pearl" is such a strong lyric set that it can even survive being Milli Vanillified. "Raga" is so dull as a track that I'm surprised he bothered writing lyrics for it. There are some really poor sequencing decisions - "Desdemona" coming after "The Only Face", in the same key and tempo, makes me think I'm hearing the same song twice in a row every time I listen. Going for the thick layering of Mamouna was a much better decision than Horoscope's attempt to imitate Bête Noire's dancier/poppier sound.
I see that "Loop De Li" was originally titled "Your Love Has Died" on the earlier versions of the record, maybe he felt that was inappropriate in light of his then-wife's subsequent fate.
Sketches is a nice, evocative mix, with the two versions of "The Only Face" again the highlights.
Thanks Alfred for your review, but this had to make me laugh:

Some fragments suggest that Ferry could’ve eked out a sideline as a film composer.

Point taken about the atmospheric nature of the instrumentals, except they have to do usually in a couple of weeks what he takes years to complete. Any 1989 porn film composer could have cranked out "Robot" in an afternoon.

"Robot" gets tedious quick but it's still pretty cool coming from Ferry.

Posting Timothy White's original review of Bête Noire, an extraordinarily hyperbolic one.

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Musician/1980/1988/Musician-1988-01.pdf

I'm surprised that afaict no thread has mentioned that new (to us) song "Star," which he created at least partly in collaboration with the Nine Inch Nails guys. Sounded ok, though Ferry felt a bit relegated to a supporting role.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71VQD8ohaUo

Happy birthday, Love God!

("Star" is okay)

The album he’s done with Amelia Barratt is quite an unexpected and rather delightful curio. Though part of me wonders how the backing tracks would’ve evolved if he’d turned them into ‘regular’ songs.

Barratt has zero charisma and writes duller lyrics (this ain't Dry Cleaning), though some of Ferry's keyboard parts compensate.

Heard on the radio the title track of Another Time, Another Place for the first time ever today... what a great hidden gem! (Roxy have long been one of my favorite bands but I barely know BF's solo records).

(Fantastic live version here.)

The sleeve of ATAP is my all-time favorite album cover by anyone... but I've never heard the record itself, which got mentioned just once upthread.

Mamouna 0

Hang on a fuckin second here!

Bete Noire could do with a little more love too

For the title tracks alone....

That’s a killer live version.

The record suffers a bit from sequel-itis in that it is the same conceit as These Foolish Things. But it relies less on comedy and song-for-song, it’s close to its predecessor’s equal, if a bit straighter and generally an easier listen front to back. “The ‘In’-Crowd” is a legit Ferry classic. “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” is gorgeous. “You Are My Sunshine” starts off like we’re reprising “Psalm” (and doesn’t end a mile from it either). The Cooke cover features lots of delightful Eddie Jobson organ and Paul Thompson bounce.

“It Ain’t Me, Babe” is probably the track that distinguishes this record from Foolish Things: instead of another Great Reimagining of the Master, this one gets by on a fabulous vocal, dynamic interplay and a layered, stately arrangement. And on any given day, I’d probably rather listen to it over his (admittedly classic) “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.”

Not sure there’s a duff track here. Very underrated record.