his voice was showing its age a bit but i thought he acquitted himself well throughout. he seemed a little buried in the mix for much of the show (which i didn't mind; you could hear him well and the band was so on point), but during the quieter songs he sounded good. his aging quaver works nicely for his style.
― nomar, Friday, 12 August 2016 19:26 (seven years ago) link
Good to hear. I will say: as much as I appreciate some of the nuance of his voice in old age, I would much prefer to hear "Avonmore" sung by the Bryan Ferry featured on the cover of that album rather than the nearly-70 one who actually sang it.
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 12 August 2016 23:16 (seven years ago) link
I dunno, Roger Daltrey was sounding pretty ragged with the Who, then he had surgery on his nodes (or whatever) and after I saw him solo and with the Who and he sounded pretty good. And god knows Ferry isn't singing as hard as Roger.
Anyway, I saw Ferry last year or so and he sounded great.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 13 August 2016 03:41 (seven years ago) link
He sounded ragged but OK when I saw him in 2011.
Can he sing this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrrG2WTzFXw
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 13 August 2016 03:52 (seven years ago) link
Stupid black monolith for me.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 13 August 2016 03:54 (seven years ago) link
Depends on your browser. I had problems at work yesterday morning b/c I was on Chrome.
It's "The Name of the Game."
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 13 August 2016 12:08 (seven years ago) link
I have no problem on Chrome on my phone, will check computer and safari in a bit. That's where I've had problems.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 13 August 2016 13:06 (seven years ago) link
I know this isn't "solo Ferry", but "Same Old Scene" is so unique, amazing, revolutionary--with the chilling synths, everything is perfectly layered and the groove is unbeatable. "Same Old Scene" sounds like it laid the basis for all of the new wave music of the first half of the 80s, I believe Duran Duran said it was a very influential song for them (Ministry even recorded a demo of it as well that's on Spotify), so I am surprised it is not more widely known. Despite Flesh And Blood having these soaring, catchy singles, the album has an oneiric quality that I really enjoy for all of this period's transitional awkwardness.
― pplasma, Saturday, 13 August 2016 14:21 (seven years ago) link
an amazing song
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 13 August 2016 15:14 (seven years ago) link
All those burbling synths in the verse are the best
― Master of Treacle, Saturday, 13 August 2016 16:15 (seven years ago) link
I love Flesh & Blood.
― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 13 August 2016 17:45 (seven years ago) link
Flesh & Blood is the only Roxy album I don't really rate but Same Old Scene is an incredible song.
― Kitchen Person, Saturday, 13 August 2016 19:28 (seven years ago) link
I should clarify that I don't really think of F&B as Roxy in the way I do pretty much every other album of theirs (including Avalon). It's far too broad stroke pop, too new wave textured and too session-y in a way that none of their other records are. But on its own, I really enjoy it.
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 14 August 2016 14:09 (seven years ago) link
I thought his voice sounded pretty good in DC a few weeks back
― curmudgeon, Monday, 15 August 2016 20:50 (seven years ago) link
Didn't Eno chose "Same Old Scene" and "Mother of Pearl" as his favorite post-himself Roxy songs?
I checked again those tv performances, which were on Jools Holland... He sounds pretty good on Loop De Li, but on Virginia Plain all you can hear are the backing vocals. Anyway, glad to know he's OK. I'm all for it if his singing is on Frantic level.
― cpl593H, Tuesday, 16 August 2016 14:09 (seven years ago) link
I post this occasionally, because it's fun, but this Icehouse song (replete with Eno backing vocals) is such a wonderful "SOS"-era Roxy rip-off:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekufPK0pGvE
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 16 August 2016 14:21 (seven years ago) link
If that's "Hey little girl", yeah we noticed back then.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 16 August 2016 14:27 (seven years ago) link
No, it's a song called Spanish Gold.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 16 August 2016 16:01 (seven years ago) link
Have spent the last week or so with Mamouna. A record I never rated much sounds like Kane stalking Xanadu nearly a quarter century on. The tunes are runway model skeletal, the performances so comped I’m not sure most of the performers could spot their parts if asked (indeed, Manzanera couldn’t on “Don’t Want to Know”), the lyrics often a collection of empty cliches. And for all of his celebrated return, Eno is all but inaudible in the dense,murky fog that is Bob Clearmountain’s mix.
And yet...yet...I find this record almost hypnotically beautiful. There is a handful of great songs. “Which Way to Turn” is gorgeous and dripping with dewy sadness, and “Chain Reaction” is one of his best post Avalon pieces. There are some fabulous individual moments as well, including the bridge to “Gemini Moon,” and Ferry’s melancholy piano coda to the title track.
But the record works best as a piece – impressionistic pieces of taut, aimless funk and drifting sambas to nowhere adorned by Ferry’s admirable croon. In retrospect, this is the last time his voice would sound this way – by Frantic, the legendarily fulsome baritone would charitably be characterized by Chris Roberts as “lived in, not merely dined in,” but in truth had clearly entered its decline phase.
Here, though, it’s merely a lead instrument, adorned by his thickest, most mucous-y production yet, chock full of guitar atmospherics and Prophet pads that threaten to drown out the Eno treatments – which in any case do not remake or remodel the production here so much as sink into it like a luxury sofa.
His greatest collection of songs? No. His most memorable album? Nope. But his best, most consistent record? Quite possibly.
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 5 July 2019 02:21 (four years ago) link
Well said. Mamouna's got some gorgeous bits to offer. I think I especially love the run from track 4 to 6: title track - The Only Face - The 39 Steps.
I would have voted for Bête Noire in this poll, which is a longtime favourite of mine. Boys & Girls is a close second.I'm a massive Ferry fan but the winner of this poll - These Foolish Things - would never have crossed my mind to vote for. I don't dislike it, it's fun... but it may be my least favourite Ferry solo album!
― Valentijn, Friday, 5 July 2019 06:23 (four years ago) link
I was always proud of my Mamouna salvage job.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 5 July 2019 12:09 (four years ago) link
Indeed, was recalling it when I composed the above.
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 5 July 2019 14:03 (four years ago) link
lol, a few days ago, apropos of nothing, I was playing "These Foolish Things." My wife walked in and asked if I was listening to the "Rocky Horror Picture Show," which ... otm?
"Mamouna" has always been my sentimental favorite, most likely because it was the first solo Ferry album I ever owned, and got right when it came out. I know I was already a Roxy fan - I bought all their albums as cutout cassettes - and I somehow knew of songs like "Kiss and Tell." I remember when "TaxI' was released, but didn't pick it up (was it the mere three-star RS review?). But "Mamouna" I got as a promo, and for some reason I was super-stoked. Probably because it came out at peak '90s Eno. Anyway, I listened to it a lot and saw him on that tour. I recall him starting with his "I Put a Spell on You" cover. He sprinkled glitter on the stage, iirc. And Steve Ferrone was playing drums .
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 July 2019 14:41 (four years ago) link
and he played keytar!
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 5 July 2019 14:48 (four years ago) link
Your experiences are startlingly close to mine except I bought Taxi at the time of release, thanks to hearing "I Put a Spell on You" on my college station.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 5 July 2019 14:49 (four years ago) link
(I think we are very close to the same age.)
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 July 2019 14:52 (four years ago) link
Woah, mine as well. Down to the glitter.
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 5 July 2019 15:05 (four years ago) link
How about those covers?
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 9 February 2020 05:52 (four years ago) link
diappointed mamouna didn't get any votes, I think that's the one I listen to the most these days.
― akm, Sunday, 9 February 2020 16:48 (four years ago) link
Yes, and Taxi is really good. I remember this just getting slammed when it was released; baffling to me.
Agree about yr #1
― Οὖτις, Sunday, 9 February 2020 18:24 (four years ago) link
As Alfred already knows, I would rank "These Foolish Things" a lot higher than it's placed but am satisfied with the rest of the rankings; also, that first song is no longer a Dylan song but a Ferry one, such is the cover's greatness (which seems to be the case with most Dylan covers).
― We Live as We Dee, Alone (deethelurker), Sunday, 9 February 2020 20:22 (four years ago) link
Also, Boys + Girls and Bete Noire are equally awesome albums. <3
― We Live as We Dee, Alone (deethelurker), Sunday, 9 February 2020 20:23 (four years ago) link
Mamouna is by a long shot my favourite but I wasn't around here to vote for it. Which Way To Turn is my favourite solo Ferry song mostly for the way he sings "I can't control my feelings if I tried" in the manner of a man who, at his wildest, loosens his tie, undoes three buttons and lets a forelock dangle onto his brow.
― Lemon Kitten (Dan.S.), Sunday, 9 February 2020 21:40 (four years ago) link
I'm not sure which is more visibly uncomfortable for Bryan Ferry: playing guitar or growing a beard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOnYGdGgqs4
I keep expecting warring factions of an Italian crime drama to bust into this video and destroy the place.
― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 28 May 2023 01:43 (ten months ago) link
Tad12 years agoit's great how he sometimes just gets it all wrong!
― Kim Kimberly, Sunday, 28 May 2023 02:17 (ten months ago) link
Wasn’t this a bad time for Ferry because of a particularly difficult romantic breakup? I always associate the beard with that - it brings to mind Luke Wilson and how he believed growing a beard was a good fit for his lovelorn character in The Royal Tenenbaums.
― birdistheword, Sunday, 28 May 2023 02:19 (ten months ago) link
Yeah - sez Wikipedia:
It was recorded after his girlfriend Jerry Hall left him for Mick Jagger in 1977, and appears to contain references to their break-up.
― birdistheword, Sunday, 28 May 2023 02:21 (ten months ago) link
The answers to the original question:
These Foolish ThingsThe Bride Stripped BareBête Noire
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 28 May 2023 15:11 (ten months ago) link
Wasn’t this a bad time for Ferry because of a particularly difficult romantic breakup?
There was also a madness in his soul, and he'd go to L.A. laundromats to watch clothes tumble over and over.
Best: The Bride Stripped Bare, then FranticWorst: Dylanesque or AvonmoreOverrated: These Foolish Things Underrated: In Your Mind or Olympia
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 30 May 2023 19:00 (ten months ago) link
Ecstatic over this Mamouna reissue. I can believe it includes songs from Horoscope, which is the original iteration of the project
http://www.vivaroxymusic.com/albums_129.php
― beamish13, Thursday, 15 June 2023 14:13 (ten months ago) link
What's weird is that Avonmore had several of those Horoscope songs, and you can tell: his voice is richer, thicker.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 15 June 2023 14:19 (ten months ago) link
The cover model seems dejected seeing the pillage of Ferry's tape vaults.
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 15 June 2023 14:38 (ten months ago) link
i wish the vinyl reissue had the Horoscope tracks; if not it should retain the original cover, I think. I'm sure they'll slip those out on vinyl for RSD or something
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Thursday, 15 June 2023 17:57 (ten months ago) link
NVM me I misread that whole thing, looks like the vinyl does have those tracks, just not the other outtakes
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Thursday, 15 June 2023 17:58 (ten months ago) link
What's weird is that _Avonmore_ had several of those _Horoscope_ songs, and you can tell: his voice is richer, thicker.
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 16 June 2023 11:25 (ten months ago) link
i've been doing a roxy music + ferry runthrough, i'm very familiar with every roxy album but ferry beyond boys & girls is totally unknown to me, both before and after. really loved the cover records, really enjoy bride stripped bare transitioning into the reunited roxy music material, but last night i had insomnia and i ended up listening to mamouna over and over again and am totally under its spell and adore its hungover-at-nighttime atmosphere
― ivy., Friday, 22 September 2023 18:14 (seven months ago) link
Great wisdom indeed.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 22 September 2023 18:17 (seven months ago) link
yeah it's one of his best albums, I'm continually surprised that not everyone agrees with that.
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Friday, 22 September 2023 18:58 (seven months ago) link
Hi!
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 September 2023 18:59 (seven months ago) link