Best Bryan Ferry solo album?

Depends on your browser. I had problems at work yesterday morning b/c I was on Chrome.

It's "The Name of the Game."

I have no problem on Chrome on my phone, will check computer and safari in a bit. That's where I've had problems.

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.

an amazing song

All those burbling synths in the verse are the best

I love Flesh & Blood.

Flesh & Blood is the only Roxy album I don't really rate but Same Old Scene is an incredible song.

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.

I thought his voice sounded pretty good in DC a few weeks back

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.

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

If that's "Hey little girl", yeah we noticed back then.

No, it's a song called Spanish Gold.

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.

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!

I was always proud of my Mamouna salvage job.

Indeed, was recalling it when I composed the above.

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 .

and he played keytar!

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.

(I think we are very close to the same age.)

Woah, mine as well. Down to the glitter.

How about those covers?

diappointed mamouna didn't get any votes, I think that's the one I listen to the most these days.

Yes, and Taxi is really good. I remember this just getting slammed when it was released; baffling to me.

Agree about yr #1

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).

Also, Boys + Girls and Bete Noire are equally awesome albums. <3

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.

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.

Tad
12 years ago
it's great how he sometimes just gets it all wrong!

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.

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.

The answers to the original question:

These Foolish Things
The Bride Stripped Bare
Bête Noire

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 Frantic
Worst: Dylanesque or Avonmore
Overrated: These Foolish Things
Underrated: In Your Mind or Olympia

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

What's weird is that Avonmore had several of those Horoscope songs, and you can tell: his voice is richer, thicker.

The cover model seems dejected seeing the pillage of Ferry's tape vaults.

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

NVM me I misread that whole thing, looks like the vinyl does have those tracks, just not the other outtakes

What's weird is that _Avonmore_ had several of those _Horoscope_ songs, and you can tell: his voice is richer, thicker.

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

Great wisdom indeed.

yeah it's one of his best albums, I'm continually surprised that not everyone agrees with that.

Hi!

These are long basks. "Which Way to Turn," "Chain Reaction," the title track, "The 39 Steps" -- classic Ferry. When I saw him in '95, he and the band extended the latter to a 12-minute jam.

Like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XPLB3lGFOo

yeah well I expect to agree with you on everything other than Press to Play.

Finally official release date for Mamouna/Horoscope: November 17

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

Deets, per Amazon:

Description
Bryan Ferry’s ninth solo studio album ‘Mamouna’ is being reissued for the first time since 1994 and is being released on two deluxe formats. It was Bryan Ferry’s first studio album in seven years to feature original recordings, having worked on the album for six years under the working title of ‘Horoscope’. The previously unreleased alternate recordings to the final ‘Mamouna’ versions are collected for the first time on these deluxe reissues as the ‘Horoscope’ album. The 2LP audiophile heavyweight vinyl was half-speed cut at Abbey Road Studios, London, by master engineer Miles Showell. The 3CD version also includes the ‘Horoscope’ album, with an additional disc of previously unreleased demos or “Sketches” from both the ‘Mamouna’ and ‘Horoscope’ albums. The artwork direction for the updated reissue was overseen by Bryan Ferry himself. The album features a stellar cast of supporting musicians including Nile Rodgers, Guy Pratt and Steve Ferrone, as well as contributions from his Roxy Music bandmates Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay and Brian Eno. The album peaked at Number 11 on the UK Official Album Chart and includes the singles ‘Don’t Want To Know’, ‘Your Painted Smile’ and title track ‘Mamouna’.
Track Listings
Disc: 1
1 Don't Want To Know (1999 Digital Remaster)
2 N.Y.C. (1999 Digital Remaster)
3 Your Painted Smile (1999 Digital Remaster)
4 Mamouna (1999 Digital Remaster)
5 The Only Face (1999 Digital Remaster)
6 The 39 Steps (1999 Digital Remaster)
7 Which Way To Turn (1999 Digital Remaster)
8 Wildcat Days (1999 Digital Remaster)
9 Gemini Moon (1999 Digital Remaster)
10 Chain Reaction (1999 Digital Remaster)
Disc: 2
1 Where Do We Go From Here (The 39 Steps)
2 The Only Face (Horoscope Version)
3 Desdemona (N.Y.C.)
4 S&M (Midnight Train)
5 Loop De Li (Horoscope Version)
6 Gemini Moon (Horoscope Version)
7 Raga
8 Mother of Pearl (Horoscope Version)
Disc: 3
1 Mamouna (Instrumental Edit '89 / '94)
2 Your Painted Smile (Instrumental First Draft '89)
3 Your Painted Smile (Later version with guide vocals '89)
4 Your Painted Smile (Piano and Vocal '93)
5 N.Y.C. / Desdemona (Instrumental '91)
6 Robot (Instrumental First Draft '89)
7 The Only Face (Instrumental First Draft '89)
8 The Only Face (Piano and Vocal '93)
9 Loop De Li (Instrumental First Draft '89)
10 Horoscope (Instrumental '90)

Oh darn