Bryan Ferry, 1979-1999: What Happened? What Was He Going For?

I saw him last year…good show, but his voice is destroyed…

His voice is reduced a whisper of desires of past. The song selection is striking, though, and the band is first-rate.

So what DID happen?? I have theories.

No love for the Bête Noir title track, Alfred? It's the song that would top my list.
And from BN, definitely 'The Right Stuff' too, 'New Town' as well.
I'd also put 'The Only Face' from Mamouna in there.
And I am pretty fond of his As Time Goes By album, 'The Way You Look Tonight and 'Where or When' are highlights for me there.
'Reason or Rhyme' is a strong one from Olympia.

(But you can count me in with the 'few' mentioned in the OP who would say Boys And Girls and Bête Noir are his best solo albums, don't know what that says about me.)

I can't belive I omitted "Reason or Rhyme."

(But you can count me in with the 'few' mentioned in the OP who would say Boys And Girls and Bête Noir are his best solo albums

Ten years later, me too, surprisingly, on Boys and Girls at least. To the point that I even did a re-edit of "Sensation" a few years ago:

https://soundcloud.com/the-me/sensation-the-me-re-edit-1

Excellent writing as usual, Alfred.

Which way to turn and San Simeon are underrated imo

those are all good songs. nice list! I'm at peace with ferry as he turned out. I think he's done what he needed to do. and I still don't like Bete Noir that much.

Does anyone have a copy of Eno's 39 Steps mix? I am a big fan but can't find it anywhere.

same!

I have a different version, from The Horoscope Demos, but I have no idea if it's the Eno mix. Eno is all over that album in a supporting role.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP6HoCNQtlU

I'll still defend Robin Trower's co-productions on this album and Taxi: he insisted on a few tracks per song at most, which put renewed interest on Ferry's vocals and keyboards for the first time since Avalon.

Dunno if this was ever posted but it's excellent. Bracewell's knowledge and respect for Ferry/Roxy makes him a keen interviewer.
Have only read his "Remake:Remodel" and "Souvenir" - both excellent. Would like to read more of his stuff.

err...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpwXiIvS7g0

That was enjoyable, thanks for sharing. Ferry’s breezy, devil-may-care detachment there is actually a great contrast to something I just stumbled back upon.

The Mamouna deluxe release has gotten me thinking about how few times in his career Ferry seemed to be unsure of himself. Another was The Bride Stripped Bare which also luxuriates in uncertainty and insecurity but in a very different way.

I was fairly thunderstruck re-reading this interview with Allen Jones in 1978 which oscillates between crushing self-doubt and chest-beating braggadocio that it is striking for an artist that Alfred correctly notes is almost famously unreflective in his interviews. The image of Ferry wandering around parties in Bel Air imagining himself to be an observational writer and “social explorer” but being received instead as a getting-on celebrity who’s just been dumped by his model girlfriend is one of many memorable images here. There’s also his admission at a time when he was estranged from his Roxy bandmates that he gets depressed and unmotivated absent “enthusiasm from other people.”

As for the Bride record itself, I still find it to be a grab bag of decent-to-very good originals—“Sign of the Times” is a classic—oddly straightforward soul covers and a handful of one-off experiments, performed by session musicians who don’t challenge Ferry here so much as indulge him.

But the hurt, loneliness and wounded pride are more audible in the context of the Jones interview – as Ferry waxes nostalgic about the “emotion” and closeness he felt to a bunch of guys he was paying to play for him in a remote Swiss studio while also admitting to the tremendous pressure he felt from Atlantic Records to break America. There is also the sense of immense frustration he felt with “Sign of the Times” flopping as a single at the height of a movement he felt some ownership for having helped create.

Where did that leave Ferry? Stripped of the credibility to offer ironic social commentary, firmly entrenched as a celebrity but with waning commercial draw as a solo act. That Ferry would return to Roxy a year later with session musos in tow to record the likes of “Dance Away” is perhaps not merely unsurprising but likely inevitable.

Mystery solved?