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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (nine 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 (six months ago) link
Great wisdom indeed.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 22 September 2023 18:17 (six 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 (six months ago) link
Hi!
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 September 2023 18:59 (six months ago) link
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
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 September 2023 19:00 (six months ago) link
yeah well I expect to agree with you on everything other than Press to Play.
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Friday, 22 September 2023 19:30 (six months ago) link
Finally official release date for Mamouna/Horoscope: November 17https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1FsWsme3pU
― Xgau Murder Spa (nikola), Wednesday, 4 October 2023 14:59 (five months ago) link
Deets, per Amazon:
DescriptionBryan 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 ListingsDisc: 11 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: 21 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 Raga8 Mother of Pearl (Horoscope Version)Disc: 31 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)
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 5 October 2023 01:21 (five months ago) link
Oh darn
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 5 October 2023 15:34 (five months ago) link
So was Horoscope actually a finished eight-song album, ready to be released in this form, or just the name of a project that became Mamouna?
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 5 October 2023 15:43 (five months ago) link
depends on how you look at it. it wasn't really done and ready to be released, it turned into Mamouna, but it's fairly close to 'done'. You can find high quality versions of it online.
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Thursday, 5 October 2023 16:09 (five months ago) link
Many of the songs he cannibalized for future things. I prefer the "Loop de Li" on Avonmore.
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 5 October 2023 16:36 (five months ago) link
agreed
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Thursday, 5 October 2023 17:23 (five months ago) link
I've argued for years that he kept the '94 vocals on several Avonmore tracks. You can hear the difference.
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 5 October 2023 17:24 (five months ago) link
Here you go:
Eric Alterman – We Are Not One: A History of America’s Fight Over Israel
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 5 October 2023 19:13 (five months ago) link
lol
I mean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_28Ja-xXn7c
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 5 October 2023 19:14 (five months ago) link
He's singing the melody line from "Mamouna."
this is a 94 recording with 89 guide vocals though, not an avonmore recording with 94 vocals.
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Thursday, 5 October 2023 19:17 (five months ago) link
Oh, I wasn't making that point again. I was posting the first track he released from the set.
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 5 October 2023 19:19 (five months ago) link
oh, ha
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Thursday, 5 October 2023 19:21 (five months ago) link
My friend Andy Zax on FB:
Horoscope circulated internally at WBR at the time. (I still have my official in-house copy.) Everyone hated it, and for good reason. The version of “Mother Of Pearl” is an unspeakable horror.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 5 October 2023 19:34 (five months ago) link
Needless to say I'm interested in Ferry invoking Cthulhu here.
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.
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 5 October 2023 20:03 (five months ago) link
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? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Thursday, 5 October 2023 21:06 (five months ago) link
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".
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 5 October 2023 21:08 (five months ago) link
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.
― Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable POST (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 5 October 2023 21:17 (five months ago) link
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.
― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 7 October 2023 04:35 (five months ago) link
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=F1FsWsme3pUIt seems the message is “Here is Bryan’s process for arriving at this record.” And it is indeed a very interesting process.
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 8 October 2023 00:21 (five months ago) link
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? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Sunday, 8 October 2023 02:20 (five months ago) link
I've long wanted a Ferry + synths/Ferry + keyboard Rick Rubin project.
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 8 October 2023 04:55 (five months ago) link
Andy Zax has been involved in solid reissues, but I truly don’t care about his personal opinions regarding music
― beamish13, Sunday, 8 October 2023 05:37 (five months ago) link
His opinion about the re-made re-modeled "Mother of Pearl" isn't any better or worse than other assertions in this thread.
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 8 October 2023 12:47 (five months ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 8 October 2023 21:25 (five months ago) link
that would be great because Frantic is likely my third favorite ferry solo album.
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Sunday, 8 October 2023 21:49 (five months ago) link
I wonder what else exists of the Roxy sessions that then morphed into the rest of Olympia
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Sunday, 8 October 2023 21:54 (five months ago) link