In the career-long tradition of Roxy Music, ‘Avalon’ refines a host of musical and thematic inspirations into its own unique and instantly iconic style. From the beguiling charisma of Andy Mackay’s exquisitely deft avant-cocktail sax, through the folds and swerves of lustrous sound summoned up by Phil Manzanera’s mesmeric…
October 1973 is not a stop along the Great Rock Myth highway, but its import should at least be recognised with a plaque: “Here lies the deathbed of the tyranny of originality”. Despite its modest appearance and unheralded reputation, Bryan Ferry’s first solo outing, These Foolish Things, remains as…
There’s no winning over some people. Criticised in many quarters of the rock press during the reign of sincere Californian troubadours for the aloof, detached persona he had cultivated with Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry delivered his most emotionally unfettered album only to find himself derided by the same faces,…
Six years elapsed between the release of Taxi, Bryan Ferry’s eighth solo album, and his previous release, Bête Noire. It was the most protracted artistic silence of his career, and in the intervening time he had become a father again, twice over, experienced the sad passing of his mother…
Olympia includes a stellar cast of session musicians and frontmen; from Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, Chic mastermind Nile Rodgers, Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, Brian Eno, Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and ex-Stone Roses and current Primal Scream bassist Mani – not to mention Miles Davis acolyte Marcus…
Clearly reinvigorated by the swift creation of the previous year’s Taxi album, Bryan Ferry returned to his protracted Horoscope project with a fresh ear and a new sense of purpose. After nearly eight years’ toil the album had become bogged-down by its own complexity, a maddeningly maximal endeavour that…
The iconic is generally the result of a conflation of public perception with perfect timing, and these are both factors that loom large in Bryan Ferry’s third solo album, Let’s Stick Together, released in September 1976. With Roxy Music on hiatus, that Ferry’s solo career should come under increasingly…
After the huge success of the ‘Let’s Stick Together’ single, In Your Mind represents a creative leap in Bryan Ferry’s solo output. Here we get a record made entirely of new compositions, performed and produced with a zeal that belies the fact that, including Roxy Music, this was his…
‘Frantic’ is not a word one normally associates with the popular perception of Bryan Ferry. The eleventh solo album from this most intriguing and influential of artists is an energetic, effervescent set, blending stylishly thrilling self-penned songs with a handful of emotionally-charged covers. Clearly refreshed by 2001’s triumphant Roxy…
There is a racing, joyous intensity to Bryan Ferry’s interpretations of the songs of Bob Dylan. Just as his legendary version of ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’, recorded back in 1973, exchanged apocalyptic vision for exuberant swagger, so at the heart of these new recordings lies Bryan Ferry’s brilliance…