"FRANTIC" is not a word one normally associates with the popular perception of Bryan Ferry. The new 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. Refreshed by last year's triumphant Roxy Music reunion tour, Ferry's sounding punchier than ever.
"The title Frantic comes from a lyric that didn't end up on the album, but seemed to me a good title for this record. It's been a hectic couple of years for me, both touring and recording, and the mood in which this album was created was nothing if not frantic."
Indeed the album's flushed with a vigour Ferry's often kept veiled: it's perhaps more song-based than texture-obsessed, with killer hooks a-plenty.
"Yes I know what it is to be free/ To run as far as the eye can see..." ("Cruel")
"Having touched on the Thirties with "As Time Goes By", this time I wanted to do something quite different, and make a guitar-based album with a direct, live feel."
Musicians involved include Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, Dave Stewart (who co-wrote several numbers) and Roxy tour stalwarts Paul Thompson, Chris Spedding, Colin Good and Lucy Wilkins. Brian Eno collaborates with Ferry on the co-written finale "I Thought", and also plays on "Goddess Of Love". "And he sings with gusto on both!" smiles Bryan.
Lyrically, to the delight of long-term Roxy fans, Ferry revisits and reinvigorates themes he's explored before - love, lust, longing, dream homes and Dylan tropes. It can't be entirely coincidental that frantic rhymes with romantic…
"EACH wall a picture/ Some of his best work/ Delicate touches/ They're simply charming…" ("San Simeon")
BRYAN Ferry rose to fame in the early Seventies as singer, songwriter and designer for those pioneering pop peacocks, Roxy Music. Roxy, now of course icons, began as iconoclasts, revolutionising notions of where the boundaries of rock music lay. They initiated a seismic shift, utilising glamour, trauma and wild, fearless experimentation, both sonic and visual. Their 1972 debut album (dressed in the first of a series of archly sexy covers) is habitually hailed as one of the greatest opening salvos of all time. A provocative, potent brew of pop-art and sci-fi, of imagination and nostalgia, it was matched by the sleek, sinister For Your Pleasure. Singles such as Virginia Plain and Pyjamarama stunned the sleeping pop charts into wakefulness.
Protection - we do a lot of it these days. Sun cream for our skin, sunglasses for our eyes, condoms for you know where - but do you remember to protect your hearing?
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The Bete Noire Tour
