My Amazon Reviews: Bryan Ferry “Avonmore”

Avonmore Evermore
3 Out Of 5 Stars

There is still, always, that voice. The seductive, world weary croon that masters sublime mood and the occasional glimmer of funk-pop. The atmosphere of the best of Roxy Music and the various high points of his solo career, which has been maddeningly inconsistent. But at his best ("Avalon" will always be on my desert island list), Ferry has a grace few can equal. As he nears the age of 70, "Avonmore" strives to find those heights. Given his age, that old world weary man just slips into it like a glove.

Calling the CD "Avonmore" is hardly and accident. In much the same way that "Olympia" took a sample from "Avalon" to compose "Olympia's" "You Can Dance," the tempos and atmosphere are meant to evoke memories of that classic Roxy. However, the sound of "Avonmore" harkens more to "Boys and Girls" and "Bete Noire" than anything Roxy has recorded. Musically, I'd say he makes the mark about 50% of the time here. "Loop Di Li," "One Night Stand" and the title track are vintage Ferry, engaging pop with funky undertones, while "Lost" is the enigmatic Ferry (and also the shortest song here) and features Mark Knopfler on guitar. The cast also includes Flea, Nile Rodgers and Johnny Marr, even though you'd never know it because the sonics of "Avonmore" are just that consistent, even if the songs seem mostly to be retreads.

It's that consistency that lays a trap for the disc's final two songs. He covers Stephen Sondheim's "Send In The Clowns" and then Robert Palmer's "Johnny and Mary." Like his albums of classic cover songs during the Roxy era and his dreadful "Dylanesque," Ferry transforms these into his own. But covering Sondheim is a daunting task for just about everyone, and Ferry misses the target. It's just not a song to be Ferr-iszed. "Johnny and Mary" fares a little better by slowing Palmer's electronic groove down to a misty piano and bubbly synth. It makes the characters something of a middle aged couple who really do "need the world to tell him he ain't lonely." It's an odd way to end an album that, two songs before, had Ferry's position as an elder statesman of ennui secured. Adding these two songs at the end feels almost like an afterthought, like he just wanted to prove that he could take any song in the world and it would just drop into place. It doesn't work, and that is part of the reason I only rated "Avonmore" as an average, three star album.

     

My Amazon Reviews: David Bowie "Heathen"

Down in space it's always 1982  
4 Out of 5 Stars

Continuing the creative resurgence David Bowie began with 1995's "Outside," "Heathen" found David Bowie creating interesting and soulful music after the more chilling "Hours." Teaming up with producer Tony Visconti, "Heathen" seemed as if Bowie decided he no longer had to keep trying to outdo anything from his past. While the album is moody and haunting, Bowie and Visconti seemed to be settled on making an album that played to Bowie's greatest elements.

If listened to in that respect, "Heathen" delivers plenty of payoffs. Bowie seems more of an alien than ever on "Heathen," staring with the electronic squiggles and snaps of "Sunday," which ultimately builds to Bowie chanting "Seek only peace" under the main lyric. The melancholy, if warmer "Everyone Says Hi" calls out to a lost love to come home to the boring little town she long ran away from. "Slow Burn" recalls a slowed down "Starman," and is the most haunting of the songs here (as well as my favorite from the CD).

Close behind is "Slip Away," which - to me - indictaed the purpose of "Heathen" as Bowie and Visconti created it.

"Some of us will always stay behind
Down in space it's always 1982,
The joke we always knew..."

Seems to be directed at everyone still expecting another "Space Oddity" or awaiting another chapter in the chronicles Major Tom. It's more than a sly humor. Even more humorous and intriguing are the three choices of outside songs. Bowie takes a run at Neil Young's "I've Been Waiting For You" (featuring Dave Grohl on guitar). This is probably the most conventional of the three choices, and without knowing the source, it would be easy to think it came off of Bowie's pen. Then there's The Pixies' "Cactus," which is sort of fun. If you listen carefully, you'll hear Bowie spelling out D-A-V-I-D the same what The Pixies spelled out their own name on the original.

But the absolute topper comes in the form of "I Took a Trip On a Gemini Spacecraft," originally by the Legendary Stardust Cowboy. Stardust issues aside, the Texas psycho-billy artist 9and one time T-Bone Burnette collaborator) is a hardcore cult artist that Bowie has always admired. But picking this song is almost like an inside joke, because it fits into the album so seamlessly while kind of pricking the Bowie legend. It's the most fun to be head on "Heathen."

It also kind of vindicates the album's title. The slip-sleeve's images include pictures of damaged art, and including a song like "Gemini Spacecraft" is a sort of blaspheme. It's hard not to imagine Bowie having a good laugh at all the critics who'd be poring over the album when it was first issued and trying to figure the relevance. "Heathen," dark and moody as it often is, is still David Bowie at his strongest, as well as a hearty call of "I'm still here" from the artist.

 

My Amazon Reviews: Bryan Ferry "Olympia"

Boys and Girls are now Men and Women 
3 Out of 5 Stars

Bryan Ferry still sounds like the slick Lothario he invented for himself some 30 odd years ago. With "Olympia," the suave and dapper Ferry seems to be walking the same ground he always has. While there are some really cool numbers here, there's something missing. The crooner is still oozing sophistication in a very dapper outfit, but the suit is, upon closer inspection, the same one he's always worn. Now the cuffs are getting frayed.

The earliest hint is the first sound on the album; "You Can Dance" opens with a sample from Roxy's brilliant farewell, "Avalon." There's also the much ballyhooed guest appearances from Brian Eno, Phil Manzanera, and Andy MacKay. If that isn't enough to make you wonder if Roxy wasn't in the fore of all involved party's minds, there is the photo of Kate Moss, draped across the cover like those grand old 70's album covers. Yes, Ferry's evocative. However, he's rarely been this eager to invoke.

It makes "Olympia" a 50/50 affair. When it works - the sublime "Heartache By Numbers, for instance, or the funky "BF Bass" - that old magic creeps up on you. His choice in a good cover serves him well, as his take on Traffic's ""No Face, No Name, No Number" are enough to make you forget the horror of "Dylanesque." The synths on "Tender Is The Night" are icy and haunting, bringing the album to a satisfying conclusion. But I am so used to being able to play a Bryan Ferry album from end to end without any clinkers (almost all the Roxy Catalog, most of his solos till "Mamouna" in 1994), that even a return to form such as this is merely a beautiful echo.