Toronto Sun - Sun 26th May
Toronto Sun
26 May 2002
Ferry delivers the goods
By JANE STEVENSON
Toronto Sun
For this solo disc, in stores Tuesday, Ferry offers up some of his best new songs in years, unusual covers and a stellar guest list.
On the plus side are the beat-driven Cruel, Goddess Of Love and Nobody Loves Me -- Ferry's songwriting collaborations with sometime Eurythmics guitarist Dave Stewart -- although the duo falters on the slower and melodramatic San Simeon.
Former Roxy Music keyboardist Brian Eno also resurfaces, playing and singing on Goddess Of Love and I Thought, which he co-wrote, while Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood makes his presence felt on the heavily textured and striking new Ferry song Hiroshima.
Back on board too is co-producer Rhett Davies (Roxy Music's Avalon, Ferry's As Time Goes By), and his elegant and restrained production -- with Ferry and pianist Colin Good -- goes a long way.
On the minus side are Ferry's covers of Bob Dylan's It's All Over Now, Baby Blue and Don't Think Twice, It's All Right. The polished singer sounds like he's trying to mimic Dylan's odd nasal inflections and the combination, while hardly embarassing, just doesn't work. Same goes for the Don Nix blues standard Goin' Down and the Leadbelly classic Goodnight Irene, which simply require more grit and soul.
Ferry does better with his interpretation of the medieval Ja Hun Hons Pris, written by Richard The Lionheart, which leads into the pretty new ballad A Fool For Love. (More on Bryan Ferry)
Track Listing