Bryan Ferry: As Time Goes By
As Time Goes By, Bryan Ferry (Virgin):
There are really two Bryan Ferrys.
The first is the former driving force behind Roxy Music, art-rock band extraordinaire of the ‘70s and early ‘80s.
The other Ferry is the elegant, debonair cabaret singer who’s world is awash in sighs, soulful glances and songs about pitching woo.
As Time Goes By is firmly rooted in his latter alter ego with Ferry delivering 15 standards from the ‘20s and ‘30s in his wonderfully woozy, world-weary style.
And though the arrangements and instrumentation – strings, brass, woodwinds, brushes on the snare – are exquisite, it’s Ferry’s understated yet passionate singing that makes it all work.
He’s light and vibrant on Easy Living and Lover Come Back To Me and deeply romantic on Time On My Hands and Where Or When, deftly avoiding the trap of camp exaggeration which has, at times, plagued his earlier cover albums.
The disc’s piece de resistance is Ferry’s smoky, exotic rendition of I’m In The Mood For Love.
Here Martin Denny tropical lounge music meets the dreamy watercolor world best exemplified by Roxy’s Avalon.
Former bandmates Phil Manzanera and Andy Newmark play on the cut.
--Heidi Johnson-Wright
