Rock Is Undead
By David Browne
Entertainment Weekly, 23rd April 1993
Dracula has risen from the grave! And made an album of remakes!
Sort of, anyway. No one captures the alluring sound of a dissipated bloodsucker
crooning romantically to his beloved like Bryan Ferry does. "Taxi," his return
to record bins after nearly six years, finds the former Roxy Music front man
indulging in a favorite pastime -- deconstructing and rebuilding rock and pop
standards. This time, he slows down the Hollies' "Just One Look" and the Shirelles'
"Will You Love Me Tomorrow" to funeral-march tempos, transforming their declarations
of teen lust into the dying words of a penthouse fop. "Amazing Grace" is nearly
unrecognizable: Singing its redemption lyrics in a voice coated with ennui and
setting the song to a percolating Mr. Coffee beat, Ferry reinvents the song
as a sardonic confessional. Few of the remakes have the decadent, jaunty verve
of his covers albums of the '70s. But that's okay, since Ferry appears to be
aiming for something else: beautifully eerie mood music for the lovesick vampire
in us all. (grade) B
Text copyright 1993 Entertainment Weekly, used without
permission.
With thanks to Grant Goggans.
