Fabulous, Fine Tunes in Ferry's 'Taxi'

By Grant Goggans

The Red & Black, 3rd May 1993

Bryan Ferry: "Taxi" (Reprise)

Like manna from heaven, Bryan Ferry has, after a five and a half year layoff, released a new album.

"Taxi" is an outstanding addition to this great artist's magnificent discography, and like his early material, he's covering old stuff again.

Twenty years ago, Ferry released his first solo LP, "These Foolish Things," a collection of covers. This was unheard of in the early 70s, especially when an artist had a hugely successful band -- Roxy Music --going at the same time.

It was even more unusual to counterpoint the original and innovative Roxy style with cheesy and sleazy renditions of things like "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" and "It's My Party" with big choruses, loud guitars and the subtlety of a jackhammer.

He did it again a year later to things like "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "You are My Sunshine." It was so bizarre a concept that the albums subverted their way into the UK top five, introducing camp into pop music and starting a trend of cover albums that just about everyone does at some point in their career.

These are weird albums. They're well played and probably would be great simply on a musical level were it not for the originals being better songs. But these versions are on a different level because they're twisted around so much.

Since those halycon days, Ferry's made two of the greatest albums ever with Roxy Music as well as two others on his own. He's simply one of the finest musical geniuses in the world. The chart-topping success he's had everywhere in the world except the U.S. is proof enough, so I shouldn't bore you with an essay on every artist that has been influenced by Ferry.

Ferry's also grown as an artist. The early Roxy material with Brian Eno (and Lord, he camped it up too), was harsh, abrasive and bizarre, which gave way over the years to a studied, yet casual exercise in art.

Ferry's last two albums were like quiet Phil Spector productions, with vast amounts of music layered piece-by-piece into solid, melancholy, beautiful tracks.

It is this style that surrounds the songs on "Taxi." These covers don't sound anything like the originals, but like Ferry's own material. Twisted, shaped, remade and remodeled into new songs with just a writing credit to give them away, they're unearthly in their majesty.

It opens with Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You," which, in its mid-1950s incarnation, was a track suited to the man's name. Screamin' Jay used to sing with white face paint on a stage with skulls, voodoo dolls and incense and didn't sing so much as scream in a blood-curdling roar.

Ferry tames the beast, turning it into a sedate, seductive creature. The first single, it's already made the UK top 20 and is getting lots of air-play here.

Elsewhere, there's a host of other brilliant tracks, my favorite being a fabulous rendition of Linda Ronstadt's "Just One Look." His voice has never been better. He also transforms the Shirelles' "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" into a fabulous lament.

The best example of a lament you'll ever hear is "Amazing Grace." This is not Mahalia Jackson or Judy Collins here.

Opening with an uptempo synth beat, Ferry doesn't sing so much as sigh in eternal ennui. It's like he's claiming his life has no grace, and the positive aspect of the song becomes ironic by proxy.

The only track here that isn't thoroughly brilliant is the Velvet Underground's "All Tomorrow's Parties," one of the best songs that Lou Reed's written. Still, because Japan once covered it a bit better, I'm probably a bit biased.

The production by Robin Trower is outstanding and as usual, Ferry's assembled a sterling cast of artists, like ex-Roxy members Andy Newmark and Neil Hubbard, plus avant-guitarist Michael Brook.

What makes this album even more wonderful is the knowledge that it will soon be followed up by another.

"Taxi" was recorded after another LP called "Horoscope," which the record company wasn't keen on since it wasn't commercial enough, so this came first, to ensure the success of the other.

In England, "Taxi" was only beat out of number one by the new Depeche Mode album, and it's bound to do at least as well as his last few releases here.

Still, I can wait for "Horoscope," knowing that this isn't getting out of my CD player any time this month.

Last Updated: 9 April 2008