Bryan Ferry - Dylanesque - Album Review
by Josh Love
Carolina News & Observer, 24th June 2007
Rating: Two and A Half Stars out of Four
In 1974, Bryan Ferry covered Bob Dylan's ominous anthem "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" for his solo debut. It was, in a word, hilarious. Ferry stripped the song of its solemnity, adding backup singers and even tossed out a cornball Elvis impression in the middle of a dazzling rendition that injected new life into a molding classic.
Thirty-one years later, the Roxy Music leader tackles Bobby D again, this time for an entire album, "Dylanesque" (arriving Tuesday on Virgin). Though Ferry has recorded covers throughout his career, it's hard not to infer an eagerness to capitalize on the recent trend of interpreting rock and pop standards, which has proved so successful for fellow crooners Rod Stewart and Barry Manilow. Of course, Ferry is far artier and more highbrow than those guys, which explains why he's grappling with rock's great poet rather than butchering Nat King Cole.
Ferry has lost much of the outrageousness and verve that marked his earlier heresies. His lubricous voice quieted by the years, he scores surer triumphs when investing these songs with heartache. He reads "Simple Twist of Fate" with a gentle wistfulness and sounds genuinely vulnerable on "If Not for You" (which also features a sublimely funky riff). Perhaps what's most admirable is that Ferry wrings forlorn feeling from the tired warhorse "Knockin' on Heaven's Door."
Unfortunately, he stumbles when his voice doesn't have the space to work its magic, getting lost in the lyricism of "Gates of Eden." Some of the real canonical stuff, such as "All Along the Watchtower," also fails to bear his stamp, which raises the question of why Ferry felt compelled to rework such oft-covered songs in the first place. Now, managing to rescue the dregs of "Self-Portrait" and "Shot of Love" -- that would have been a real achievement.
