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Bryan Ferry Concert Review

Beacon Theater, New York City 21st November 1994
By Jon Parles

New York Times, 23rd November 1994

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Old Times Remembered

"Though your world is changing," Bryan Ferry vowed from the stage of the Beacon Theater on Monday night, "I will be the same." In the song, he's a steadfast lover, but he could also have been describing his first New York concert since 1988. Now, as then, he performed in a ceremonial haze of frankincense, which was burning in a large urn on stage. And as in 1988, he played the carworn, genteel, pensive lover, his hair falling over his eyes, his voice progressing from humble croon to troubled bleat.

Every so often, he'd reveal his younger self: the arch, brittle voice of Roxy Music in the early 1970's, ricoheting between consumer cravings and romantic desire in songs like "Virginia Plain" and "In Every Dream Home a Heartache." But Mr. Ferry gradually subdued the irony in his love songs, and ever since Roxy Music released "Avalon" in 1982, he has been working variations on its elegantly restrained yearning. Between pulsating bass lines and ripping guitars, he sings the role of someone who is lost in love, swept away by a passion that promises exaltation or immolation. He has just released "Mamouna," (Virgin), his first album of new songs in seven years, further refining one of rock's most specialized styles.

Mr. Ferry's lyrics are sparse and open-ended, suggesting moods rather than narratives. He picks up cliches -- "where do we go from here/ i'm in the mood" -- and leaves them unmoored, with the music suggesting that something unspoken is going on behind them. His words mean less than his tone, which carries no confidence or certainty. Unlike most pop crooners, he's not a seducer or even a suitor, but someone who's at the mercy of his longing.

For Mr. Ferry, fulfilled love would be a refuge and a paradise; he's always just outside it. But in his music, he has found his own sanctuary, one that seems completely isolated from the pop hurly-burly all around him.

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Text copyright 1994 New York Times, used without permission.
With thanks to Grant Goggans.