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Review: Bryan Ferry

Clyde Auditorium, 4th March 2007
John Williamson

Glasgow Herald 6th March 2007

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At the age of 61, Bryan Ferry's decline is perhaps best measured by his media profile. Having made three of the best records of the 1970s, he is now best known as the face of Marks &Spencer and a voice of the Countryside Alliance.

It is hard not to view his current tour beyond that context, and an air of self-satisfaction at the underachieving musical wares on display is as predictable as it is disappointing. While it all begins in lively enough fashion with The In Crowd and Kiss and Tell it soon descends into a tasteful, mid-tempo groove that does its best to eclipse Ferry's still-great voice.

If the Roxy Music reformation concerts of 2001 showed a reinvigorated frontman, still capable of breaking a sweat, this is very much Ferry on the type of autopilot that has characterised his solo output. The playing, particularly by long-term collaborators Chris Spedding and Andy Newmark is impeccable, though the cocktail-jazz saxophone interlude while Ferry took a break to change into some tartan trousers typifies a desire to please rather than push boundaries.

With only Love Me Madly Again and the inevitable encore of Jealous Guy from the Roxy catalogue, much of the show draws on his current collection of Bob Dylan songs, Dylanesque. As with the recorded versions, it is difficult to see the point. Ferry's voice plus great songs really ought to make for more than he tends to produce.

Knocking on Heaven's Door and Simple Twist of Fate are cases in point: stripped of nuance and laden down by over playing. Belatedly, Let's Stick Together raises the tempo a little, but the abundance of complacency makes up for the apparent lack of hunger throughout.