Bryan Ferry: Another Time Another Place - 1974
Released in 1974, I find this, Bryan Ferry's second solo album, to be a better and far more enjoyable effort than his first, These Foolish Things, which contained, in my opinion, a few truly awful, ill-considered covers. I prefer the choice of material on here, more soully and rocking country than some of the sixties pop of the first album.
These Ferry solo albums should be taken for what they are though - not Roxy Music albums. Ferry covers stuff he liked. If he liked You Are My Sunshine then that is his prerogative. Obviously, it is then down to how he covers the songs. His Sympathy For The Devil on the first album is a million times worse than anything on here. He covers the material on here well, overall. What is still shining through, brightly, however, is Ferry's love of soul, something that dated back to his mid-sixties Gas Board days.
The "In" Crowd featured a great build-up of an intro, this Dobie Gray cover is the best track on the album, a strong rocker, despite a bit of a scratchy sound in places. It made a great single too and was unsurprisingly a big hit. Dare I say it, the rumbustious The "In" Crowd puts Dobie Gray's version in the shade somewhat. Listen to the great intro - Ferry's electric piano beginning the song, his cool finger-clicking and then some huge, scratchy guitar bursts into action followed by the brass. It hits you right between the ears.
A cover of The Inkspots' Smoke Gets In Your Eyes exemplifies how this album has a more confident feel about it than the last. This laid-back, melodic offering has an excellent saxophone solo from Chris Mercer. Quality fare all the way, with a fine, warm vocal.
Now for an excellent throaty, rocking cover of Joe South's 1970 soulful country hit, Walk A Mile In My Shoes, with nice bass, solid drums and a soulful organ backing. Great backing vocals and horns also with a bit of electric violin in there too. Pretty much everything seems to be played on this track. Good stuff, once more. Then we get a soulful cover of another country song, Willie Nelson's Funny How Time Slips Away, but it is marred just a little bit by Ferry's semi-spoken introduction. Things are redeemed, however, when it kicks in with more great guitar and horns backing. The musicianship on this album certainly is top notch.
You Are My Sunshine is given the big backing choir treatment that Ferry used on Psalm, from Roxy Music's Stranded album. Lovely New Orleans-style brass features though, as the song mournfully builds up, like a funeral march. It sort of suits Ferry's melancholy voice and is truly enhanced by those wonderful backing vocals. I like it and always have done. Ferry's vaguely reggae-ish cover of Sam Cooke's (What A) Wonderful World is most appealing and attractive. Nothing more, nothing less. Just as pleasant, actually, is Ferry's first effort at being "Dylanesque", on It Ain't Me Babe, a strong mid-paced rock cover, given a soulful ambience too.
The upbeat, brassy Fingerpoppin', initially recorded by Ike & Tina Turner, tests Ferry's vocal range but he just about gets through - just. I remember liking the track a lot more back in 1974 than I do now. Help Me Make It Through The Night is the Kris Kristofferson number, best known for Gladys Knight's version, and it sees Ferry back on safer ground, coping with the song admirably. The final track, Another Time Another Place, is his first solo solo composition, if that makes sense. It is a beguiling song, a riffy rocker that could have come from Roxy's Country Life. As Ferry's albums progressed, more and more of his own compositions crept in and there were far less covers, which was a good thing.
As much as I quite like this album, 1977's vibrant In Your Mind was a much better album, full of his own songs. In between, however, came the odd curio of Let's Stick Together, which I will discuss next. This 1999 remastering is pretty good, except that The "In" Crowd has a few tinny moments. It always has. Maybe it just always will.
