Bryan Ferry: In Your Mind - 1977
After two albums of cover versions and one of half covers and half re-workings of older Roxy Music tracks, Bryan Ferry returned, at the height of punk in 1977, with an album entirely made up of his own compositions.
While it may have appeared to be a bit culturally irrelevant, it was actually a pretty good album, and was received as such by fans and the music media alike. I remember getting into punk at the time but still buying this with no feelings of shame. I had liked Roxy/Ferry from 1972 anyway. It wouldn’t be long, however, before Ferry entered “guilty secret” territory for me.
Anyway, it was an energetic, lively, rocking, horn-powered album and featured Phil Manzanera and Paul Thompson from Roxy, along with sometime Roxy bassist John Wetton and several other notable sessionists such as Chris Spedding and Mel Collins. Thinking about it, it would actually have done pretty well as a Roxy album, following on, as it did in many ways, from the accessible sound of 1975’s Siren. Indeed, I prefer it in many ways to both Manifesto and Flesh & Blood and it bristles with far more energy and verve than Ferry’s eighties solo output - in these respects it is a bit of a forgotten gem. Although recorded in London there is a slick Transatlantic sound to it that brings to mind Rod Stewart's Atlantic Crossing, Ian Hunter's All American Alien Boy or even, vaguely, David Bowie's Young Americans. Horns, soul influences and Dylan lyrical acknowledgements were de riguer in 1975-77.
It is no coincidence, therefore, that I also find myself thinking of Dylan's Street-Legal, from the following year, when I listen to this. Maybe these artists/or the general sound influenced Dylan? That was more than possible, as Dylan would freely admit. In early 1977, when it was released, punk was still a bit cult-ish and Ferry was certainly not considered old hat just yet, his persona as the epitome of cool was still intact and generally admired, as opposed to scoffed at. He appeared on the cover suntanned, with neat hair and a bit over-heated looking in a plain white t-shirt and aviator shades - sure, it was hardly full-on punk, but in 1977 anything that was not typical Peter Frampton-esque long rock star hair gained a certain amount of respect from those determined to eschew traditional seventies rock styles. David Bowie also now had shorter hair, Freddie Mercury was getting there and even Marc Bolan’s corkscrew curls had gone. Ferry, actually, had always been his own man, image-wise - think of the-shirt of These Foolish Things or the tuxedo of Another Time, Another Place or the moustache/floppy hair of Let’s Stick Together. That was one of the reasons the punks didn’t turn on Ferry as they did other supposed “dinosaurs”.
After all that waffling, on to the music....
Starting with some tropical insect sound effects, followed by Ferry at the keyboards, This Is Tomorrow soon launches itself powerfully as a convincing, catchy rocker, full of chunky Stonesy riffs, Stax-style horns and a hooky vibe that made it a perfect choice for a single. It was duly a big hit that showed that Ferry still carried enough clout to chart.
All Night Operator is a punchy, brassy number that keeps the tempo at a robust level. It wouldn't have sounded out of place on Roxy's Country Life, or Siren for that matter. One Kiss is a slower paced but dramatic ballad featuring some fine saxophone and an enthusiastic Ferry vocal combined with some equally excitable female backing ones. Its chorus has an unusually loose singalong feel to it - a sort of semi-drunken carousing led by a Ferry who has let his classy veneer slip briefly. It ends with some instantly recognisable solid Thompson drumming on the fade-out.
Love Me Madly Again is a lengthy, dense, industrial rocker with verses that build continually to a solid but strangely seductive chorus. On first hearing it can seem a bit dull but it has a staying power that ensures you get into it eventually. Ferry has sort of taken the extended indulgence of Roxy tracks like The Bogus Man and For Your Pleasure and rocked it up a bit, adding some brass, resulting in one of his heaviest numbers to date. It stands out notably, as the most Roxy-ish song, from the more poppy feel of the rest of the album and has a hint of The Thrill Of It All from Country Life to it together with a slight bit of The Beatles' Savoy Truffle at one point (in the horns). In retrospect it is probably the album's mature high point.
Tokyo Joe was the album’s other hit, an instantly attractive song somewhat blighted by some “far-East by numbers” musical cliches that are also matched by some of the lyrics. As time has gone by it has tended to be forgotten by fans and Ferry alike (he doesn’t ever seem to play it live) but at the time it was on the radio regularly and was one of his biggest hits thus far.
Party Doll is an organ-driven mid-pace rock number with a bit of a vague Dylanesque feel to it. Ferry gives us a great, swirling organ solo mid-song. Rock Of Ages rises slowly into big, brassy chorus parts - this is as dramatic and vibrant as Ferry has probably ever been or would be. It has a slow, instrumental noise build-up similar to Sentimental Fool on Siren.
Verbose, image-laden Dylanisms are back on the closer, In Your Mind, which is an atmospheric slow burner. This could have been a Roxy Music Phase Two song - those Dylanesque lyrics, and a great delivery from Ferry, plus impressive playing from the musicians involved. It really builds up momentum as it continues on, insistently, then comes down again, while retaining its intrinsic melancholy. I'm not really sure how to express what I mean here but there is a tragic feel to this song, I feel. Finally - "see the veiled prophet's withered glaze reflect the nouvelle-vague..." sings Ferry, the great Francophile using the French for "new-wave". Coincidence? Surely not.
In summing up, this is just a good late 70s rock album. Nothing more nothing less. Probably getting a little bit dated in 1977 but not incredibly so. Nice one.
