Bryan Ferry: These Foolish Things - 1973
Bryan Ferry was the first, in 1973, to release an album of cover versions of some of his favourite songs, just prior to David Bowie with Pin Ups and a bit longer before John Lennon’s Rock n Roll.
While Bowie ploughed the mid-sixties British r’n’b furrow and Lennon looked to the late fifties/early seventies US rock ‘n’ roll that he so loved, Ferry, with impeccable taste, covered Motown, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan and even The Rolling Stones, among many others on a veritable cornucopia of influences. The results were patchy, to be honest, as some of the covers certainly do not come off, but it was a brave album, and one that I have finally warmed to over time.
One had to question why Ferry did it, though - was it all one big hoot, a raised finger to the cognoscenti that hung on his every lyric after the seismic impact of the first two delightfully avant-garde Roxy Music albums? Was he trying to show that beneath all that classy, sophisticated glam posturing he was just a fun guy underneath that liked a sixties pop tune or two?
I can still remember a music paper article from the time that led with “Bryan Ferry - the guy that took the piss out of Bob Dylan and got away with it...”. It was presuming that A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall was done as a joke. I am not so sure, as Ferry’s many Dylan covers since, including one entire album in Dylanesque, would surely prove that he was covering Dylan for more than a throwaway laugh. You have to remember that at the time, many people laughed and scoffed at Ferry’s voice, claiming “he can’t sing”. Indeed, this album highlighted his quirky, quavering voice even more than on Roxy Music material, because well-known songs were suddenly being sung by a man with an odd up and down, totally unique (at the time) delivery. For many, therefore, in 1973, these covers were seen as a travesty.
So, was this a tongue-in-cheek kiss-off to the music press from an artist already known for his hauteur or was it simply an enjoyable departure from all that arty creativity? Ferry also changed his image considerably during this period, replacing the futuristic/retrospective oddness of Roxy Music 1972-73 with firstly, a t-shirted, gold neck chain and neat hairdo fifties movie star look for this album, which soon morphed into the tuxedo-clad suave sophisticate personification of good taste that we would come to associate with Ferry for many years to come. This look transferred over into his Roxy Music image too, simultaneously.
Regarding the album itself, for many years, despite having owned it since 1973, I liked the opening and closing tracks, and felt the rest was sub-standard. Over recent years, however, I have found that I have come to appreciate some of them a lot more and feel that Ferry was paying due respect to some tracks he has liked for years. Some of them I will never be convinced by, nevertheless, but anyway, here we go.
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall is a track that I have always loved, from its “fade-in” intro through its pounding backing and Ferry’s hammed-up vocal. I bought the single upon release and it blew me away (I didn’t know the Dylan original as a fourteen year-old). I loved it then and still do. Whatever anyone says, I think it is a great cover, full of vitality. I always thought at the time that it matched the Roxy output for creativity, despite the lyrics being Dylan’s. This was up there with Street Life, for me.
An off-beat choice was Ketty Lester’s River Of Salt, given a brooding, bassy and almost late night soulful backing. It is very short, however, not even making two minutes. Ferry does a nice job vocally and the sound quality overall is excellent. Gerry Goffin and Carole King’s Don't Ever Change is given a jaunty, slightly camped-up makeover. It all sounds a bit lightweight, though, for the darling of serious art-rock. Once more, it is over very quickly.
Some impressive Stax-style horns, a great rumbling bass and piano back Ferry’s take of Janis Joplin’s Piece Of My Heart. While he is certainly no Janis, there is something appealing in this vibrant, soulful cover. Taken in isolation, it is ok.
Another sub-two minute romp is Elvis Presley's Baby I Don't Care, which seems to suit Ferry comfortably enough, as he does his best lip-curling Elvis. Lesley Gore’s cheesy hit, It's My Party, sung by Ferry without changing gender, is an odd choice, and is the one that suits the “send-up” theory more than any other. It is lively, poppy and enjoyable, but Ferry’s voice suffers throughout and just doesn’t suit the song.
Then, unfortunately, we get three classic songs that prove to be too much for Ferry. Firstly, Brian Wilson and Roger Christian’s wonderful Don't Worry Baby is one of my favourite songs of all time, and it has been well covered by Ronnie Spector and Billy Joel. Ferry changes the lyrics from being a teenage car racing anthem to a more adult love song. Basically, while it is musically ok, it just doesn’t do it for me. It features some fine guitar, though.
Even more unsuccessful than taking on The Beach Boys was this interpretation of The Rolling Stones’ menacing 1968 number, Sympathy For The Devil, a track I love. I know some people like this one but, no, it is pretty awful, especially vocally. Ferry just tries too hard to sound devilish and just succeeds in sounding diabolical, particularly in his cackling laugh near the end. The sooner it is over the better. Musically, it is acceptably brassy, however, and a stonking live cut of the track has recently appeared from a 1974 concert at The Royal Albert Hall.
As for Smokey Robinson’s The Tracks Of My Tears, I’m afraid the same earlier criticisms apply. Ferry’s vocal oddness is ramped up to the max - he did this far more in these early days than later, almost as if it were deliberate. His vocal would never have been so theatrical in the eighties and beyond. Ferry had a genuine, long-held love for Motown, however, and one feels this was a labour of love of a cover, irrespective of whether it came off or not. Soul music was big in Newcastle when Ferry grew up, played at places like the legendary Go-Go Club, so it was not a surprise that some Motown showed up on this album. Ferry's first band, The Gas Board, also played soul/r'n'b covers and may well have played this one. Maybe it is not surprising that Ferry, once freed to do his own solo thing, went back to square one and his Gas Board days and covered several soul numbers. Avant-garde art rocker or simply an old soul boy?
The Beatles’ You Won't See Me from Rubber Soul is solid and muscular and actually is quite acceptable in a strange sort of way, with another excellent guitar solo, this time from Roxy mate Phil Manzanera. I have always quite enjoyed this. The Paris Sisters' I Love How You Love Me, from 1961, is a brassy piece of rock ‘n’ roll balladry with a great saxophone solo. Once more, you can see why it might attract accusations of being tongue-in-cheek, as it is very over-the-top.
Originally from The Four Tops, Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever is a far more effective cover of a Motown song than The Tracks Of My Tears. It has a punchy soul power to it. Again, it is probably a song Ferry had covered in his early years.
The album ends with one of my all-time Ferry favourites, a wonderful, atmospheric cover of These Foolish Things from the thirties. It is just sumptuously lovely and provides a first sign of a liking for the sort of material that Ferry would cover on his later album As Time Goes By. He always liked that thirties vibe and this song suits him perfectly - the lounge lizard, classy dinner-jacketed persona is getting its first outing here. The song is packed full of cinematic images and my late mother loved it too (she knew every word) so it has many plus points.
In conclusion, I still can’t get away from the first and last tracks being the best, but I have given those in between a bit more of a chance here. The album hides a bit of a quirky appeal, I have to admit. Amazingly, though, Ferry recorded the Roxy classic Stranded around the same time, maybe this really was just light relief. Its general feeling of playfulness would seem to back that up. What comes across loud and clear all these years later is that actually, as these cover albums go, it is actually one of the best.
