6484 - BRYAN FERRY - As Time Goes By (1999)
BRIAN FERRY
''AS TIME GOES BY''
OCTOBER 19 1999
44:30
1 /As Time Goes By
Herman Hupfeld/2:34
2 /The Way You Look Tonight
Dorothy Fields / Jerome Kern/3:36
3 /Easy Living
Ralph Rainger / Leo Robin/2:16
4 /I'm in the Mood for Love
Dorothy Fields / Jimmy McHugh/4:17
5 /Where or When
Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers/3:19
6 /When Somebody Thinks You're Wonderful
Harry Woods/2:57
7 /Sweet and Lovely
Gus Arnheim / Jules LeMare (Chas. N. Daniels) / Harry Tobias/3:10
8 /Miss Otis Regrets
Cole Porter/2:39
9 /Time on My Hands
Harold Adamson / Mack Gordon / Vincent Youmans/3:02
10 /Lover, Come Back to Me
Oscar Hammerstein II / Sigmund Romberg/2:54
11 /Falling in Love Again
Frederick Hollander / Sammy Lerner/2:26
12 /Love Me or Leave Me
Walter Donaldson / Gus Kahn/2:44
13 /You Do Something to Me
Cole Porter/2:47
14 /Just One of Those Things
Cole Porter/2:46
15 /September Song
Maxwell Anderson / Kurt Weill/3:03
Alan Barnes /Clarinet, Sax (Tenor)
Nicholas Bucknail /Clarinet
Paul Clarvis /Drums
Philip Dukes /Viola
Bryan Ferry /Arranger, Synthesizer, Vocals
Robert Fowler /Clarinet
Wilfred Gibson /Violin
Colin Good /Arranger, Piano
Bob Hunt /Trombone
Richard Jeffries /Bass
Boguslaw Kostecki /Violin
Peter Lale /Viola
Chris Laurence /Bass
Abraham Leborovich /Violin
Jose Libertella /Bandoneon
Timothy Lines /Clarinet
Phil Manzanera /Guitar
Cynthia Millar /Ondes Martenot
Andy Newmark /Drums
Anthony Pike /Clarinet (Bass)
Anthony Pleeth /Cello
Frank Ricotti /Percussion
Malcolm Earle Smith /Trombone
Nils Solberg /Guitar
Luis Stazo /Bandoneon
John Sutton /Drums
Enrico Tomasso /Trumpet
Jim Tomlinson /Clarinet, Sax (Alto)
Hugh Webb /Harp
Martin Wheatley /Banjo
David White /Clarinet
David Woodcock /Violin
Gavyn Wright /Guest Artist, Violin
REVIEW
By STEPHEN THOMAS ERLEWINE
Bryan Ferry invests considerable time and energy in cover albums (he should, considering that they compose a good portion of his solo catalog), treating them with as much care as a record of original material. He's always found ways to radically reinvent the songs he sings, so it's easy to expect that his collection of pop standards, As Time Goes By, would re-imagine the familiar. Instead, As Time Goes By is his first classicist album, containing non-ironic, neo-traditionalist arrangements of songs associated with the '30s. That doesn't mean it's a lavish affair, dripping with lush orchestras -- it's considerably more intimate than that. Even when strings surface, they're understated, part of a small live combo that supports Ferry throughout the record. He's made the music as faithful to its era as possible, yet instead of rigidly replicating the sounds of the '30s, he's blended Billie Holiday, cabaret pop, and movie musicals into an evocative pastiche. Ferry is at his best when he's exploring the possibilities within a specific theory or concept; with As Time Goes By, he eases into these standards and old-fashioned settings like an actor adopting a new persona. Since Ferry has always been a crooner, the transition is smooth and suave. He makes no attempt to alter his tremulous style, yet it rarely sounds incongruous -- he may sound a little vampirish on "You Do Something to Me," but that's the rare case where he doesn't seamlessly mesh with his romantic, sepia-toned surroundings. On the surface, it may seem like a departure for Ferry, but in the end, it's entirely of a piece with his body of work. True, it may not be a major album in the scheme of things, but it's easy to be seduced by its casual elegance.
BIOGRAPHY
By Jason Ankeny
While his tenure as the frontman for the legendary Roxy Music remained his towering achievement, singer Bryan Ferry also carved out a successful solo career that continued in the lush, sophisticated manner perfected on the group's final records. Born September 26, 1945, in Washington, England, Ferry, the son of a coal miner, began his musical career as a singer with the rock outfit the Banshees while studying art at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne under pop conceptualist Richard Hamilton. He later joined the Gas Board, a soul group featuring bassist Graham Simpson; in 1970, Ferry and Simpson formed Roxy Music.
Within a few years, Roxy Music had become phenomenally successful, affording Ferry the opportunity to cut his first solo LP in 1973. Far removed from the group's arty glam rock, These Foolish Things established the path that all of Ferry's solo work -- as well as the final Roxy Music records -- would take, focusing on elegant synth pop interpretations of '60s hits like Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil," and the Beatles' "You Won't See Me," all rendered in the singer's distinct, coolly dramatic manner.
Roxy Music remained Ferry's primary focus, but in 1974 he returned with a second solo effort, Another Time, Another Place, another collection of covers ranging from "You Are My Sunshine" to "It Ain't Me, Babe" to "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." His third venture, 1976's Let's Stick Together, featured remixed, remade, and remodeled versions of Roxy Music hits as well as the usual assortment of covers. Released in 1977, In Your Mind was Ferry's first collection of completely original material; the following year's The Bride Stripped Bare, a work inspired by his broken romance with model Jerry Hall, split evenly between new songs and covers.
Ferry did not record another solo album until 1985's Boys and Girls, a sleek, seamless effort that was his first "official" solo release following the Roxy breakup. For 1987's Bete Noire, he was joined by former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr on the shimmering "The Right Stuff," and notched his only U.S. Top 40 hit with "Kiss and Tell." Another covers collection, Taxi, followed in 1993; Mamouna, an LP of originals, appeared a year later, and in 1999 Ferry returned with a collection of standards, As Time Goes By. After a brief tour in support of As Time Goes By, there were rumors of a Roxy Music reunion. The next summer, the practically unimaginable came true when Ferry joined Andy Mackay and Phil Manzanera for a tour of Europe and the U.S. It was a celebration of hits, and the band's first jaunt out in more than a decade.
In summer 2002, Ferry returned to his solo career for the electrifying Frantic. Dylanesque, a set of Bob Dylan covers, followed in 2007, featuring assistance from several longtime associates (including Brian Eno, Chris Spedding, Paul Carrack, and Robin Trower). Ferry signed with the Astralwerks imprint for the release of 2010's Olympia. In 2012, he assembled the Bryan Ferry Orchestra and recorded The Jazz Age. This completely instrumental album features his band re-recording some of his biggest hits in a 1920s jazz style.