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One senses how fresh this material is. Ferry seems rejuvenated after years of studied art. It opens up with Dylan's "It's All Over Baby Blue." His own "Cruel" sounds like the best Roxy Music song in a while. He also does a few blues numbers "Goin' Down" and "Goodnight Irene" which pay homage to Don Nix and Leadbelly and extends them further. He begins to sound on these like Nick Cave, who Ferry was a big influence on himself. Probably the best cover tune is Ferry's rendition of Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice." Ferry often reminds us how great he is on tracks such as these. I was like ten years old when I first heard Roxy Music in 1975. "Love Is The Drug" seemed like a mini-revolution at the time.

But there is a load of original material here too. "Goddess of Love" is a song about Marilyn Monroe (a reference to Britpop), and is much like songs from his Bête Noire. Probably better tunes like "Nobody Love Me" as well as "Fool For Love" are more memorable because of the appearance of guitarist Chris Spedding and Roxy Music drummer Paul Thompson. "Hiroshima" brings Ferry together with Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead. Radiohead has always been fascinated with the specter of Ferry, as they covered many of his songs in the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack. This is history.

Also the fact that Dave Stewart co-wrote many of the songs is a major factor after all. Songs like "San Simeon" are about the dark side of glamour. It is one of the more eerie songs on the album and sounds like the soundtrack to a thriller. "One Way Love" reminds me of the Flesh & Blood album and is a more upbeat song than most. More history being made at the end. The last song "I Thought" brings Ferry with Brian Eno for the first time in almost thirty years. Remember, Eno was kicked out of Roxy Music by Ferry after the second album. A song that is co-written by Ferry and Eno and even has them singing the chorus together seems like many years of loss and "what if" have been answered in a very gentle way. The song goes over with much knowingness and simplicity. A union made thirty years ago, responsible for over 30 albums and every musician that they influenced, has come round full circle.

Bryan Ferry - Frantic 2002
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Eden is to announce the release of Frantic, the highly anticipated new studio album from rock and pop legend Bryan Ferry. Frantic draws together 13 songs; principally brand new material and a selection of inventive cover versions.

Frantic presents Ferry at his most versatile and is guaranteed to thrill fans of all eras of an illustrious career which continues to musically and stylistically influence music today.

The album features several classic Ferry-esque love songs, enhanced by the inimitably luxurious production of Avalon and As Times Goes By producer Rhett Davies. Nowhere is this more perfectly captured than in the sweeping emotional drive of Nobody Loves Me, and the lilting Cruel and Marilyn Monroe-inspired Goddess of Love both co-written with Dave Stewart.

Yet, evolving and surprising as always, we also find a wholly new Bryan Ferry who has brought seductive elements of bluesy rock and country swing into his repertoire. It comes as no surprise therefore that Frantic includes versions of two Bob Dylan tracks Dont Think Twice and Its All Over Now Baby Blue which kicks off the album and reveals Ferrys superb harmonica skills. The Don Nix blues standard Goin Down continues the trend, whilst Leadbellys classic Goodnight Irene takes on a good ole drinking song quality accompanied by traditional Cajun musicians.

Further down the historical path is a beautiful interpretation of the medieval Ja Hun Hons Pris which leads into A Fool For Love, the former originally written by Richard The Lionheart. Co-producer Colin Good provides the Virginal keyboard parts whilst the soprano voice is that of Mary Nelson, also adding shimmer to the haunting San Simeon. Also highly notable is Hiroshima - a song inspired by the film Hiroshima Mon Amour which features Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood. Other musicians contributing to Frantic include Lucy Wilkins on violin and Sarah Brown on backing vocals, both of whom memorably performed on the hugely successful Roxy Music reunion world tour last year.

The tour also brought Roxy Music drummer Paul Thompson and Ferry back into the studio together for the first time in twenty years, on Fool For Love and San Simeon and Goddess of Love, and guitar parts on Frantic are provided by Chris Spedding who also played with Ferry in the 70s. Perhaps it is then entirely fitting that the album closes with I Thought the fascinating writing collaboration of Ferry with Brian Eno who supplies backing vocals and keyboards.

The title Frantic belies the time put into the making of this album, Ferrys first new song-writing album since 94. However he has notched up three Top 20 albums and two extensive tours in just the last two years.

Frantic firmly re-establishes Bryan Ferry as one of the most thrilling and distinctive performers of our time. The combination of his famous on stage charisma and this portfolio of new material makes his tour in June an exciting prospect.

Tracklisting: Its All Over Now Baby Blue, Cruel, Goin Down, Goddess of Love, Dont Think Twice, Nobody Loves Me, Ja Hun Hons Pris, Fool For Love, Goodnight Irene, Hiroshima, San Simeon, One Way Love, I Thought

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Bob, meet Bryan, Bryan meet Bob.
Introductions out of the way, we can now safely hope that Bryan Ferry has his Dylan fascination out of his system. I'll grant that Ferry's version of "It's all Over Now Baby Blue" gives this new album a healthy kick start, but it's a really forced fit. The following song, an original co-written with Dave Stewart, underscores that fact. "Cruel" dramatically mines the kind of playboy angst that Ferry has mastered over the years without sounding embarrassing. Because two songs later, "Goddess Of Love" does sounds just that. It's warmed over 80's video stuff that Duran Duran (I don't think I'm the only one who thinks this song sounds stolen from DD's "Rio") did when they were teens. And then the cover of "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright"; almost as dreadful as Dylan's Victoria's Secret TV adverts. As for the cover of "Goodnight Irene," ...ack! ack! ack!... is about the only phrase I can use to describe that piece. Bryan, what were you thinking?

All is not so desperate on "Frantic." Once Bryan gets to more familiar territories -- the oddly detatched existentialism of "Nobody Loves Me," the widescreen production of "San Simeon" and the emotional "Hiroshima" are vivid reminders of Ferry's many talents. In fact, a whole album of songs/production living up to the standard of "Ja Nun Hons Pris/A Fool For Love" would have me jumping for the five star spot. (Oddly enough, it's one of "Frantic's" songs co-produced with Rhett Davis, who was there for "Avalon.")

I've long been both a Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry fan, so I'll likely pick up any album he comes up with. But one gets the impression that there were too many cooks involved with this album, and that is to "Frantic's" detriment.