Bryan Chow, bryan@loudcloud.com
The Toronto Star, Saturday, September 18, 1999
Bryan Ferry leans across the desk in his downtown hotel room and says: "I don't use a ...what's it called again?"
A word processor?
"Yeah," he chuckles. "I just can't get with it."
The irony is obvious.
Here's Ferry, the elegant interpreter, former leader of legendary Brit band Roxy Music and cohort of Brian Eno - one of the Godfathers of electronic music - in the midst of a whirlwind multi-continent press tour that's dropped him into the frenetic Toronto Film Festival headquarters, swarming with cell-phone and fax machine users.
Technology is being embraced - everywhere - and so, naturally, Ferry is heading elsewhere. His tenth solo CD, As Time Goes By, is an acoustic collection of cover songs from the 1930's that includes Kurt Weill and Cole Porter compositions.
"I wanted to get away from all the computers and drum programs and the rigamorale of modern studio recording," says Ferry, movie-star handsome at 54. "Working on this album was really refreshing, not only because of the material being great, but because I'm doing it acoustically, real players all playing together in the room, you have a microphone in the middle, and doing it in a fairly traditional way."
Rock `n' roll biographies, the kind record companies send out with their new CD releases, generally lay things on pretty thick.
But the one accompanying an advance copy of Ferry's As Time Goes By (out October 5) isn't far off the mark when it says: "He's one of the few long-term stars of rock `n' roll whose credibility never fades, who can still make people sit up and take notice."
The bio goes on to suggest Ferry's "visual flair" has also distracted the larger public - more particularly, the media - from the true extent of his musical achievement.
That's probably true.
It's rare that an article about Ferry fails to mention his attire, even though it was his wife Lucy who topped an international best-dressed list in 1995.
And so, for the record, he wears a tan jacket, violet buttoned-down shirt and casual blue slacks.
It's a cluttered scheme of textures and colours that works.
He's as meticulous and eclectic about his music. His new album, his first in five years, follows 1994's Mamouna, an album of original material. Moving from the original to the interpretive is part of a career-long pattern dating back to Ferry's first solo release, 1973's These Foolish Things, another song from the 1930's (but the only chestnut on that album). Throughout his recording career, Ferry has turned to an album of cover songs when he feels the need to help shake himself out of a creative slump in original material.
In 1993, prior to Mamouna, Ferry released Taxi, a cover album that included dazzling versions of "Amazing Grace", and "Will You Love Me Tomorrow". This time, Ferry has put another original project on hold, one he hopes - "God willing" - will be ready next year.
"I got sort of, I suppose, a bit stuck," he says of his latest sonic detour. "I wanted to get something out to the audience so I did this album, which I did relatively quickly. But the main thing I've been doing since the last tour was my own songs, but I guess we'll talk about that next time."
The next album, he promises, won't be a goodbye to rock `n' roll or electronics, despite Ferry's passion and respect for older music.
"In that time, songwriters were different," says Ferry, who lives in London. "You'd find people who just did lyrics and people who wrote tunes, so you'd get wonderully crafted songs."
"They're (the songs) quiet, poetic, very romantic, and I would say a lot better than virtually any ballads you hear today. The only time you hear this kind of romantic song nowadays....like the theme song from Titanic....it's a bit too saccharine, and you have these huge orchestras. These things aren't like that."
In addition to his latest musical output, Ferry has been overseeing the re-issue of his entire back catalogue, including all 10 Roxy Music albums. Each CD has been digitally remastered and comes in a special Japanese "mini-vinyl" package aimed at collectors and die-hard fans.
Fans will also be happy to hear that Ferry is not opposed to a Roxy Music reunion, although nothing has yet been planned.
Ferry does, however, plan to return to Massey Hall in November, along with nearly all the players on the album, and a string quartet. "People will have to dress up."
Bryan Chow, bryan@loudcloud.com