Bryan Ferry

With Roxy Music on hiatus, Ferry recorded another upscale covers album, with prized oldies sitting next to early Roxy Music compositions. The title tune became a deserved New Wave hit, while the revamped and robotized Roxy numbers "Casanova" and "Re-Make/Re-Model" pointed the way towards the icy '80s.

Let's Stick Together is the least campy of Bryan Ferry's three solo albums. Rather than do
suave interpretations of oldies as diverse as "It's My Party" and "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall,"
he has chosen to blend less loaded reworkings with reinterpretations of his own earlier
work with Roxy Music. Like Dylan on his new Hard Rain album, Ferry has fortified a style in
which virtually all his previous songs can be recycled. (Four of the songs here c... More >

A lot of people are crazy about this record, but I find its bifurcation alienating. On the one hand, we have the usual unlikely borrowings, the most effective from Wilbert Harrison and the Everlys. And as usual, these are powerful, strange, and interesting--and often quite compelling. On the other hand, we have unlikely remakes of old Roxy Music material, much of it from the group's very first album. Although Ferry proves that he knows more about making records (and music) than he used to, the songs remain powerful, strange, and interesting--but not quite compelling. Add it all together and you get . . . two separate parts. (Grade - B)