Bryan Ferry - Let’s Stick Together [HDCD]
Ferry’s third solo album is a bit of a departure from his previous two.
Here, along with the requisite eclectic batch of covers, he also
includes a few of his characteristically lovelorn originals (including
an ode to his obvious role model, “2HB,” as in Humphrey Bogart), plus a
slicked-up reworking of his Roxy Music classic “Remake Remodel.” The
album also rocks out far more straightforwardly than THESE FOOLISH
THINGS and ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER PLACE.
Ferry tackles two straight blues songs
here–Wilbert Harrison’s “Let’s Stick Together” and Jimmy Reed’s “Shame,
Shame, Shame”–and while nobody’s ever going to mistake him for either
singer, his camp factor here is significantly reduced. Standout track: a
surprisingly powerful assault on the Everly Brothers’ “Price of Love.”
Reviews by Laurence Upton (Wilts, UK) – 20 October 2007
“Bryan Ferry launched his solo career during the first flush of Roxy Music’s fame. As some members played on his solo recordings, one must assume his dual role did not cause undue friction within the band. After the space-age art rock avant-gardity of Roxy Music, the musical direction of Bryan Ferry’s first solo albums was something of a surprise, ranging from Billie Holiday’s My Foolish Things (the title track of her first album) to Bob Dylan’s A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall, Dobie Gray’s The In Crowd and the Platters’ Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, all of which were extracted as singles. It was a long way from Virginia Plain and Pyjamarama.
“Bryan Ferry launched his solo career during the first flush of Roxy Music’s fame. As some members played on his solo recordings, one must assume his dual role did not cause undue friction within the band. After the space-age art rock avant-gardity of Roxy Music, the musical direction of Bryan Ferry’s first solo albums was something of a surprise, ranging from Billie Holiday’s My Foolish Things (the title track of her first album) to Bob Dylan’s A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall, Dobie Gray’s The In Crowd and the Platters’ Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, all of which were extracted as singles. It was a long way from Virginia Plain and Pyjamarama.
The album Let’s Stick Together came
out in 1976 in time to capitalize on the success of the single it was
named after. It was an extremely useful mopping-up of all the non-album
tracks released to date, including Extended Play (a freshly released EP
of cover versions comprising The Price Of Love, Shame Shame Shame, the
extraordinarily lightweight Heart On My Sleeve and Beatles cover It’s
Only Love) and You Go To My Head, another Billie Holiday standard from
the thirties given the Ferry makeover treatment. It also had one
previously unreleased track, Casanova, an original Ferry composition
that had previously appeared on Roxy Music’s Country Life album in 1974.
The other four tracks are all
alternative recordings of songs that appeared on the first Roxy Music
albums, and were re-made as B-sides of his solo singles between 1973 and
1976. I recall Bryan Ferry remarking at the time that he didn’t like a
song to be represented by just one recorded version of it, that would
always play identically to the time before and be set it in aspic, and
therefore liked to tackle songs he had previously recorded. Chris
Spedding is the guitarist, and Roxy Music alumni Eddie Jobson, John
Wetton and Paul Thompson provide colour and backbone. Bryan Ferry had
not quite found his own voice on the first album and these versions are
more confident, if less idiosyncratic than the group versions, and of
course lack Eno’s unique input. 2HB, Chance Meeting and Sea Breezes are
otherwise relatively faithful re-makes of the originals, Sea Breezes
being particularly effective, but Re-Make Re-Model from 1975 has been
re-made and re-modeled into a blue-eyed soul funk groove for the B-side
of You Go To My Head, and has perhaps dated less well. Incidentally,
Roxy Music’s own non-album B-sides have yet to be compiled onto CD.”
| EC1090 | Bryan Ferry – Let’s Stick Together [HDCD] |
| Label: | Virgin Records |
| Catalog#: | FERRYCD3 | 7243 8 47602 2 9 |
| Format: | CD [HDCD] |
| Made in: | UK & Europe |
| Released: | 1999 (First release: 1976) |
| Barcode: | 7 24384 76022 9 |
| Style: | Art Rock, Pop Rock |
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Bryan Ferry – Let’s Stick Together [HDCD]
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01. Let’s Stick Together
02. Casanova
03. Sea Breezes
04. Shame, Shame, Shame
05. 2HB
06. The Price Of Love
07. Chance Meeting
08. It’s Only Love
09. You Go To My Head
10. Re-make/Re-model
11. Heart On My Sleeve
Total Time: 00:37:56
Companies, etc. ▼
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Virgin EG Records Ltd.
Copyright © – Virgin EG Records Ltd.
Copyright © – Virgin Records Ltd.
Recorded At – Air Studios
Recorded At – Island Studios
Remastered At – Gateway Mastering
Credits ▼
Bass – John Wetton
Chorus – Doreen Chanter, Helen Chappell, Jacqui Sullivan, Martha Walker, Paddie McHugh, Vicky Brown
Drums – Paul Thompson)
Engineer – John Punter, Steve Nye
Engineer [Assistant] – John Walls, Nigel Walker
Guitar – Chris Spedding
Percussion – Morris Pert
Photography By – Richard Wallis
Producer – Bryan Ferry, Chris Thomas
Remastered By – Bob Ludwig
Soprano Saxophone – Mel Collins
Tenor Saxophone – Chris Mercer
Trumpet – Martin Drover
Violin, Synthesizer – Eddie Jobson
Vocals, Keyboards, Harmonica – Bryan Ferry
Written-By – Ferry (tracks: 2, 3, 5, 7, 10)
℗ 1976 Virgin EG Records Ltd.
© 1976 Virgin EG Records Ltd.
© 1999 Virgin Records Ltd.
Recorded at Air & Island Studios, London, England, from 1973-1976.
All tracks have been digitally remastered using HDCD technology.
Remastered at Gateway Studio, Portland, Maine.
Printed in EU.
Barcode and Other Identifiers ▼
Barcode Text): 7 24384 76022 9
Barcode (Scanned): 724384760229
Label Code: LC 03098
Rights Society: bel BIEM
Distribution Code (F): PM 576
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