Dear melomaniac, I was checking Qobuz’s new releases section, and this disc caught my attention. We do not see this kind of event every day: a new release from the elegant and seductive Bryan Ferry. After I made some research, I understood that this release is not just a simple “best of” compilation, but rather a complete set, comprised of five discs spanning all over Ferry’s long solo career. So, let’s dive in and find out more.
First, a little overview about this amazing singer, a real British gentleman, that started his carrier as the frontman of Roxy Music, and continuing with an eclectic solo career. Bryan Ferry was born in 1945 in County Durham in England, in a working-class family, but made his way through, forming Roxy Music with a group of friends back in 1970. In parallel with the amazing works alongside Roxy Music, he launched solo albums starting with 1973’s “These Foolish Things”. 1985’s “Boys and Girls” is my all-time favorite Bryan Ferry solo album. The most recent studio album is 2018’s “Bitter-Sweet”, a jazz inspired disc (similar to 2012’s The Jazz Age).
Coming back to our release, here is the complete set of discs:
DISC 1: The Best of Bryan Ferry
DISC 2: Compositions
DISC 3: Interpretations
DISC 4: The Bryan Ferry Orchestra
DISC 5: Rare and Unreleased
The first disc, DISC 1: The Best of Bryan Ferry, contains 20 of his “best of” tracks, including Slave To Love, Don’t Stop The Dance or These Foolish Things. The second disc, DISC 2: Compositions, gives us a view of Bryan Ferry the composer, you may be informed that back in the day he was considered a wizard of lyrics. The third disc, DISC 3: Interpretations, contains 15 of his best cover songs. The fourth disc, DISC 4: The Bryan Ferry Orchestra, contains selected tracks from The Jazz Age and Bitter-Sweet, and it focuses on jazz renditions and big-band songs. Finally, the fifth disc called DISC 5: Rare and Unreleased, exactly as the name suggests, contains 16 tracks that were previously unreleased or rare.
So, dear melomaniac, this 5-disc Deluxe Edition is a great entry to have in your collection, it marks the highlights of Bryan Ferry’s interesting career. So, give it a chance, give it a go, have a listen!
