Bryan Ferry - Dylanesque (Virgin)
1/5
By: Chris O'Toole
At a show in London last night, I witnessed a big band version of the Artic Monkey's 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor' followed by the Automatic's 'Monster'. All horns were blaring, a variety of timpani was being pounded, hordes of guitarists lashed frantically away, three front men sung and a dishevelled diva kept time. They were all hammering through the (modern) classics without refinement, grace or even a simple notation of what the hell they were doing it for. The same questions arise in my mind when presented with an album of Bob Dylan covers performed by an over the hill balladeer. Does the world really need this man's interpretations of the folk gospel? Does he know what he is doing? Is he still in full possession of his faculties?
These are not the semi disposable rock tracks of this semi-enlightened decade; these are genuine classics, able to stand up to time and fashion without being glad handed by the former front man of Roxy Music. Further, this is not a radical reinterpretation of a single track to rectify/improve a glaring inconsistency identified by the new performer on the original; this is a whole album! It is a pretty audacious claim to suggest, that as an artist, you were superior to Bob Dylan in his prime, that he somehow missed some integral key changes or phrases and that you are now begrudgingly salvaging the work for the common good.
The only other example that springs to mind, albeit for somewhat lesser stakes, was Sun Kill Moon's reinterpretation / butchering of the Modest Mouse back catalogue on Tiny Cities a couple of years ago. Whilst this event was horrific enough to wish ones self deaf, Ferry has here taken on what are virtually hymns and attempted to put his personal stamp upon them. The result comes across as a poorly conceived self indulgent vanity project. Ferry has some good songs of his own; there is no need to hold the work of others to commercial ransom. 'Dylanesque' demonstrates a real lack of imagination from an artist in his twilight years. I mean, the man covered Dylan on his last album, 'Frantic', in 2002, why does he now feel it necessary to do a whole album? I used to sing 'Blowin' in the Wind' during my primary school assemblies, and I think we gave it a pretty good shot. But to record it? Release it? And surround it with 10 other tracks? I don't think the thought crossed our childish minds. I don't understand why nobody stopped Ferry somewhere along this project, took him aside and quietly put it to sleep.
Of late, Ferry has been working on luscious studio productions, including the aforementioned 'Frantic', but wanted to move to a more freewheeling sound here. As such 'Dylanesque', (a term usually applied in a mildly derogatory fashion to young pretenders to the prophet's crown, but here used to imply the sort of positive pastiche Ferry seeks) was recorded during a single week during late 2006. Of the twenty tracks recorded during the sessions 11 are included here covering various periods of Dylan's career. 'Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues', taken from 1965's 'Highway 61 Revisited', through to 70s output including 'Knockin' on Heavens Door' and finally to 'Make You Feel My Love', from the 'Time Out of Mind' album released in 1997. And whilst it is a mild compliment to Dylan that Ferry has been able to use material from over four decades of recording, the choice of tracks is not so congratulatory. Ferry has selected obvious classics, 'All Along the Watchtower', 'These Times They Are A-Changing' for example, relying on their star quality. Why not select some lesser known pieces and show them in a fresh light?
The results are largely as to be expected. 'Dylanesque' does sound open and spacious and filled with a subtle optimism. How far this can be credited to the source material and how far to Ferry is up for debate. For Ferry these recordings represent a fresh and vivid emotional world, exploring the melodic and lyrical nuances of Dylan's work and applying them to his own autobiographical narrative. Ferry attempts to employ his at once world weary and enticing tenor, showcasing the hardened cynicism of Dylan's work, but opening the work to a more welcoming audience, detached from the civil strife and romantic implosions of Dylan's career, and looking for a quick fix of charm.
For others, with a more critical ear it sounds as though Ferry has broken into a Toys'-R-Us and stolen a Casio keyboard, hit the demo button and taken it from there. These are cabaret versions, performed by a high quality mercenary. This is the work of a cruise ship crooner, mercilessly reshaping Dylan's exquisitely crafted cannon for his own superficial and short term needs; presenting to the audience the tracks they want to hear but without all the emotional baggage associated with Dylan. Unfortunately this rips the heart and soul out of the material and leaves Ferry sprawling about on stage trying to fill the empty void he has created. These are crowd pleasers of real quality, the gospel of a certain generation and genre which, in short, Ferry has no right to misappropriate and record for personal profit.
Ferry also makes the somewhat misguided claim to be in the Parthenon of modern rock with Jimi Hendrix, asserting that he has taken a Bob Dylan song and improved upon it, the way in which Hendrix and the Byrds once did. Whilst nobody doubts Roxy Music's importance in developing Glam Rock and New Wave, Ferry alone has never achieved such heights and to claim a place alongside rock nobility is naive. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in Celebrity Big Brother in coming years. This is a grotesque tribute album from a fading light toward an ever great artist. Poorly conceived, competently executed and a further nail in the death of the artistic endeavour that even Ferry once championed.
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