Let's Stick Together

Bryan Ferry

Virgin, 1976

http://www.bryanferry.com

REVIEW BY: Mark Millan

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 10/15/2009

With Roxy Music a year into what would become a four year break from recording, Bryan Ferry decided to get busy and keep the flame burning with a few solo albums. The first two of three albums released in as many years, Let’s Stick Together and In Your Mind both offered glimpses of brilliance, while 1978’s The Bride Stripped Bare proves that even the most creative minds suffer from burnout from time to time.

For this albuml Ferry recruited Roxy bandmate Paul Thompson on drums to join the likes of Chris Spedding (guitar), John Wetton (bass), and a cast of stellar session players to help record an album of covers and some reworkings of his own Roxy songs. The result is a fabulous blend of sounds that is much slicker and more polished than its predecessors. Here, Ferry is aiming for hit singles and a successful album, and he delivered on both accounts. 

The title-track was a moderate ‘60s hit for Wilbert Harrison, but Ferry used all of his tricks to create the definitive version of this plucky song. Chris Mercer’s sax is the star of the show, with Ferry delivering a much smoother style of singing over a punchy rhythm track. The song was rightfully a hit for Ferry, as was another superb cover of a classic ‘60s song.

The Everly Brothers’ “The Price Of Love” is given a frantic makeover here, and in my opinion, it’s all the better for it. Everything is thrown into the mix, with Ferry using a layered vocal track as well as backing singers; some great Mexican flavors throughout the track make it irresistible.  my_heart_sings_the_harmony_web_ad_alt_250

Jimmy Reed’s “Shame, Shame, Shame” is covered in a more authentic style; not far removed from its original state, it keeps the record jumping sweetly enough. Ferry also covers The Beatles with a great breezy version of “It’s Only Love,” on which he channels his inner Lennon for a pretty true likeness. Mercer again producers some more sax magic, and in fact, the more I hear this one, the more I like it. 

The most brazenly creative moment on the record comes along in the form of a standard with “You Go To My Head.”  Ferry would explore these standards in much more depth with his patchy, jazz-influenced album As Time Goes By, released in 1999. “Heart On My Sleeve” is a run-of-the-mill ‘70s pop ditty that closes the album with style but unfortunately offers nothing memorable. 

What is memorable about Let’s Stick Together, however, is Ferry’s re-workings of his own tracks that previously appeared on Roxy Music albums. The Roxy frontman chose no less than four songs from their 1972 self-titled debut and one from the glorious Country Life LP; that song, “Casanova,” is transformed from a glitter rock, guitar-driven gem into a sly jazz/R&B style groove. Ferry’s menacing tone compliments his poison-pen superbly (“Innovator, it’s in your mind and blood / I watch it simmer / I see you’re courting more despair, no hope? / Not a glimmer.”)

“Sea Breezes” is given almost the exact same vocal delivery by Ferry but has much more atmospheric arrangement, which again I feel actually improves on the original. Ferry’s tribute to Humphrey Bogart, “2HB,” is almost unchanged from its original incarnation, but it does fit well with the rest of the songs here. 

“Chance Meeting” is toned down here, and I think it suffers a little because of it. It’s not one of Roxy’s strongest tracks to begin with, so it is easily this album’s weakest link. “Re-Make/Re-Model” is also toned down to fit with the overall slickness of this album, and although it still works well enough, the sheer exuberance of the original can never be bettered.

With Let’s Stick Together, Bryan Ferry achieved the solo success he craved and also kept the Roxy Music “brand” out there during a down period for the band. This is a fun and polished ‘70s pop record that still sounds fabulous, if not a little too careful in places that perhaps Ferry and Co. need not have been.

Rating: B+

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