British pop icon
Bryan Ferry offers a sweeping view of his solo career with 2024's bespoke anthology
Retrospective: Selected Recordings 1973-2023. As both the frontman for the influential art rock band
Roxy Music and on his own a solo artist,
Ferry distinguished himself as a true original -- a rock crooner who brought together his love of golden-age Hollywood glamour and German cabaret with '50s rock & roll, classic jazz, and his own dashing glitter-era swagger. He continued to dig into his passions when he embarked on his solo career with 1973's
These Foolish Things, a covers album that found him interpreting Broadway standards alongside songs by
the Rolling Stones,
Elvis, and
the Four Tops. With 1976's
Let's Stick Together, along with more covers, he started adding in reworked versions of his own songs that he'd originally recorded with
Roxy Music, like the slinky, jazz-influenced "Casanova." Then, with 1981's
Boys and Girls, he further redefined himself as a majordomo of sophisti-pop, a coolly romantic, synth-inflected sound emblematized by his hit "Slave to Love." For much of the rest of
Ferry's career, he returned to these sounds, offering boldly inspired cover tunes (like his take on "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" off 2007's
Dylanesque) and artful originals (like "You Can Dance" off 2010's
Olympia). He also explored new musical formats, revisiting his solo and
Roxy Music output in a 1920s jazz style with his
Bryan Ferry Orchestra on 2012's
The Jazz Age and 2018's
Bitter-Sweet. Over five discs and 81 tracks (as well as a thick book of liner notes and photos),
Retrospective touches upon all of these periods in
Ferry's career. It begins with an initial 20-track best-of-style collection (available as both a single disc or two-LP vinyl set outside of the box) that works as a nice overview. From there, you get a disc of his covers, a disc of his original compositions, a disc of his jazz orchestra recordings, and a final rarities set.
Retrospective: Selected Recordings 1973-2023 is essential listening for
Ferry fans, illuminating the broad scope of his musical taste, from glitter rock to synth pop to jazz and beyond, revealing through it all that he has remained as indelible as ever. ~ Matt Collar
