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Bryan Ferry - Bête Noire Audio CD

A fair review of the Bryan Ferry "Bête Noire" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Bryan Ferry reviews here, or go back to the Bryan Ferry tabs.

Bryan Ferry Band: Bryan Ferry
Title: Bête Noire
Rating:
Release Date: 2002-12-09
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Limbo 2: Kiss and Tell 3: New Town 4: Day and Night 5: Zamba 6: Right Stuff 7: Seven Deadly Sins 8: Name of the Game 9: B�te Noire

Bryan Ferry's best recording ever
I was delighted when I finally did on Amazon. I have had this music on tape but had been unable to find it anywhere on CD. Best ever.


Excellent Music
I was actually going to get Roxy Music's greatest hits CD, but then I realized that most of the songs that I like and remember from Bryan are on Bête Noire. I love Bryan Ferry's voice and style. Highly recommend this CD. I'd say it's got a solid 50% hit-to-miss ratio, at least. =:).


Even better with extra tracks!
However there doesn't seem to be any reviews for a product released in Australia for the accompanying tour for this album. This is a positive review. That release had four extended versions to close the album: Kiss and Tell, Limbo, The Right Stuff and Bete Noir (instrumental). Now that was an album!!
I am interested as to why it doesn't appear anywhere on Amazon.


The Boys and Girls of Avalon go for a night of Dancing
" He opted for Patrick Leonard as producer, and while that might have shocked many at the time, as Leonard's best known client was Madonna, it added a dance floor edge to parts of "Bete Noir" that actually enhanced Ferry's romantic detachment as opposed to nullifying it. Having tasted more American Success with "Avalon" and "Boys and Girls" than in his entire career, Bryan Ferry went for broke with 1987's "Bete Noir. (Leonard's eventual Toy/3rd Matinee band projects show he was deeper than many folks originally may have thought. Check out their albums on Amazon. )

Those extra measures of bass and rhythm gave Ferry his sole American solo hit with "Kiss and Tell," which was featured in the Michael J. Fox and Keifer Sutherland (pre "24" years) movie adaptation of "Bright Lights, Big City. " "The Right Stuff" and "Limbo" also were possessed of a higher energy than prior Ferry solo albums, but that didn't mean Ferry had completely lost his flair for the melancholic. "Day For Night" and "The Name Of The Game" depict the artist as tortured soul, a familiar character in Ferry's repertoire.

The collaborators were also a who's who of the time. Johnny Marr of The Smiths co-wrote "The Right Stuff" and spiked it with a great lead line; David Gilmour, Andy Newmark and Guy Pratt also put in appearances. This mix of musicians (with emphasis on MUSICAL) and Ferry's willingness to make an album concurrent with the times via the linkup with Leonard make "Bete Noir" the best of his solo albums. This album, "Boys and Girls" and "Avalon" make a great trilogy -- get them all.


An Excellent Album
This album, and Avalon, are the best albums in the Ferry/Roxy Music canon. I am still listening to this album more than 15 years after I first heard it. Unlike other Ferry/Roxy Music albums which have consisted of maybe one or two mind-blowingly great songs along with 8-9 mediocre ones, this album is consistent. It has great uptempo songs such as "Kiss and Tell" and "Seven Deadly Sins" "Day for Night" and "Limbo", and very good slow melodies such as "The Name of the Game" and the hauting "Zamba".

There is obviously some sort of cinema/film theme at work in this album - cinematic references are peppered throughout. "Seven Deadly Sins", "The Right Stuff", and "Day For Night" are all film titles. The refrain in "The Right Stuff" references "The Chimes at Midnight", a 1965 Orson Welles film. "Kiss and Tell" was the theme to the 1988 film "Bright Lights, Big City". Finally, the album title suggests film noir. I confess I have no idea what the point of the cinematic references may be, but they serve as an interesting footnote to what should be considered a classic album.


You can see a complete list of all Bryan Ferry discography, or go back to the Bryan Ferry tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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