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Bryan Ferry - The Atlantic Years 1973-1980 Audio CD

A fair review of the Bryan Ferry "The Atlantic Years 1973-1980" 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: The Atlantic Years 1973-1980
Rating:
Release Date:
Media: Audio CD

Tracks:

disingenuous marketing ploy
DANCE AWAY 3:45
2. TRACKLIST:
1. ANGEL EYES 3:32? (should be 3:06 i. e. remixed single version)
3. OVER YOU
4. LOVE IS THE DRUG
5. OH YEAH
6. AIN'T THAT SO
7. MY ONLY LOVE
8. IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR (Cropper/Pickett)
9. STILL FALLS THE RAIN
10. DO THE STRAND


Adapted from Melody Maker's Nov 83 and ConnollyCo dotcom's reviews:

"This is the respectable, coffee table Roxy. . . This is the Roxy people appreciated for Andy Mackay's sax solos rather than Ferry's winged epaulettes. " -Steve Sutherland, Melody Maker

The Atlantic Years' meager 10 tracks comprise 4 from 1979's patchy but influential Manifesto album ["Duran Duran were born here" -S. S. , Melody Maker, Nov 83], 4 from 1980's inoffensive, anemic Flesh + Blood album [the only Roxy release actually on the Atlantic label- even The Atlantic Years was released on Atco! (EG in UK)] which managed to plug into the middle-aged market that acquires rather than questions.

As such, The Atlantic Years contains itself primarily to Roxy's second act, or the whole wide world of 1979 to 1980. Maybe they meant to make the "3" in 1973 an 8. Atlantic did sign Roxy in 1973, in time to distribute Bryan Ferry's first solo album, but that was after "Do the Strand" (from sophmore release For Your Pleasure, during the band's early experimental phase with Eno) had been released. That track's inclusion here is the rationale behind the 1973-1980 timeline, but "Do the Strand" was part of the 'Island years'; Atlantic acquired rights to it after the fact. #2 UK hit "Love Is the Drug", from 1975's Siren, also belongs to Roxy Mk I.

Eight of the 10 tracks come courtesy of 1979's Manifesto and 1980's Flesh + Blood , the band's two weakest albums artistically speaking. And if you're not speaking about Roxy in the context of a musical art movement, then you've really got nothing to say. Making a case for the band as a doyen of the new romantic movement is obviously valid, but subordinate to the main discussion. It's like using Let's Dance as a launching point for David Bowie's influence in music. Furthermore, Roxy's best entry in the new wave genre, Avalon, is absent (the band had signed with Warner Bros. by then). Clearly, with the success of Avalon, Atlantic was hoping to profit from a little history lesson. After the flush of Avalon's success had faded, so faded The Atlantic Years. Given the slight overlap with their first Greatest Hits (Atco 1977, never issued on CD) and the subsequent reconciliation of the Warner Bros. releases with their back catalog, The Atlantic Years is about as useful as a cupholder on a pogo stick. Yes, you do get the remixed single version of "Angel Eyes" on here, but even this one-time rarity is easily available on several compilations, including 2001's remastered 18 track career spanning The Best of (Virgin), also available in SACD. The only aspect of The Atlantic Years that could even remotely illicit a favorable comment is Peter Saville's functionally tasteful cover design!

Released posthumously in November 1983, this dismissable compilation reached UK #23 and US #183.


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