Bryan Ferry
Olympia
Virgin Records
3/5
Reuniting with three members of Roxy Music may not have created anything to rival For Your Pleasure, yet this album sounds just like the band would if they’d been going for five decades. And it’s hard not to make these connections with another famous model adorning the cover.
Ferry has created a record of sophisticated pop that bridges the until-now unknown gap between dinner-party music and disco. At times, as in the track ‘BF Bass’, Ferry begins to show his age, producing the sort of song you hoped punk had done away with. But for every misstep there’s something to get excited about, as in the haunting opening track, ‘You Can Dance’.
You have to sympathise with a man with such a magnificent back catalogue; whilst Olympia may not live up to its illustrious predecessors it remains a worthy addition to the oeuvre.
