Disco de Bryan Ferry: “Taxi”

This is one of the greatest CD's in my collection.

I turn to it again and again. I especially like

Taxi, the title song. It's very sexy. Do yourself

favor and at least check out the sound samples.

You will have to have it.

Bryan Ferry does his equivalent of Bowie's Pin Ups on this interesting album. I Put A Spell On You and Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow get the ultra smooth treatment with ghostly keyboards lending an eerie feel to the arrangements. Answer Me has similar atmospheric synth flashes, whilst the guitar and organ on Just One Look make it special.

The song Rescue Me has muffled vocal samples, swirling keyboards and an infectious rhythm track with Ferry's vocal wrapping itself around every musical turn and twist; this is a highlight of the album. His version of All Tomorrow's Parties has an unexpected arrangement, not lilting and flowing but jagged and halting.

Old style rock `n roll guitar opens Girl Of My Best Friend and Ferry sings a bit like that too, with more emotion and passion. The up-tempo Amazing Grace is another unusual interpretation, restrained vocals with impressive organ embellishments and a lively rhythm.

The title track is introduced by the sound of rain and car horns and turns into quite a soulful tale of lost love, whilst the short last track Because You're Mine (the only Ferry original) is like a rock symphony with obscure but dramatic voices in the brooding instrumental mix.

Taxi is Bryan Ferry at his smoothest, but with some surprises in his unusual takes on All Tomorrow's Parties and Amazing Grace. It is a very stylish album but do not expect anything like his version of Hard Rain's Gonna Fall (my favourite Ferry number) or the driving pop-rock of early Roxy Music.

Hard to believe this one was released ten years ago. Sounds fresh and vibrant. Wonderful reinterpretations of classic songs often rendered more alive with the Ferry touch.

A great work by an accomplished musician.

First, I have all Bryan Ferry's work up to and including Boys & Girls. For some unknown reason, I quit at that point...except I picked this up in a cut-out bin about a year after its release. By that time, I'd really "gone off" Ferry, and never ever gave it a serious listen. For whatever reason, I've been on a Roxy kick for the last two weeks, so I actually hauled out all my Ferry albums as well. I've listened to them all, and liked them all, but this is my favorite. That's right. Ferry has aged like a fine wine; the production values, arrangements musicianship and singing are all "out of this world. The soundscapes that Ferry started achieving with Rhett Davies in the mid-70s are brought to their highest here...without Rhett Davies, I might add. This album is SO atmospheric, so intoxicating, that once you start listening you have to continue. Like Avalon only, I dare to say, even better.

A note about the fact that these are all cover versions...WHO CARES? In fact, in a way I think it freed Ferry to concentrate on the arrangements and production. It is a fully realized, classic album. It must also be very underrated, judging from the price of it used. So if you are reading this and don't have this album, go ahead, pick it up for a song. You won't be sorry.

Released in 1993, this is Bryan Ferry's eighth solo album and comes 10 years after Roxy Music broke up. It is just under 40 minutes long and the sound quality is good but not great. It has a muted sound similar to Ferry's earlier CDs, Boys and Girls and Bete Noir.

This CD was produced by Robin Trower and features him on guitar, which means nothing. Most of the lead guitar work is by Neil Hubbard who has been on a number of Ferry albums.

This is a collection of classic rock and blues songs. However, they sound nothing like other versions. Many are almost unrecognizable. They are all played like the songs on Boys and Girls. And they all feature Hubbard's unique guitar picking.

I think this is how a cover album should be. The artist takes the songs and makes them his own. He doesn't try to copy the originals. He gives the songs interesting new twists. If I want to hear the original, I will play the original. If I want to hear someone new doing a song, I want something new and original...or what's the point?