CONCERT REVIEW: Bryan Ferry (Toronto, Massey Hall, Nov. 18, 1994)
- John Walker
Is glam the opposite of grunge? The music business tends to oscillate wildly between different styles past and present, and there can be no doubt that the heavy-metal-with-a-punk-sensibility called grunge has dominated the 1990s to date. Lost in all the racket has been another, quite noble line of rock music, glam-rock. Glam-rock could be regarded as the antithesis of the Seattle sound and sensibility - at least until Kurt Cobain wedded the two forms with his cover of David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World". Until quite recently, glam had been in the doldrums, more of a historical artifact than a current reality, with pioneers like Bowie and Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry in seeming semi-retirement. Then, along came Suede and the neo-glam posturings of singer Brett Anderson.
With the success of Suede (whose recent Dog Man Star is one of 94's best), the time has never been more ripe for a full-scale glam revival. And lo and behold, suddenly Bowie is working again with Brian Eno, and Bryan Ferry, the singer/songwriter who towered above mere rock mortals in the seminal glam band Roxy Music, is back with a new album, the subtle and sensuous Mamouna, and a tour.
Two sold-out evenings at Toronto's Massey Hall attested to Ferry's continuing viability; the crowd was an odd mix of the type you also encounter at a Leonard Cohen show - the yuppie glitterati mixing with kids attempting a 90's glam look mixing with the usual black leather "rock" crowd. There were even a few plaid shirts (adorning Chris Cornell lookalikes) in evidence. All for the man who once declared himself "grunge-free".
The show was Ferry at his best: trimmed down from the good-life bloat he exhibited on his last tour (6 years ago for Bete Noire), Ferry hit the stage amidst clouds of incense emanating from huge brass pots. Atmosphere is the key word here; the riff from Screamin' Jay Hawkins's "I Put A Spell On You" (the version from Taxi) kicked in, and we were off on a circular Ferry-ride across the deep waters of the artist's past, leading back to his present.
The hypnotic atmosphere Ferry obviously wished to create had taken full effect by the time he launched into Mamouna's best song, "Your Painted Smile", three songs in, with its own perfumed air of decadent lust and longing. Goose-pimple time, indeed. By the time the song finished, the rapturous audience was lost in Ferry's art-world, floating amidst the languid and narcotic haze permeating the hall. It was time to switch gears.
Surprisingly, Ferry initially relied not on old Roxy Music material to rouse the crowd, but instead on songs from his unjustly ignored The Bride Stripped Bare solo album of the late 70's, which dealt with his break-up with the now Mrs. Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall. The emotional desolation yet ultimate uplifting defiance of "Can't Let Go" brought the crowd to its feet, and the intensity level didn't abate for the remainder of the evening. Not to be stopped there, Ferry also hauled out Bride's haunting version of the old Irish standard "Carrickfergus", featuring only he and longtime guitarist Neil Hubbard; beautifully sung, it also went over big, and Ferry had proven a point concerning his past solo work.
Of course, Roxy Music was also in evidence, in spades. For me, the highlight was Ferry's lyrical masterpiece "In Every Dream Home, A Heartache", a song which easily cuts most of what passes for contemporary "poetry" to ribbons, detailing as it does the "modern" man's attempt to replace faith with money, and the results of such an endeavour (the song's protagonist falls in love with and becomes subservient to a "love doll"). "I blew up your body . . . BUT YOU BLEW MY MIND!" The audience had great fun singing the latter bit along with Ferry as the band launched into the the gargantuan riff that ends the song.
"Love Is The Drug", "Do The Strand" and "Avalon" were all there, re-energized by a crack rhythm section of which David Williams's funk-riffing guitar, so evident on Mamouna, was especially thrilling. Entertaining as it was though, I could have done without the very extended guitar/bass jam during the middle of "The 39 Steps", Mamouna's lusty r&b number. If Ferry represents the best of the oft-reviled 1970s, in this case he veered too close to that decade's excesses for comfort.
Ahhh, but that's a quibble. Bryan Ferry has created a body of work which few in the rock world can equal, and he has on this tour recaptured his fire onstage, a fire which seemed missing during his previous tour. If only David Bowie could return to this level, the glam revival would be unstoppable.
