| Review by swanlee May 16, 2003 (1 of 2 found this review helpful)
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Picked this up from amazon germany, found a link and had to guess german to get through the option to order. Overall though it came in about 1 week to the USA. Ebay might be an option to find this also.
To put it mildy this is a really great album. Never been the biggest Ferry solo fan although I'm really into Roxy Music, most of his other solo album are a little to lounge act. This one is a pretty straight forward rock album very similar to the later Roxy music album very smooth like Avalon but not boring or old sounding like a Sinatra album or something.
Album flows very well the sonics are nice and it is a good sounding disc. Thiuer is also a DVD-A version might be interesting to pick up and compare. Back to sonics it a very well mixed, well recorded and well mastered SACD, possible DSD sourced seeing as new as it is, have to check back on that. If your at all a Roxy fan you should hunt this down was pleasant surprise with at least 5 stand out tracks on here, Hiroshima being the best song on the album and an instant classic. Also of note Brian Eno plays and co writes on this album, Let's all hope Eno gets back in the studio and we have a Real Roxy Music Album for the next year.
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| Review by emilsjr July 1, 2003 (4 of 5 found this review helpful)
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Performance: Sonics:  |
With all the attention to Avalon, I thought it was interesting to re-listen to Frantic back to back with Avalon. After almost nine years, Bryan Ferry delivers new material. In addition, he includes some interesting covers. All this adds up to one of his strongest solo offerings ever.
While the cover songs on this album, "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", "Goin Down", "Don't Think Twice" and "Goodnight Irene" are okay, with the Dylan cover "It's all over now, baby blue" being the strongest, this album shines with the original material. His collaborations here with various gifted muscians including orginal Roxy bandmates Brian Eno and Paul Thompson, the Eurythmics' co-founder Dave Stewart, guitar great Robin Trower, Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood and top session guitarist, Chris Spedding, not to mention recent Ferry touring musicians, pianist Colin Good, and bassist Zev Katz, contribute greatly. "Cruel" delivers some incredible bass and a reflection of the man that he is. Criminally ignored, "Goddess to Love', his homage to Marilyn Monroe, fills the room with some amazing guitar work. "Nobody Loves Me" and "A Fool For Love" tell the story of love from opposite sides and book-end each other perfectly. The best track here is a power rocker called "Hiroshima". Other standouts include the amazingly somber and touching "San Simeon" and his reunion with Brian Eno on "I thought". Let's hope there is a full Roxy Music reunion album soon.
As for the SACD, EMI delivers an interesting multi-channel experience. The sonics are very good for pop material, although I do think that Avalon does sound better. The vocals are all center based. The rears are agressive when approriate. The album does allow you to hear how much smoking Brian Ferry has done over the years. However, this gravel sound helps the material. Save the song "Cruel", bass is the weak link here. Still, this disc is very well done and any Roxy Music fan should find this disc. If I could, the sonics rating would be 4.5.
Like Air Supply, Bryan Ferry is always going to be Bryan Ferry. That deserves respect. No left turns in his catalogue. He has pursued his singular romantic vision for pop music from the very first Roxy Music album with varying degrees of success. At his best, he delivers incredidble pop songs in a lush setting. Here, he is definitely firing on all cylinders.
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| Review by Marcsten October 1, 2003 (3 of 4 found this review helpful)
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Performance: Sonics: |
I would second the other reviews. I am quite a Brian Ferry fan, although he can be excessive at times on his solo efforts. On the other hand, I read an interview with him once where he stated that the covers on his solo lps are of songs that formed his style and otherwise had an impact on him. That's why there are covers by the Beatles and 'You are My Sunshine'. His selections here are much more refined, and overall it is some of his stongest solo material to date. If you have even a passing interest in Roxy Music, this disc is a winner. The mix is good fun in surround and the sonics are great too.
Marc
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| Review by mindovermatter March 10, 2005 (1 of 5 found this review helpful)
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Performance:  Sonics: |
| I think this is just one fine Brian Ferry effort. The surround is modern (this means good) so just buy it and enjoy it.
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| Review by fredblue May 19, 2009 (3 of 3 found this review helpful)
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I loved this album from the very moment I first played it, back on rbcd. Even then, on just a little boombox, it stood out as easily one of the best albums not only of that year for me, but that I had ever heard!
Now on SACD, it is like hearing it for the very first time - it is that awesome! The 5.1 mix only ever enhances the material and as such makes the stereo rbcd totally redundant in my collection. I can only think of maybe one or two of the Elton John SACD's similarly being in this category, whereby I cannot listen to the old rbcd 2-channel mix (that I loved for so long!) anymore because the M/C SACD is the only way I can fully appreciate and really enjoy listening to the music now. There is NO going back from this SACD!
As for the record itself, in short, this is a stunning collection of songs, brilliantly sung, with an awesome band and superb production values. The lively and engaging surround mix that so amazingly picks out and showcases the many, many highlights of this incredible album is the icing on a delicious cake!
Even if Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music isn't your thing, I recommend this album to anyone with an ear for music! And for all 5.1 afficionado's, I cannot overstate that this is an essential disc. In over 50 Multi-Channel SACD's, this is a real "desert-island disc" for me and one which I am sure I will never tire of really listening to in splendid high-resolution surround sound. In a word - Essential.
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| Review by collinmaillard May 15, 2012
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Sounds like perfection is Ferry's usual standard ... What else could you expect, after having heard Hiroshima or San Simeon ??? Performance is brilliant, surprising, deep and captivating.
Sonics are great, atmospheric, varied and so clear.
The multichannel mix adds a lot too here and has to be seen as part of the whole musical composition, and not as a simple extra dimension added for a bunch of sound geeks.
Without this 5.1 dimension, this record would be very good.
With it, it is top notch !
Chris
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