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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 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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