I'm still not 100% sure why, but I listened to a lot of Roxy Music and, indeed, Bryan Ferry whilst laid up in hospital; morphine painkillers make you do strange things, that's all I can say. One song I kept coming back to time and again was a solo single Ferry brought out in 1974 on the Island label. I remember buying it as an ex-jukebox 45 (with the middle missing) from Grantham Market fifty years ago, can you believe. If memory serves it cost me the princely sum of 25p; money well spent if you ask me. At the time I couldn't get over the sheer ferocity of the riff that runs all the way through it - guitar, keyboard and horns joining forces to make up a relentless wall of sound.
Imagine my delight when I discovered (still in hospital) Ferry and his band recreating the track note for note at one of the BBC live sessions they used to put on regularly at St. Luke's in Shoreditch, central London. And what a band it is. Look left and you'll see ex-Womble & Sex Pistol Chris Spedding and look right, just behind the fabulous backing singers, you'll spot a young and ridiculously talented guitarist bunking off from school, seemingly. His name is Ollie Johnson and he helps bring The In Crowd to a new audience whilst the ever urbane front man just stands there leaning on his mic stand looking amazing in his made to measure sparkly black jacket*.
Bryan Ferry - The In Crowd (Live from 2007)
* He's come a long way since his retro pilot chic days. Here he is playing the very same number at a Roxy gig in 1976 c/w Phil Manzanera on guitar.
I’ve long had a soft spot for Bryan Ferry’s solo work and, if truth be told, I probably go back to that more often than Roxy.
ReplyDeleteFerry’s version of The In Crowd is the definitive one for me. It’s the first one I heard, courtesy of it’s inclusion on a K-Tel or Ronco compilation that my parents owned, which I played over and over.
I’m glad that he & the gang offered some musical solace in the early days of your recovery!
Ah yes, the Ronco/K-Tel dynasty! With 20 odd tracks on each sides and the grooves being so compressed everything sounded like it had been recorded at the bottom of the sea. Thanks, K.
DeleteThe beauty was that when I first heard those albums, I was too young to appreciate the nuances of sound quality.
DeleteThese days, I’m too old and my hearing’s too shot to appreciate the nuances of sound quality! ;-)
Once very cool dude. Bet he still wakes up and puts on a made to measure sparkly black jacket.
ReplyDeleteGlad you found something musical to home in on whilst you were in post-op mode.
I always assumed he was a big hit with the ladies. Thinking about it, how can he not have been? He pulled Jerry Hall in her prime, so that probably says it all.
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