Bryan Ferry
As Time Goes By

The reception is scheduled for 8:00 PM, the austere wrought iron gates will open promptly with a slight discrepancy, but still, there's no sign of the guests. Mr. & Mrs. Smith will arrive first at 8:45 PM, followed by the Lancasters, the Godans, the Stills... Customs and manners of distant societies, particularly in a vertical sense.

At 9:00 PM, amidst the rigorous geometries of an Italian garden, the aperitif will be served, just in time to enjoy the last gleams of a July evening. While only the song of blackbirds borders the celestial evening, a servant announces in the park that Miss Otis must forgo and will not dine with the attendees, tonight she "isn't in the mood and has no appetite," what can one expect, the ailments of the aristocracy... The branches of trees pierce the increasingly blue and nightfall sky, the blackbirds are nothing but a lost memory at the bottom of the park's noises or someone's love, only crickets are heard from the grassy expanse and many fireflies around the fountains are seen, behind the boxwood hedges the Granwoods argue and speak words that it is better for others not to hear... "leave me or I will betray you, love me or I will run away"…

With a drink in hand, the son of the Lancasters, under a lush bay window, talks with the college girls about how "easy life" is for the aristocrat, mocking those who worry unnecessarily, but a solitary man listens not far away, watching him with thick eyebrows and inquisitive glances, then lowers his eyes, closes in on himself, observing his hands and the time gone by. Someone hums along the colored gravel paths, catching the curiosity of certain matrons in evening dresses with ostrich fans, while they drown their desires in rich cream puffs, he is madly in love and upon meeting his beloved, he produces bows and a sweet compliment "how beautiful you are tonight young lady, I would be content to be your glove..."
The humidity falls with the evening and at 10:00 PM, the doors of the opulent Villa Otis open, frescoes and marble alternate along long and wide, well-lit corridors, up to the ballroom, where everything is ready for the grand banquet. Here are invitations and cares, etiquette, cotillion, affectations that waste in pursuit and are false, treacherous, in approaching the tables the red curtain at the end of the hall opens and all this disappears, just large courses at the rhythm of music that permeates every room of the hall. In the end, small and distant, a singer and his little band from the most dandy London play about the heartaches of sweet young ladies, loves past and loves betrayed.

The singer in his distracted aura, leaning and evanescent, sings with a shellac voice the most popular songs of that ethereal season. The voice is very light, the little band plays like velvet and the room while drowning in wines and gorging, greedy, on food and music, asks who he might be... I tell you, that "person" was Bryan Ferry and that concert from a long-gone era is the content of this album significantly called "As Time Goes By".
We were just a few days ago discussing Rod Stewart's countless American Songbooks, where the latter reprised the most famous American standards, well, this album by Bryan Ferry sums up those four tired collections into a single album, released well in advance of its clones, well-conceived and put together, arranged in the style of Teddy Wilson, rich in simple yet dandy interpretations.

Roxy Music left a great legacy to the musical history of the last century. As is often the case, the solo return of one of the band's members sparks suspicion of commercial relaunches and prejudices, often unfounded. To avoid the usual querelle, Ferry, being the curious sound researcher he is, decided for his tenth solo album to delve into the great classics of American musical history and detach from his known precedents. After the trilogy of solo albums dedicated to his inspirers (These foolish things, Another time another place, and Let's stick together) and the success of other original albums (Boys and Girls, The bride stripped bare, Mamouna... I suggest among these, the sensual review of Girls and boys made by mariaelena on De-Baser, which will make you "want to"... not sure if listening to the album...), Ferry reaches this album as a mature researcher who for passion rearranges in his very personal style some swing romantic pearls, relocating them in the original Dolce Vita imaginary.

The album sounds fresh despite recreating the retro atmospheres of those years... Ferry, like a sensual and refined actor, dedicates himself in all his gentle manner and interprets and sings and pines for the heartaches of that American Inner Circle that no longer exists today... It is certainly not my task to evaluate the very "classic" content of this album. That said, the four stars are justified as a rating for the realization, namely the selection of songs to perform, their interpretation, and the overall quality of the album.

More history lessons would be needed, especially when well-executed.