Rating: NNN
The Manet-inspired photo of an iced-out Kate Moss on the cover of Bryan Ferry’s first solo album in eight years doesn’t lie. The image throws back to the impossibly glamorous artwork that graced many a Roxy Music record sleeve, and the album’s 10 tracks evoke a similar nostalgia for the cult 70s act’s panoramic art-pop machismo, with an emphasis on “pop.”
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Much of Olympia sounds straight out of Avalon-era Roxy, despite an array of all-star collaborators: David Gilmour, Jonny Greenwood, Scissor Sisters, Nile Rodgers and ex-Roxys Brian Eno, Andrew Mackay and Phil Manzanera. Somewhat surprisingly, they blend right in with Ferry’s trembling timbre and sensual, textured atmospherics. Despite a few tripped-out pop gems, the album is largely what you’d expect to hear after gazing into Moss’s glassy eyes: a classic sound but not a classic record.
Top track: Song To The Siren
