These Foolish Things
	Produced by Bryan Ferry, John Porter & John Punter
	Released on October 1973
	UK CHART POSITION #5
	Find it at GEMM
26082-2 cover

N ot content with merely shaping the future of music, singer/songwriter Bryan Ferry took time off to re-cast a baker’s dozen classics from the ‘60s in his own alternately revisionist and romantic moods. Although generally a lighthearted affair, These Foolish Things is too clever to be taken at face value -- the version of Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” presented here literally up-ends the original in Roxy’s familiar idiom, while Ferry subverts the romantic ideal of singer in off-kilter takes on “I Love How You Love Me” and “Don’t Worry Baby.” The best tracks, however, showcase Ferry as a genuine vocal interpreter: “These Foolish Things” and “River of Salt” generate the magnetic presence of an Elvis Presley (although Ferry is something of an iconoclast to Presley’s icon). Not every track works -- Bryan adds little to songs by Smokey Robinson, The Beatles and Janis Joplin -- but even the less effective covers have a breezy quality that maintain the album’s original momentum. The Trouser Press’ endorsement that “this warped ‘70s jukebox is weird but wonderful” may seem overenthusiastic to non-Ferryphiles, but then non-fans have no business buying These Foolish Things.

26082-2 booklet back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. A HARD RAIN'S A-GONNA FALL    (Bob Dylan)    5:20
2. RIVER OF SALT    (Brown/Zachery/Zachery)    1:48
3. DON'T EVER CHANGE    (Goffin/King)    2:15
4. PIECE OF MY HEART    (Berns/Ragavoy)    3:06
5. BABY I DON'T CARE    (Lieber/Stoller)    1:52
6. IT'S MY PARTY    (Wiener/Gold/Gluck)    1:58
7. DON'T WORRY BABY    (Wilson/Christian)    4:13
8. SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL    (Mick Jagger/Keith Richard)    5:51
9. THE TRACKS OF MY TEARS    (Robinson/Tarplin/Moore)    3:05
10. YOU WON'T SEE ME    (John Lennon/Paul McCartney)    2:32
11. I LOVE HOW YOU LOVE ME    (Kolber/Mann)    3:02
12. LOVING YOU IS SWEETER THAN EVER    (Hunter/Wonder)    3:06
13. THESE FOOLISH THINGS    (Marvell/Strachey/Link)    5:42

CREDITS

BRYAN FERRY -- voice & occasional piano
ROGER BALL -- alto & baritone saxes, horn arrangements
MALCOLM DUNCAN -- tenor sax
EDDIE JOBSON -- violin, keyboards & synthesizer
HENRY LOWTHER -- trumpet
JOHN PORTER -- guitars & bass
DAVID SKINNER -- piano
PAUL THOMPSON -- drums
The Angelettes -- backing vocals
Jessie Davis -- backing vocals (1,8)
Phil Manzanera -- guitar solo (10)
Robbie Montgomery -- backing vocals (1,8)
Ruan O'Lochlainn -- alto solo (11)
Steve Nye -- engineer
John Punter -- engineer, additional drums (7,8)
Nicholas de Ville -- cover design
Karl Stoecker -- photography

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