Shropshire Star

Let’s stick together as Roxy Music star Bryan Ferry heads to Birmingham

British pop music icon Bryan Ferry has announced his return to Symphony Hall as part of a major UK headline tour. It is his first since his celebrated London Palladium shows in 2016 and it reaches Birmingham on Sunday.

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Roxy Music star Bryan Ferry heads to Birmingham

Bryan is one of the most innovative singers and lyricists in popular music, with an original vocal brilliance of breathtaking elegance.

The past few years have been extremely busy for Bryan with a worldwide tour and release of his first solo live album.

Recorded during the 2015 Avonmore Tour, Bryan Ferry Live 2015 featured songs from his highly acclaimed album, Avonmore, and classic hits from the Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music back catalogue. This year has seen Bryan tour all across North America.

Avonmore was a lush and layered album that was made in a very different way to Bryan’s earliest records.

He says: “The early group albums were made in a rough and ready manner, which is, I think, part of their charm. We didn’t use musicians from outside the band until later, from say Manifesto onwards. With a lot of the solo albums, I became interested in trying out different instrumental textures, and sort of getting away from the normal band format.

“I really enjoyed the process of this kind of recording in layers, which I saw as an adventure, and sometimes it was successful, stumbling onto quite unusual combinations of sounds.

“However in retrospect it was frequently a bit too indulgent. One of my favourite albums is The Bride Stripped Bare, done in a stripped down fashion, as was Dylanesque, as you pointed out. As a rule, my covers of other composers’ songs are done much more quickly than my own songs, which sometimes take an age to complete.”

Bryan is enjoying being back on the road, but doesn’t imagine there’ll be any reunions for Roxy Music.

There was talk of them recording again, but Bryan says it’s unlikely: “I’m afraid nothing came of that, apart from a few ideas that might surface one day.”

Bryan came to prominence as the lead vocalist with Roxy Music, achieving three number one albums and 10 singles which reached the top 10 in the UK between 1972 and 1982. Hits included Dance Away, Angel Eyes, Over You, and More Than This.