Bryan Ferry As Time Goes By Album Review, Songs, Rating

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Bryan Ferry
As Time Goes By
Release Date: 1999 10 19
Running Time: 44:30
Label: Virgin
Rating:

Bryan Ferry invests considerable time and energy in cover albums (he should, considering that they compose a good portion of his solo catalog), treating them with as much care as a record of original material. He's always found ways to radically reinvent the songs he sings, so it's easy to expect that his collection of pop standards, As Time Goes By, would re-imagine the familiar. Instead, As Time Goes By is his first classicist album, containing non-ironic, neo-traditionalist arrangements of songs associated with the '30s. That doesn't mean it's a lavish affair, dripping with lush orchestras -- it's considerably more intimate than that. Even when strings surface, they're understated, part of a small live combo that supports Ferry throughout the record. He's made the music as faithful to its era as possible, yet instead of rigidly replicating the sounds of the '30s, he's blended Billie Holiday, cabaret pop, and movie musicals into an evocative pastiche. Ferry is at his best when he's exploring the possibilities within a specific theory or concept; with As Time Goes By, he eases into these standards and old-fashioned settings like an actor adopting a new persona. Since Ferry has always been a crooner, the transition is smooth and suave. He makes no attempt to alter his tremulous style, yet it rarely sounds incongruous -- he may sound a little vampirish on "You Do Something to Me," but that's the rare case where he doesn't seamlessly mesh with his romantic, sepia-toned surroundings. On the surface, it may seem like a departure for Ferry, but in the end, it's entirely of a piece with his body of work. True, it may not be a major album in the scheme of things, but it's easy to be seduced by its casual elegance. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Tracks:

	Title	Composer	Time
1	As Time Goes By	Hupfield, Hupfeld	2:34
2	Way You Look Tonight	Fields, Kern	3:36
3	Easy Living	Robin, Rainger	2:16
4	I'm in the Mood for Love	McHugh, Fields	4:17
5	Where or When	Rodgers, Hart	3:19
6	When Somebody Thinks You're Wonderful	Woods	2:57
7	Sweet and Lovely	LeMare, Tobias, Arnheim	3:10
8	Miss Otis Regrets	Porter	2:39
9	Time on My Hands	Gordon, Adamson, Youmans	3:02
10	Lover, Come Back to Me	Romberg, Hammerstein	2:54
11	Falling in Love Again	Hollander, Lerner	2:26
12	Love Me or Leave Me	Donaldson, Kahn	2:44
13	You Do Something to Me	Porter	2:47
14	Just One of Those Things	Porter	2:46
15	September Song	Weill, Anderson	3:03

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