Bryan Ferry 6: Boys And Girls

The template set by Avalon served Bryan Ferry very well following the second dissolution of Roxy Music. Boys And Girls not only continues the trend towards original material, just like his more recent solo albums, but it includes many of the same hired-guns involved with Roxy at the end—Andy Newmark, Neil Hubbard, Alan Spenner, and more. Several guitarists of name pop up throughout the album, and David Sanborn is the only saxophonist credited. Neither Phil Manzanera nor Andy Mackay appear in the laundry list of contributors.

In many ways, the album is Avalon II: The Sequel. “Sensation” works the template, with one guitar playing a staccato two-note riff over a disco thump, but just when you think it’s going to be ordinary, “Slave To Love” bursts forth. The deceptive intro is in one key, and the song itself moves to the standard I-vi-IV-V with a pretty melody on top. When the intro returns for the solo, it’s a perfect transition. Simple but infectious. “Don’t Stop The Dance” returns to the moody template. Ferry’s ever known to be deep, but he does make the astute observation that “beauty should be deeper than skin”, and who can argue? “A Waste Land” isn’t much more than an impressionistic link, filling the “India” slot on Avalon, going right into “Windswept”, which shares some musical similarities to “While My Heart Is Still Beating”.

Flip over to side two and “The Chosen One” burbles into place, sounding just like “The Main Thing”. “Valentine” breaks from the template with something of a Mideastern reggae feel; this time the guitarist would either be Mark Knopfler or someone doing an uncanny impression. “Stone Woman” picks up the tempo noticeably, though it’s not much more than a dance groove. The title tracks provides a slow-burning finale, automated and real drums beating to the end.

Like most sequels, Boys And Girls doesn’t so much continue the story as retell it, and that’s fine if you’re looking for more of the same. The days when Bryan Ferry was a trendsetter were long past, and now he was just making records and counting the money. He could still blend vocals to make one’s ears prick up.

Bryan Ferry Boys And Girls (1985)—3