In Your Mind

by

Bryan Ferry

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Following Roxy Music's first split (after the excellent SIREN album) in 1976, Bryan Ferry decided to try his hand at his first solo album entirely consisting of his own compositions. While far from perfect, the result is an album that is quite good.

What is most interesting with IN YOUR MIND is that it is the most straightfoward rock n roll work Ferry has done to date. It is completely stripped of all the glam-rock and art-rock trimmings of most of his early Roxy Music and solo work. So Ferry's trademark croon and vibrato may sound a tad bizarre at first in such an ordinary rock setting, but after a few listens, it all seems to work.

Though the album is far from being the best example of Ferry's songwriting skills, it does contain some fine moments. "Tokyo Joe" is fun, infectious, and downright weird. It sounds like a stripped-down demo that found itself left off of SIREN or COUNTRY LIFE.

"Party Doll" and "One Kiss" are almost equally catchy, but not nearly as fun and entertaining.

Aside from these the rest of the songs are very hit or miss. The one exception, however, is the title track, wich closes out the album. What initially sounds like a Ferry-penned Christmas Carol turns into a thrilling anthem, complete with an excellent guitar solo by the great Chris Spedding. And while the lyrics may border on the absurd and pretentious side ("see the veiled prophet's withered gaze reflect the nouvelle-vague."), musically, this is one of Ferry's finest.

There are, of course, better Ferry solo albums out there, but IN YOUR MIND is definitely enjoyable, and it's sounds as though Ferry had some fun making this one! Don't let the silly album cover scare you away- give it a try

In some ways, In Your Mind is actually a Roxy Music album, in that most of Ferry's 1970's albums have been covers albums with diverse renditions of old R&B and rock songs of the past(Dylan, Four Tops, etc.). His solo albums were covers, while Roxy Music fulfilled a place for his songwriting. So In Your Mind is somewhat of a Roxy album in that it's all originals. What's it sound like? Imagine an album between Country Life and Siren, though some of it is different(the strings on Tokyo Joe and Love Me Madly Again). The most Roxy-ish stuff here can be found in All Night Operator(very Siren-esque) and One Kiss. Not the most remarkable from Mr.Ferry's 70's output, but could have been a decent Roxy album had he let Andy Mackay and the rest play with the material a bit. A few Roxy members do make guest appearances(as they often did on Ferry's solo albums). This and Bride Stripped Bare will satisfy anyone up for more 70's Roxy Music who already has all of the Roxy albums.