View basket “Friday Night In San Francisco” has been added to your basket. Bitter Sweet Bryan Ferry SKU: 4050538448238 Barcode: 4050538448238 25.00 £25.00 Genre: Jazz Label: BMG Rights Management Released Date: 26th November 2018 Buying Format: 180g 2LP Out of stock Back Order Add to your Wishlist Description Product Info “Make it new” rang the rallying cry of modernists in the early twentieth century. To be modern in the 1920s, or postmodern in the 1960s, demanded destruction—of conventions, traditions, expectations, representation, even beauty itself. A drawing by Paul Klee captured the rebellious spirit of the age just after World War I. A scribbled stick-figure angel, dubbed “Angelus Novus” (New Angel), stares out, wings aloft, flattened crudely against the page. Pierced by the gaze, philosopher Walter Benjamin imagined the figure to be the Angel of History looking at the debris of the past, looking at us while blown backwards into the future. Ferry too looks out upon the debris of the past, but with a deep affection and real sympathy that escaped the modernists. He follows a different prescription: not “make it new,” but “make it newly beautiful.” And here beauty lies in bittersweet remembrance, rather than youthful rejection. This art recognizes that the past was once our present, even our future, and this moment too shall melt away into the past. The art of the past that Ferry embraces includes ragtime, blues, and jazz as well as the clean lines of Art Deco, the heady glamour of early cinema, and the modishness of the 1960s. Jazz in the 1920s was the soundtrack of popular culture—itself a modern invention. Think of swing, the Ziegfeld Follies, Mary Pickford, and Charlie Chaplin. Remembering them evokes a sense of nostalgia. “It’s still the same old movie that’s haunting me,” Ferry once said. So what are we watching on this album? What are we hearing? Reason or Rhyme calls to the ear the dark reed timbres and baleful trumpets of Duke Ellington’s Black and Tan Fantasy, with a gesture, perhaps, to the tenor saxophone sound of Coleman Hawkins. (Ellington and Hawkins played together on an essential album from 1962.) Sign of the Times includes a swinging trumpet solo and a veiled allusion, in the concluding section, to Eddie Lockjaw Davis. While My Heart Is Still Beating throws a bridge between the clarinet and alto sax duo of Sidney Bechet and Johnny Hodges to the edgier sound, on the sax, of Benny Carter. An even more haunting transposition of the 1920s is Boys & Girls, which again recalls Bechet and Hodges, now processed through a modernist sensibility. The vibrato in the saxophone line is crisper and more classical, less sensual than cerebral, more like the imitations of jazz that became fashionable among modernist composers. Thus Kurt Weill’s Pirate Jenny, from his iconic Threepenny Opera, influences the texture of Alphaville, which is also the title of a New Wave film by Jean-Luc Goddard. (The past really does pile up.) The title track, Bitter-Sweet, makes the Weill homage more explicit, and even includes lines in German. Dance Away begins like a Scott Joplin Rag, but New Town is pure Ferry. He doubles his voice in a song with a slow Charleston feel, yet the harmony, disorienting throughout the album, is here otherworldly. Ferry returns his great songs to their roots, but they are stranger for it. Thus he captures the uncanny essence of nostalgia—of the familiar made strange, the pang of returning to your childhood home or grade-school classroom. This is an album in the truest sense, like a photobook or scrapbook, and so engages our musical memories. Throughout, Ferry’s dusky, poignant voice shades the meaning of the music like chiaroscuro shadowing in a Renaissance painting (just the kind of details the modernists would eliminate, but Ferry now restores). Horns inhale deeply, dreamily; castanets click in reference to the Romani goddess Carmen; and solo instruments sink, despairingly, casually, in a delirious blend of swing and tango and fantasy. The arrangements, created by Ferry with his long-time music director Colin Good, at once suggest the childhood of jazz in the 1920s and capture its more recent echoes, including those from Ferry’s album The Jazz Age. The reverb is soggy, the piano lines clean, and the forms prove more complicated than those by the bandmasters of yesteryear. Bitter-Sweet accomplishes what the modernists of the past, in their youthful enthusiasm, could not. Ferry’s music embraces the artifice of art as well as the artlessness of emotion so that the “sad affair” described at the start leads you to “break down and cry” by the end. Thus we are transported to the Berlin of the Tacheles club and the Chamäleon, to the zeitgeist of that jazz-friendly metropolis in the young 20th century – the hedonistic world of Babylon Berlin. Artist Bryan Ferry Genre Jazz , Rock And Pop Label BMG Rights Management Buying Options 180g 2LP Format 180g , 2LP Condition New Country United Kingdom Track Listings 1. Alphaville 2. Reason Or Rhyme 3. Sign Of The Times 4. New Town 5. Limbo 6. Bitter-Sweet 7. Dance Away 8. Zamba 9. Sea Breezes 10. While My Heart Is Still Beating 11. Bitters End 12. Chance Meeting 13. Boys And Girls Share this On Facebook On Twitter Via Email More from Bryan Ferry View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry Retrospective: Selected Recordings 1973-2023 Rock And Pop | BMG | 2LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 25th October 2024 £30.00 - £32.00 Select options Reserve View Reservations Bryan Ferry Retrospective: Selected Recordings 1973-2023 £30.00 - £32.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: BMG Formats: 2LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 25th October 2024 Reserve View Reservations Read More Select options View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry Mamouna / Horoscope 2023 Reissue Rock And Pop | BMG | 180g, 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released 17th November 2023 £32.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Bryan Ferry Mamouna / Horoscope 2023 Reissue £32.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: BMG SKU: 4050538885477 Formats: 180g, 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 17th November 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry Taxi Rock And Pop | BMG | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 25th November 2022 £25.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Bryan Ferry Taxi £25.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: BMG SKU: 4050538764666 Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 25th November 2022 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry Boys And Girls Rock And Pop | Virgin EMI | 180g, 1LP Released 30th July 2021 £20.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Bryan Ferry Boys And Girls £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Virgin EMI SKU: BFLP6 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 30th July 2021 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry The Bride Stripped Bare Rock And Pop | Virgin EMI | 180g, 1LP Released 30th July 2021 £20.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Bryan Ferry The Bride Stripped Bare £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Virgin EMI SKU: BFLP5 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 30th July 2021 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry In Your Mind Rock And Pop | Virgin EMI | 180g, 1LP Released 30th July 2021 £20.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Bryan Ferry In Your Mind £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Virgin EMI SKU: BFLP4 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 30th July 2021 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry Let’s Stick Together Rock And Pop | Virgin EMI | 180g, 1LP Released 30th July 2021 £20.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Bryan Ferry Let’s Stick Together £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Virgin EMI SKU: BFLP3 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 30th July 2021 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry Another Time, Another Place Rock And Pop | Virgin EMI | 180g, 1LP Released 30th July 2021 £20.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Bryan Ferry Another Time, Another Place £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Virgin EMI SKU: BFLP2 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 30th July 2021 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry These Foolish Things Rock And Pop | Virgin EMI | 180g, 1LP Released 30th July 2021 £20.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Bryan Ferry These Foolish Things £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Virgin EMI SKU: BFLP1 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 30th July 2021 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry Live at the Royal Albert Hall 1974 Rock And Pop | BMG Rights | 1LP Released 7th February 2020 £22.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Bryan Ferry Live at the Royal Albert Hall 1974 £22.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: BMG Rights SKU: 4050538255775 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 7th February 2020 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders See more from Bryan Ferry Start again More from Jazz View Product Quick View Nguyên Lê Trio Silk and Sand Jazz | ACT | 1LP Released 31st March 2023 £20.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Nguyên Lê Trio Silk and Sand £20.00 Genre: Jazz Label: ACT SKU: ACTLP9967-1 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 31st March 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Binker Golding feat. Joe Armon-Jones Abstractions of Reality Past and Incredible Feathers Jazz | Gearbox | 1LP Released 27th September 2019 £20.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Binker Golding feat. Joe Armon-Jones Abstractions of Reality Past and Incredible Feathers £20.00 Genre: Jazz Label: Gearbox SKU: GB1555 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 27th September 2019 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Freddie Hubbard The Body & The Soul (Verve by Request) Jazz | Decca | 180g, 1LP Released 13th September 2024 £30.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Freddie Hubbard The Body & The Soul (Verve by Request) £30.00 Genre: Jazz Label: Decca SKU: 6522626 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 13th September 2024 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Gerry Mulligan Night Lights (Acoustic Sounds) Jazz | Decca (UMO) [GB] | Jazz | Verve | 180g, 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released 26th April 2024 £36.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Gerry Mulligan Night Lights (Acoustic Sounds) £36.00 Genre: Jazz Label: Decca (UMO) [GB] | Jazz | Verve SKU: 6501836 Formats: 180g, 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 26th April 2024 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Veronica Swift This Bitter Earth Jazz | Mack Avenue | 2LP Released 9th April 2021 £30.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Veronica Swift This Bitter Earth £30.00 Genre: Jazz Label: Mack Avenue SKU: MAC1177LP Formats: 2LP Released Date: 9th April 2021 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Peggy Lee Is That All There Is Jazz | Pure Pleasure | 180g, 1LP Released 8th December 2006 £34.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Peggy Lee Is That All There Is £34.00 Genre: Jazz Label: Pure Pleasure SKU: ST386 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 8th December 2006 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Manu Katche, Tomasaz Stanko, Jan Garberek Neighbourhood Jazz | ECM | 1LP Released 7th June 2019 £17.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Manu Katche, Tomasaz Stanko, Jan Garberek Neighbourhood £17.00 Genre: Jazz Label: ECM SKU: 7742670 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 7th June 2019 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Lee Morgan The Sidewinder (Blue Vinyl Series) Jazz | Decca (UMO) / Jazz / Blue Note | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 12th July 2024 £26.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Lee Morgan The Sidewinder (Blue Vinyl Series) £26.00 Genre: Jazz Label: Decca (UMO) / Jazz / Blue Note SKU: 5859221 Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 12th July 2024 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Erroll Garnor Ready Take One Jazz | Sony Music | 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released 21st November 2016 £21.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Erroll Garnor Ready Take One £21.00 Genre: Jazz Label: Sony Music SKU: 88985363321 Formats: 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 21st November 2016 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Thelonious Monk Genius of Modern Music Vol. 2 Jazz | Universal/Blue Note | 180g, 1LP, Includes Download Code Released 17th February 2015 £14.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Thelonious Monk Genius of Modern Music Vol. 2 £14.00 Genre: Jazz Label: Universal/Blue Note SKU: 4710521 Formats: 180g, 1LP, Includes Download Code Released Date: 17th February 2015 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders See more in Jazz Start again
View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry Retrospective: Selected Recordings 1973-2023 Rock And Pop | BMG | 2LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 25th October 2024 £30.00 - £32.00 Select options Reserve View Reservations Bryan Ferry Retrospective: Selected Recordings 1973-2023 £30.00 - £32.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: BMG Formats: 2LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 25th October 2024 Reserve View Reservations Read More Select options
View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry Mamouna / Horoscope 2023 Reissue Rock And Pop | BMG | 180g, 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released 17th November 2023 £32.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Bryan Ferry Mamouna / Horoscope 2023 Reissue £32.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: BMG SKU: 4050538885477 Formats: 180g, 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 17th November 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry Taxi Rock And Pop | BMG | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 25th November 2022 £25.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Bryan Ferry Taxi £25.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: BMG SKU: 4050538764666 Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 25th November 2022 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry Boys And Girls Rock And Pop | Virgin EMI | 180g, 1LP Released 30th July 2021 £20.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Bryan Ferry Boys And Girls £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Virgin EMI SKU: BFLP6 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 30th July 2021 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket
View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry The Bride Stripped Bare Rock And Pop | Virgin EMI | 180g, 1LP Released 30th July 2021 £20.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Bryan Ferry The Bride Stripped Bare £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Virgin EMI SKU: BFLP5 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 30th July 2021 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry In Your Mind Rock And Pop | Virgin EMI | 180g, 1LP Released 30th July 2021 £20.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Bryan Ferry In Your Mind £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Virgin EMI SKU: BFLP4 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 30th July 2021 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket
View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry Let’s Stick Together Rock And Pop | Virgin EMI | 180g, 1LP Released 30th July 2021 £20.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Bryan Ferry Let’s Stick Together £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Virgin EMI SKU: BFLP3 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 30th July 2021 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket
View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry Another Time, Another Place Rock And Pop | Virgin EMI | 180g, 1LP Released 30th July 2021 £20.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Bryan Ferry Another Time, Another Place £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Virgin EMI SKU: BFLP2 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 30th July 2021 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket
View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry These Foolish Things Rock And Pop | Virgin EMI | 180g, 1LP Released 30th July 2021 £20.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Bryan Ferry These Foolish Things £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Virgin EMI SKU: BFLP1 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 30th July 2021 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket
View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry Live at the Royal Albert Hall 1974 Rock And Pop | BMG Rights | 1LP Released 7th February 2020 £22.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Bryan Ferry Live at the Royal Albert Hall 1974 £22.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: BMG Rights SKU: 4050538255775 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 7th February 2020 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View Nguyên Lê Trio Silk and Sand Jazz | ACT | 1LP Released 31st March 2023 £20.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Nguyên Lê Trio Silk and Sand £20.00 Genre: Jazz Label: ACT SKU: ACTLP9967-1 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 31st March 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View Binker Golding feat. Joe Armon-Jones Abstractions of Reality Past and Incredible Feathers Jazz | Gearbox | 1LP Released 27th September 2019 £20.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Binker Golding feat. Joe Armon-Jones Abstractions of Reality Past and Incredible Feathers £20.00 Genre: Jazz Label: Gearbox SKU: GB1555 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 27th September 2019 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View Freddie Hubbard The Body & The Soul (Verve by Request) Jazz | Decca | 180g, 1LP Released 13th September 2024 £30.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Freddie Hubbard The Body & The Soul (Verve by Request) £30.00 Genre: Jazz Label: Decca SKU: 6522626 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 13th September 2024 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View Gerry Mulligan Night Lights (Acoustic Sounds) Jazz | Decca (UMO) [GB] | Jazz | Verve | 180g, 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released 26th April 2024 £36.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Gerry Mulligan Night Lights (Acoustic Sounds) £36.00 Genre: Jazz Label: Decca (UMO) [GB] | Jazz | Verve SKU: 6501836 Formats: 180g, 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 26th April 2024 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket
View Product Quick View Veronica Swift This Bitter Earth Jazz | Mack Avenue | 2LP Released 9th April 2021 £30.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Veronica Swift This Bitter Earth £30.00 Genre: Jazz Label: Mack Avenue SKU: MAC1177LP Formats: 2LP Released Date: 9th April 2021 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View Peggy Lee Is That All There Is Jazz | Pure Pleasure | 180g, 1LP Released 8th December 2006 £34.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Peggy Lee Is That All There Is £34.00 Genre: Jazz Label: Pure Pleasure SKU: ST386 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 8th December 2006 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View Manu Katche, Tomasaz Stanko, Jan Garberek Neighbourhood Jazz | ECM | 1LP Released 7th June 2019 £17.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Manu Katche, Tomasaz Stanko, Jan Garberek Neighbourhood £17.00 Genre: Jazz Label: ECM SKU: 7742670 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 7th June 2019 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View Lee Morgan The Sidewinder (Blue Vinyl Series) Jazz | Decca (UMO) / Jazz / Blue Note | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 12th July 2024 £26.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Lee Morgan The Sidewinder (Blue Vinyl Series) £26.00 Genre: Jazz Label: Decca (UMO) / Jazz / Blue Note SKU: 5859221 Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 12th July 2024 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View Erroll Garnor Ready Take One Jazz | Sony Music | 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released 21st November 2016 £21.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Erroll Garnor Ready Take One £21.00 Genre: Jazz Label: Sony Music SKU: 88985363321 Formats: 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 21st November 2016 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders
View Product Quick View Thelonious Monk Genius of Modern Music Vol. 2 Jazz | Universal/Blue Note | 180g, 1LP, Includes Download Code Released 17th February 2015 £14.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Thelonious Monk Genius of Modern Music Vol. 2 £14.00 Genre: Jazz Label: Universal/Blue Note SKU: 4710521 Formats: 180g, 1LP, Includes Download Code Released Date: 17th February 2015 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders