Bryan Ferry Lets Stick Together

Let’s Stick Together arrived just after the disbandment of Roxy Music, and its title typifies Bryan Ferry’s sly wit and tongue-in-cheek humor. Half of the album consists of covers from Roxy Music’s first few albums. “Re-Make/Re-Model” and “Casanova” are stripped of the gonzo delivery that defined Roxy’s early years. Instead Ferry emphasizes the songs’ funky underpinnings and gives his voice to space once occupied by flailing guitars and synthesizers. Ferry had indeed become a richer, more confident singer; the difference between these versions and their early counterparts is the difference between the wild costumes of those years and the tailored Italian suits that by 1976 had become Ferry’s signature. The remainder of the album features early R&B and rock ’n’ roll covers. Ferry accentuates the urgency and grit of Wilbert Harrison (“Shame, Shame, Shame”) and The Everly Brothers (“The Price of Love”), but the crown jewel is his take on The Beatles’ “It’s Only Love.” He handles John Lennon’s famously slippery melody like an aristocrat twirling a glass cane.