Bryan Ferry Releases ‘Retrospective: I Thought’ EP

Bryan Ferry unveils the ‘I Thought‘ EP, a collection of covers, original compositions and brand-new music, ahead of the highly anticipated ‘Retrospective: Selected Recordings 1973-2023‘ box set release. Pre-save/Pre-order HERE.

‘I Thought’, a beguiling and resonant collaboration with former Roxy Music band mate Brian Eno, as featured on 2002‘s ‘Frantic‘ album, showcases Ferry’s exploration of love’s complexities. With a lightness of touch that transports listeners into an ethereal soundscape, the song is part of the overarching theme on Disc Two of the upcoming 5CD ‘Retrospective’ box set, which focuses on Ferry’s evolution as a composer from 1977 to the present day.

The 81 tracks that make up ‘Retrospective: Selected Recordings 1973-2023’ illustrate an adventure in music like no other. A story in songwriting that has been unfolding for more than 50 years will now be celebrated in this kaleidoscopic compendium of Bryan Ferry’s music. The release is a celebration of the performer who has carved out a place as a master modern interpreter of song via a dizzyingly inventive series of cover versions that range from Bob Dylan to Amy Winehouse, Rodgers and Hart to the Velvet Underground via Tim Buckley, Shakespeare, sea shanties and Sam and Dave. Then there’s the songwriter who, in singles like 1985’s ‘Slave To Love‘, has crafted music that stands amongst the defining recordings of their era yet still sounds unique and timeless. There’s the futurist conjuring vortices of electronica; or the passionate revivalist, presenting songs and styles from the 1920s and 1930s as if they were the hot sound of tomorrow calling. There’s the figure out on the pulsing nightclub dancefloor, tripping the light fantastic; and the guy who wants only to be alone, slipping away into brooding, bittersweet backstreets where everything turns neon and noir.

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Five decades ago, the Roxy Music phenomenon exploded in a technicolour flash of pop, high art, outré fashion and glamour, asserting band leader Bryan Ferry as one of the most vital and exciting songwriters British music has ever seen. During this ultra-prolific period, in 1973, Ferry launched his solo career in parallel to Roxy Music. His first release, an audacious remodelling of Bob Dylan’s apocalyptic 1962 anthem ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall‘, signalled the dawn of Ferry’s status as one of the great modern interpreters of song, in tandem with his peerless songwriting and composition. Fast forward to 2024, and Bryan Ferry returns to the Dylan songbook anew. ‘She Belongs To Me’ is rendered in a beautifully rough-edged style balancing shades of the Velvet Underground against the most prominent Ferry whistling solo since Roxy Music’s 1981 rendition of John Lennon‘s ‘Jealous Guy‘.

‘Retrospective: Selected Recordings 1973-2023’ brings together, for the first time, Bryan Ferry’s classic recorded output with Island Records, Polydor, Virgin, E.G. Records and BMG, and features two brand new recordings. The album will be released in multiple formats, including a 5CD deluxe box set featuring 81 songs and a 100-page hardback book containing extensive new liner notes, rare and unseen photographs, and imagery. A 2LP gatefold edition presents ‘The Best Of Bryan Ferry‘, containing 20 songs pressed to black vinyl with variants including a green/blue vinyl pressing and a clear vinyl pressing. A 1CD version will also feature the same 20 songs and a booklet containing liner notes and photographs.

‘Retrospective: Selected Recordings 1973-2023’ will be available on Friday, October 25, via BMG
Pre-save/Pre-order HERE