Music journalism, books and more

Roxy Music’s elegant clotheshorse has always had his nostalgic side, tripping down Tin Pan Alley to tackle Gershwin and others on 1999’s As Time Goes By. Ferry’s also done Dylan before, but goes hog wild here with an entire album of Bobsongs. Some are bad choices, including the overdone “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” and Ferry’s rocking rendition of “The Times They Are A-Changin.’” But “Positively 4th Street” gets some cool string embellishments and Brian Eno works his sonic magic on “If Not for You.”    

It’s not every day a singer opts to make an instrumental album. But such is Ferry’s love of Roaring Twenties style that he’s taken Roxy Music classics like “Slave to Love” and “Don’t Stop the Dance” and turned them into surprisingly effective jaunty jazz numbers reminiscent of Duke Ellington. Cue the flappers!

The suave singer can’t shirk his Roxy Music association—not that he’s trying. His last album gave a 1920s spin to Roxy classics and he rearranged “Love is the Drug” for The Great Gatsby. Bryan’s latest, whose title even hints at the group’s Avalon album, boasts guests like Nile Rodgers and Mark Knopfler and music that resembles Roxy’s lush sound, especially on “Driving Me Wild.”