Bryan Ferry still suits the grand stage, serving up a heady cocktail of live tracks 

BRYAN FERRY: Royal Albert Hall 2020

Verdict: Polished live souvenir  

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VALERIE JUNE: The Moon And Stars: Prescription For Dreamers

Verdict: Perfect remedy

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When Bryan Ferry and his band played the Royal Albert Hall in March 2020, none of those present could have foreseen that the triumphant climax to his UK tour would signal the end of normal live music for the next year.

The famous old London venue turned 150 on Monday, but the second of Ferry’s two nights was the last full-capacity show at the hall before lockdown. 

Those gigs have now been commemorated on an excellent live album, with proceeds going to the singer’s inactive touring musicians and road crew.

The gigs performed by Bryan Ferry and his band at the Royal Albert Hall in March 2020 have now been commemorated on an excellent live album

The gigs performed by Bryan Ferry and his band at the Royal Albert Hall in March 2020 have now been commemorated on an excellent live album

Available from Ferry’s website (bryanferry.com) on CD (£15), double vinyl (£35) and digitally, it’s a perfect companion to last year’s Live At The Royal Albert Hall 1974, which captured his first solo tour.

That album concentrated on 1960s pop covers, with Bryan putting his own spin on hits by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys and Smokey Robinson. This one leans more heavily on his Roxy Music material (12 of the 18 tracks), and it is to Ferry’s credit that no songs crop up on both albums.

He dives into Roxy’s game-changing early 1970s albums with relish. The interior designer Nicky Haslam once said that the stylish singer, unlike most rock stars, was more likely to redecorate a hotel room than trash it. 

And Ferry curates his Roxy legacy — a heady cocktail of Hollywood glamour, Fifties revivalism and art-rock — with respect and a fine ear for detail.

The Thrill Of It All, one of three songs here from 1974’s Country Life, is greeted with a ripple of applause before its driving grooves drown out any crowd noise. 

The Bogus Man, from 1973’s For Your Pleasure, is a futuristic jazz-rock number that retains its power to surprise almost five decades after it was first recorded. 

Roxy’s smoother later hits — Dance Away, Avalon and Same Old Scene — also stand up well, although the excitement levels dip a little on lesser-known solo efforts such as Hiroshima and a sluggish Your Painted Smile.

The mood picks up on two Dylan covers, Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right and Make You Feel My Love, both accompanied by Ferry’s tuneful harmonica. 

Like Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, who covered Dylan on the Grammy-winning lockdown album All The Good Times, he sings these songs as well as the man himself.

He finishes by returning to Roxy’s golden age. Street Life is remarkably faithful to the studio original. Much the same goes for Virginia Plain, albeit with more elaborate backing vocals than on the original 1972 single. Editions Of You adds a rocking finale.

Time hasn’t dimmed Ferry’s panache. And, with many of this year’s big concerts being rescheduled for 2022, it’s a reminder of the nights out we’re still missing.

Getting the seal of approval from Bob Dylan is the ultimate accolade for any budding songwriter. For Valerie June the thumbs-up arrived four years ago, when Dylan, in an interview on his website, said she was a performer he really admired.

That endorsement came on the back of the Tennessee-raised singer’s second major album, 2017’s The Order Of Time. If Bob enjoyed that one, it’s a fair bet he’s going to be bowled over by its sequel.

Despite its cumbersome title, The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers is spellbinding — an LP infused with a sense of wonder that may come to define June’s career. 

The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers by Valerie June is spellbinding

The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers by Valerie June is spellbinding

The 39-year-old has been viewed as a down-home folk artist, country singer and new-age hippy. Her foundations are in gospel (she sang in church) and soul (her dad was a promoter who put on gigs by Bobby Womack and Prince). 

She once made a record with blues-rocker Dan Auerbach (of The Black Keys) and has described her sound as ‘organic moonshine roots music’.

The Moon And Stars, out on Fantasy Records, takes her somewhere else entirely. Almost symphonic in its scope, it’s a concept album about bruised romance and high hopes.

Sung in a distinctive Southern twang, it combines old-school soul, cosmic pop and R&B. Producer Jack Splash, who has worked with Alicia Keys in the past, adds polish without toning down the album’s freewheeling spirit.

It’s a perfect easing-of-lockdown record. There are mellow interludes and a field recording of mockingbirds singing by a window during quarantine. But the occasional meander is offset by rasping soul numbers that convey the sense life will get better once we allow ourselves to dream again.

The LP begins with a rhapsodic, three-song suite.

Stay opens with bluesy, bar-room piano before building into something grander thanks to Tennessee stalwart Lester Snell’s elegant string and flute arrangement.

That segues into a brief instrumental ‘meditation’ before June toasts a failed love affair that turned into a lasting friendship on the jazzy You And I.

The centrepiece is Call Me A Fool, an emotional duet with Carla Thomas. Memphis soul queen Carla sang the classic Tramp with Otis Redding aged 24 in 1967. Her presence here links American music’s past and its vibrant present: her soft backing vocals dovetail superbly with June’s raw and powerful voice.

Acoustic love song Fallin’ brings another bout of yearning introspection — ‘dancing on the devil’s door, back again and wanting more’ — before the album goes into overdrive on a string of songs that accentuate the power of positive thought.

Among them are pulsating Motown pastiche Smile and the other-worldly Within You, built around the glitchy drum loops of contemporary R&B.

‘I wanted to bring modern elements into the band-in-the-room approach I’ve taken in the past,’ says Valerie, who is now based in New York City.

‘I don’t make music to be awarded, or to win anybody’s love . . . it’s because dreaming keeps me inquisitive.’She certainly captures the imagination here.

Taylor returns to the old country

Taylor Swift has delved into the vaults to unearth six unreleased songs from the same era

Taylor Swift has delved into the vaults to unearth six unreleased songs from the same era

Ahead of this month’s revamped version of her 2008 album Fearless, Taylor Swift has delved into the vaults to unearth six unreleased songs from the same era.

The first of these to emerge is You All Over Me, a mid-paced ballad that sees her lamenting the ‘wasted time’ as she strives to get over an old flame.

With Maren Morris on backing vocals, the track takes Taylor back to her country roots, although the presence of new collaborator Aaron Dessner, who plays guitar and subtle synths, adds a contemporary veneer in tune with her recent folk-rock LPs Folklore and Evermore.

An earlier single, February’s new recording of Love Story, deviated only marginally from the 2008 original. Swift intends to remake her first six albums following the sale of the master recordings in 2019.

And Paul McCartney has dropped another taster for a new edition of last year’s ‘rockdown’ solo effort McCartney III, with American maverick Beck dishing up a funky take on album track Find My Way. 

Beck gives the number an infectious dancefloor makeover, singing in unison with Macca and adding a 1980s club feel reminiscent of Tom Tom Club.

The release follows last month’s R&B update of acoustic ballad The Kiss Of Venus by Florida singer Dominic Fike. The McCartney III Imagined album, out on April 16, will also feature St Vincent, Phoebe Bridgers, Josh Homme — and Idris Elba. 

A.T. 

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