Olympia

iTunes Review

Bryan Ferry’s first collection of original material since 1994’s Mamouna, Olympia is one high-styling collection. Its covers are well-selected: a seasoned take on Tim Buckley’s “Song to the Siren,” where Ferry taps into the song’s ancient yearnings, and Traffic’s “No Face, No Name, No Number,” which is as back-to-basics as Ferry is likely to get. They fit in perfectly with his slow, sullen textures where former Roxy Music folks — Brian Eno, Phil Manzanera, Andy MacKay — help fill in the musical blanks. “You Can Dance,” “Shameless” and “Heartache By Numbers” ignite as paranoid dance-floor rants where Ferry’s silky voice rails on with a professional gloss that is never slick. “Me Oh My” is a brilliant exercise in minimalist spatial relations. There are still plenty of sonic explosions from his knapsack of broken dreams.  “BF Bass (Ode to Olympia)” ups the textures towards a modest and chic funk-pop. “Tender Is the Night” is the ghostly ballad that wraps things in a warm shawl before packing it in. The “Deluxe Version” of the album comes with a spunky cover of John Lennon’s “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night,” music videos, and a remix of “You Can Dance.”