The Bride Stripped Bare finds the usually debonair Bryan Ferry on the verge of total desperation: “Sometimes the world outside'll take you in with just a smile,” he sings in “Can’t Let Go." “A hundred sleepless nights have left me/Wasted and so cold/But I can take it/I'm hangin' on.” Recorded following a humiliating public breakup with Jerry Hall (who'd left Ferry for Mick Jagger), this is a brokenhearted blues album disguised in high fashion. Ferry turns despondence elegant in “When She Walks in the Room” and wrings every last drop of dirty frustration out of J.J. Cale’s “The Same Old Blues.” Ferry has a long history of R&B interpretations, but here the underlying feelings are increased. “Take Me to the River” is more intimate and confessional than Al Green's version; “Hold On I’m Coming” is heaving and cathartic where Sam & Dave were festive. In some ways it's a deeply obtuse and insular album, but it’s also highly entertaining. The search for redemption feels authentic. By the time Ferry launches into The Velvet Underground’s “What Goes On,” it feels like he's finally found a place to loosen his restless soul.