Bete Noire [Original recording remastered] [Import]

1. Limbo

2. Kiss and Tell

3. New Town

4. Day and Night

5. Zamba

6. Right Stuff

7. Seven Deadly Sins

8. Name of the Game

9. Bete Noir

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Digitally Remastered Edition of the Roxy Master's Second Post Roxy Solo Album. Produced with Former Madonna Helmsman Patrick Leonard. Includes the Hits 'kiss and Tell' (From the Film Bright Lights Big City'), 'limbo' and 'the Right Stuff'.

Bete Noire,Bryan Ferry,EMI Int'l,Pop,Rock,Rock/Pop

Bete Noire [Original recording remastered] [Import]

Average customer rating:

Seductive, Beautifully Dark and Haunting
Ferry good.
HIs Best!
Good, but I expected a little more . . .
Ferry, the painter

Bête Noire
Bryan Ferry
Manufacturer: EMI Int'l
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Adult Contemporary | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Indie Music | Stores | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Boys and Girls
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ASIN: B00002DEB9
Release Date: 2002-01-14

Tracks:

Limbo
Kiss and Tell
New Town
Day and Night
Zamba
Right Stuff
Seven Deadly Sins
Name of the Game
Bete Noir

Album Details

Digitally Remastered Edition of the Roxy Master's Second Post Roxy Solo Album. Produced with Former Madonna Helmsman Patrick Leonard. Includes the Hits 'kiss and Tell' (From the Film Bright Lights Big City'), 'limbo' and 'the Right Stuff'.

Customer Reviews:

Seductive, Beautifully Dark and Haunting.......2007-01-18

I had first heard of Bryan Ferry as the front man of Roxy Music and I simply adored the song "Avalon." I had really liked Ferry's voice and I loved the songs "Slave to Love" and "Don't Stop the Dance" from the Boys and Girls album but at that point had not purchased his music. When the "Limbo" video first aired on MTV back 1987, I simply fell in love with his voice and style and the song itself. Shortly after, the video for "Kiss and Tell" was released and I loved that song even more than "Limbo." Even then I still had not purchased any of his music or Roxy Music for that matter.

Those songs lingered with me for years until I finally bought the Bete Noire CD in 2000.

This album is a masterpiece. All the songs are rich yet beautifully dark and haunting. This album's production utilizes some of the best producers, musicians and session singers of the era. The guitar riffs and bass lines on this album are fantastic. I don't think there is any song on this album that I don't like.

The sound is timeless and Ferry's voice, along with the backing vocalists is very soulful. When I'm in a mood to lay back in relax, I put on this CD. It's perfect for listening to when you are inside on a rainy day having, your favorite glass of wine.

If you have never heard this album or any of Bryan Ferry's songs, you will not be disappointed. Bete Noire is top-notch and worth buying.

Ferry good........2006-08-21

Bryan Ferry might be an aquired taste, but there's no doubt he's made some classic tunes, especially with Roxy Music. Of his solo work I've come to like this the best. "Boys And Girls" is also excellent, and has a few hits of it's own. I find this album as a whole to be very good, but I'll admit it's "Limbo" and "Kiss And Tell" that make it so damn great. Few songs are as catchy and emotionally pleasing, to me anyway. Come to think of it, I'm shocked he hasn't had a proper solo collection out yet. Still, this is one of the first albums to get of his, if not the first. There's a reason I have it on CD, cassette, and vinyl.

HIs Best!.......2006-05-28

The epitome of the genre and his crowning achievement. Every song is a winner.

Good, but I expected a little more . . ........2006-05-01

I've always admired Ferry's style, he's suave, smooth, and sort of "dark" in some ways; however, Bete Noir isn't as spooky and interesting as I thought it would be. Aside from a few songs like "Limbo," "Kiss and Tell," and I think "New Town," there aren't really any stand-out tracks.

I would have liked to hear more moody and introspectiveness on this cd, more of the dark glamour that we hear on "Limbo," for example. Perhaps that is too much to ask, but that's just my personal opinion!

(By the way, the video for "Limbo" is great. I need to find this!)

Ferry, the painter.......2006-02-14

Bryan Ferry is hidden by his own shadow. He was the front man for Roxy Music and remains so whenever the band regroups. But he has been issuing solo albums since almost the beginning of his Roxy career. Initially, these were seen as side projects, where he could explore his love of (and peculiar take on) pop standards, or subsequently where he could present more American-style rock songs and arrangements.

When Roxy Music finally drifted off into Avalon, Ferry made solo albums that continued to pursue diverse agendas -- sometimes rocking, sometimes Roxy-like, sometimes paying tribute to the compositions of songwriters from Richard Rodgers to Bob Dylan.

1987's "Bete Noire," all of it written or co-written by Ferry, is one that deserves much more attention, but it is among the hardest to find. Even the major downloading services don't include it. It is seen as a follow-up to "Boys and Girls," but it is, in my view, far superior. Its more muscular rhythms recall the hard-disco sound he brought to Roxy Music with "Love is the Drug" and the album "Manifesto." But the dreaminess of the melodies and musical arrangements resemble "Avalon"'s excursions into shimmmering romanticism and spacy fantasies. The two strands tied together are irresistable.

Ferry's best music is assembled carefully, like an abstract painting, everything for effect, mood and color. Here, even the lyrics have a curiously atmospheric quality, in which cliches and movie titles swirl around to convey feelings without drawing you in to a particular story or point of view. This is music of the night, and music of nights recollected half in dreams.

The title cut, the final song on the album, connects the electronic, amplified music that dominates the previous eight songs with a much longer tradition of late-night romantic dreaminess. The instrumentation on this one song is mostly accordions, violins and percussion, and you could imagine hearing this played in a French or Italian cafe. What he demonstrates is that, the music has changed in our era, but only on the surface, new instruments in service of the old heartbreaks, nostalgia and imaginined worlds far away.

Average customer rating:

The Boys and Girls of Avalon go for a night of Dancing
An Excellent Album
.........perfect.................................
This is CD at it's Finest
One of Bryan's Best

Bête Noire
Bryan Ferry
Manufacturer: Warner Bros / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Adult Contemporary | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Boys and Girls
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ASIN: B000002LC4
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

Limbo
Kiss And Tell
New Town
Day For Night
Zamba
The Right Stuff
Seven Deadly Sins
The Name Of The Game
Bete Noire

Customer Reviews:

The Boys and Girls of Avalon go for a night of Dancing.......2004-06-28

Having tasted more American Success with "Avalon" and "Boys and Girls" than in his entire career, Bryan Ferry went for broke with 1987's "Bete Noir." He opted for Patrick Leonard as producer, and while that might have shocked many at the time, as Leonard's best known client was Madonna, it added a dance floor edge to parts of "Bete Noir" that actually enhanced Ferry's romantic detachment as opposed to nullifying it. (Leonard's eventual Toy/3rd Matinee band projects show he was deeper than many folks originally may have thought. Check out their albums on Amazon.)

Those extra measures of bass and rhythm gave Ferry his sole American solo hit with "Kiss and Tell," which was featured in the Michael J. Fox and Keifer Sutherland (pre "24" years) movie adaptation of "Bright Lights, Big City." "The Right Stuff" and "Limbo" also were possessed of a higher energy than prior Ferry solo albums, but that didn't mean Ferry had completely lost his flair for the melancholic. "Day For Night" and "The Name Of The Game" depict the artist as tortured soul, a familiar character in Ferry's repertoire.

The collaborators were also a who's who of the time. Johnny Marr of The Smiths co-wrote "The Right Stuff" and spiked it with a great lead line; David Gilmour, Andy Newmark and Guy Pratt also put in appearances. This mix of musicians (with emphasis on MUSICAL) and Ferry's willingness to make an album concurrent with the times via the linkup with Leonard make "Bete Noir" the best of his solo albums. This album, "Boys and Girls" and "Avalon" make a great trilogy -- get them all.

An Excellent Album.......2003-09-02

I am still listening to this album more than 15 years after I first heard it. This album, and Avalon, are the best albums in the Ferry/Roxy Music canon. Unlike other Ferry/Roxy Music albums which have consisted of maybe one or two mind-blowingly great songs along with 8-9 mediocre ones, this album is consistent. It has great uptempo songs such as "Kiss and Tell" and "Seven Deadly Sins" "Day for Night" and "Limbo", and very good slow melodies such as "The Name of the Game" and the hauting "Zamba".

There is obviously some sort of cinema/film theme at work in this album - cinematic references are peppered throughout. "Seven Deadly Sins", "The Right Stuff", and "Day For Night" are all film titles. The refrain in "The Right Stuff" references "The Chimes at Midnight", a 1965 Orson Welles film. "Kiss and Tell" was the theme to the 1988 film "Bright Lights, Big City". Finally, the album title suggests film noir. I confess I have no idea what the point of the cinematic references may be, but they serve as an interesting footnote to what should be considered a classic album.

.........perfect........................................2003-05-15

When I was going through reviews of this album, the word "perfect" kept popping up amongst the more erudite music minds of the press. A dubious distinction indeed, but after several listenings you realize that Ferry's Noire has crossed that line into "perfect." While his subsequent work has been inconsistent, you can take heart that Bryan has a peak in his career to fall back upon. Go buy this CD and enjoy the perfection.

This is CD at it's Finest.......2003-02-22

Anyone reading this is most likely familiar with "The Master".Perhaps your collection is incomplete.Well,without this masterpiece of listening heaven it is just that.
Patrick Leonard deserves much credit here as co-writer/producer of this gorgeous work, as does Yanick Etienne,David Gilmore and an All-Star group of magnificent players.
My congratulations to all the virtuoso members of this ultra-fine creation.

One of Bryan's Best.......2002-12-20

When Roxy Music split in 1983, Bryan Ferry made the decision to go forward with the style of music they had so perfected with the landmark "Avalon" album in 1982. First, he did "Boys and Girls," in 1985, which was decent, but I find it to be too slow and tranquil at times. In 1987, he got it entirely right with this album.
Sure there are slower moments, but there are some terrific upbeat, dance moments here. What makes this album work is its diversity. Bryan and company toy with various clubby dance rhythms on tracks like Limbo, Kiss and Tell, and the Right Stuff; they slow things down considerably with the epic and powerful "Name of the Game," and even close the entire album out with the title track, a fun and clever tango.
Also worth mentioning here is Ferry's terrific lyrics. THough a musician and singer of the highest regard, his lyrics have never been as deep and clever as many of his contemporaries. That is not the case here. "Bete Noire" is filled with some of Ferry's finest wordplay.
Though it's 15 years old now, this album still sounds fresh and vibrant. It reflects Bryan Ferry at what was somewhat of a creative peak in the 80's.