What does it sound like?:
Mamouna is the apotheosis of solo Ferry. Its sound is almost obscenely opulent, the grooves are graceful, and the voice is yearning. If you are not paying attention, the music is so sleek it can slip by unnoticed. Both Nile Rogers and Brian Eno, never shy of a spotlight, are remarkably restrained with their contributions. There are no real choruses. Desdemona and Toil and Trouble are mentioned in the lyrics but the words are the opposite of Shakespeare, being sparse and opaque. They seem to function as abstract sounds for Ferry to sing. In 1994, Mamouna struggled to gain traction just as Britpop and the edgy dance music of the likes of Underworld captured the mood in the UK. Youthful energy was valued much more than mature sophistication.
However, it is an album that seeps into your consciousness subliminally. Subtle details reveal themselves over time. The tunes are stronger than they first seem and countermelodies creep up unexpectedly. The rhythms are deceptively complex, the ten songs effectively making a single suite, set in a rich soundscape, ebbing and flowing beautifully on a bed of immaculate musicianship. Ferry’s vocal performance across the whole set is one his very best. The lyric fragments fall into place like a Rubik’s cube, riven with loneliness, pain and distress. It’s an album that rewards multiple revisits, one that sits more comfortably in the ears as they grow older. Perhaps, its moment has come.
It took Ferry and his team seven years to complete. Horoscope was its working title for years and an earlier incarnation is the subject of disc two. You can hear him wrestling to create tension in an ornate, beautiful sound straining against deeply felt emotions. As a meticulous perfectionist, introducing a flaw into his craft proved problematic. Robin Trower helped him co-produce the perfection, eight pristine tracks blending together rather too well. They took time off, recharging their batteries knocking out a covers album, Taxi. However, the biggest differences between Horoscope and Mamouna are that Ferry wrote a few more songs and Eno was given a bit more freedom to apply his “sweep treatments”. Disc three, “Sketches”, only present in CD form not vinyl, is a surprise. It’s not often we get to hear Ferry’s workings out. Consisting of mainly instrumentals with a couple of demos, the fragility of the songs is readily apparent, as though floating in an infinity pool, at risk of being sunk by the slightest ripple.
The box is, of course, tastefully put together, either as 3 CDs or a double LP. The main outer cover is changed to a dancer dressed as a devil, taking a breather. The original enigmatic white horse is retained for the Mamouna disc and a deranged looking Ferry headshot adorns Horoscope.
Patience was in short supply in 1994. Mamouna rounded off a great Ferry trilogy after Boys And Girls and Bette Noire, but suffered for not being finished in the late eighties. This value-for-money package gives us the opportunity to appreciate its worth, pulls back the curtain on Ferry’s methods and gifts us Horoscope.
What does it all *mean*?
If ever an album needed six listens, this is it.
Goes well with…
An expensive stereo
Release Date:
17th November 2023
Might suit people who like…
Solo Ferry.
Solo Ferry has three main threads. Mamouna is one of a number that refine the Avalon template, featuring his ex band mates more often than you think. However, he does tend to make sure Andy Mackay and Phil Manzanera are not in the studio at the same time. He also enjoys recording covers, especially Dylan, sometimes dedicating whole albums to them. Finally, perhaps ill-advisedly, he likes to reconceive old Roxy Music glories, often by removing their spirit. Mother Of Pearl, all nine minutes of it, is an example on Horoscope, matching perfectly the mood of surpressed anguish. After all, they are his songs and he can do with them as he pleases.
The 39 Steps
I always thought of this as an album where Ferry got lost in a maze of multi tracks, bewildered and paralysed by the vast array of choices and options available. Although it’s very much in the Avalon/Boys and Girls vein, I don’t think it’s as good as either of those sets. Still very listenable though.
Would it be possible, Tigger, for you to review a record you don’t like much? There’s only so much praise, however expertly crafted, this tired old cynic can take.
Might I suggest “1989 Taylor’s Version”? Lots to go on there, new v old, has her voice changed, merit of bonus tracks, the phenomenon that is Ms Swift etc etc etc.
Tempt him with a Blur/Gorillaz album. I think Damon might push him to be quite rude…
Anyway, what’s wrong with Tig’s relentless enthusiasm? I think it’s rather wonderful.
I admit it’s hard to imagine Tigger writing “This record stinks like the Rose & Crown’s bog after Big Dave has just downed six pints and one of Maisie’s curries.”
I could imagine Tiggs producing some Morleyesque/NME-style purple prose in a witty “put-down” stylee – but why would he want to?
Because, and obviously it’s not always the case, some of the entertaining reviews come when the reviewer dislikes what he is reviewing.
I am what I am and say what I hear. I’m not, and never will be, Paul Morley. Perhaps my negativity is too subtle. I thought my praise for Mamouna/Horoscope was qualified.
I guess I have too much respect for all the hard work musical artists dedicate to their craft.
This is as negative as I get:
I guess it depends where you find your entertainment. Personally I enjoy Tigger’s boundless enthusiasm.
Just to be clear, and I recently said this on a different thread on here , Tigger’s writing adds much to the overall quality of this site.
Can I ask if Bargie sends Tiggs something he actively dislikes, does he still review it? Or does Tiggs say “Nah, don’t want to?”
I think he pitches underarm to me. 😊
I invariably enjoy reading the reviews of the albums by Tiggs far more than the albums he’s reviewing. Indeed this has become so ingrained with me now that I don’t bother even attempting to listen to them and consequently it saves me precious moments in time I can devote to other stuff. For this boon I am of course eternally grateful.
👍
My pleasure.
The wonderful thing about Tigger…..
Actual footage of the Mamouna review being created in real time, yesterday.
Are you stalking me?
Perhaps you could review that Taylor Swift album Lodes and show us how it’s done 😉
I do try to match reviews with those who enjoy the artists generally – otherwise people understandably don’t want to do them!
I know it’s only our obscure, if delightful, forum but I can’t imagine that Music Magazine Editors hand out assignments on the basis of which hack likes which music? I personally would love to hear Tigger’s views on 1989. or anything outside his comfort zone.
Different field I know but I recall Jay Rayner saying his most popular restaurant reviews were always the most critically damning.
I’ll repeat, long may Tigger continue to delight us but once every often howsabout “What is this shit?” (copyright Greil Marcus on first hearing Dylan’s Self Portrait).
I’m sure it’s different for magazine editors but their reviewers are professional journalists who are getting paid for their trouble. Everyone here is volunteering their time and who would want to spend hours listening to and writing about something they’re not remotely interested in. It’s hard enough to find people as it is – I’d say 4 out of every 5 I ask politely decline.
No problem whatsoever – however, I still want Tigger to take off his suede gloves and get nasty. (It’s not going to happen, is it?)
ps try me with the next proggy remix remaster special edition you get. I promise a fair, unbiased and literate review with nary a swearword or sentences like “Puerile music for people whose tastes remain forever imprisoned in the amber of sixteen year-old naivety”. Promise.
In this day and age, most review copies come from the artists own PR, so if the recordings get trashed, the PR will not send any more out in that direction.
And that’s bad?
Yes, I see your point. But the owners of the review sites and some publications get angsty about their supply drying up. One I wrote for, no longer, only “allows” good reviews. That tends to mean you cant really get a true handle of the quality of the product, as all the turds get the same polish as the good ones.
Bargey’s sources might frown at their Products being slated, altho’, I guess, they have done the sums around whether the readership here make any difference to sales. And how would they know, I wonder?
Surely the point on here is that reviewers tend to volunteer. Most folk will volunteer to review things that they might enjoy or might be interested in. If they don’t like it, I hope they would say so in the review.
But how many would be willing to put their hand up to review something that they know in advance they will actively dislike? Apart from Lodey? 🙂
For the record, I’m happy to review anything.
And for the CD?
(God, I’m such a wit. Frank Carson, eat your heart out.)
It’s all streaming these days.
That’s just old age. Things get messy.
I think I’m more saying what could be fun is a review of a record you were really looking forward to and it’s “not very good”……
I assume cos I don’t know that Bargie gets books and records to review in that hope that there’ll be a phrase or a line that the PR company can use on the billboards “One of the best remixes I have ever heard” and in very small letters below “The Afterword”. Even if every single AWorder bought a copy that would amount to, what, 27 sales?
“I think I’m more saying what could be fun is a review of a record you were really looking forward to and it’s “not very good”……”
Actually, there are a few of those – for example, reviews of recent Yes albums by actual Yes fans.
The only comment I can recall ever being used was on the back cover of the paperback edition of Donald Fagen’s Eminent Hipsters. Someone posted a photo of it – on the old site I think – which was the first I knew of it.
I doubt that reviews on here, good or bad, have much of an impact on sales of the items concerned – whereas I’m told by a PR guy that a press release with buying links appearing on SDE shifts a whole lot of box sets.
»…most review copies come from the artists own PR, so if the recordings get trashed, the PR will not send any more out in that direction.«
A certain artist recently told a friend of mine, »The Afterword had a good review, but they got most of the facts wrong…« 😉
Ouch!
That’ll be me, then.
🙁
No.
Thank you for that reassurance.
@retropath2 so most reviews have potential to be less than honest and not reflect the actual view of the reviewer?
I would suggest there is definitely that risk, yes. I have even been guilty of that, when I wrote for Folk Radio UK who never give a bad review. One of the reasons I jumped ship. Now, if I don’t like, I don’t do!
I occasionally review music and books here. Amongst the best comments I’ve ever had for a review of mine was from you. “The review is that good it has completely put me off this book”. Peter Shilton’s “Saved”.
There might be pressure to be positive elsewhere. I can see why it could happen. But not here. I get stuff from Bargey, Net Galley or occasionally from authors or artists direct, even once in a while stuff that I bought. Never had any editorial guidance, no copy approval. You write what you think then post it.
I believe Cliff with Strings does not yet have a reviewer assigned.
These Ferry albums work well as soundtracks for bedroom ‘action’. I feel that is reflected in the sensual prose above.
Well they send me to sleep 😉
Thank you.
*blushes*
I’m interested in the remark that it would go well with an expensive stereo. I find late Roxy and Ferry’s later solo output is very much in that vein – they are generally dense and complex mixes and don’t really work so well outside of a dedicated listening experience which can unravel them and present the music in an involving way. I really do like his stuff, but I certainly don’t own anything like everything. This may well get added!
This is definitely on a par with Bette Noire, in my view it’s superior. I think you’ve put your finger on why it didn’t leap from the radio and grab your attention in 1994. Is it me, or are the kids listening to music via earpods and headphones more often these days?
I think a lot of listening is now done on little speakers like Alexa or Sonos systems or via earpods, and not necessarily just by kids! These are fine, but no substitute for a decent system.
Good quality audio whether the end of the chain is wired headphones or speakers is a joy and reveals much that “lifestyle” kit veils however it is also ruthless in unmasking poorly produced/mastered music so it’s swings and roundabouts. As always it’s about budget and personal preference. No one size fits all I’m afraid.