These Foolish Things (album)

These Foolish Things
Studio album by
Bryan Ferry
Released5 October 1973
RecordedJune 1973 (1973-06)
StudiosAIR, London
Genres
Length43:46
LabelIsland Records (UK) / Atlantic Records (North America)
Producers
Bryan Ferry chronology
These Foolish Things
(1973)		 Another Time, Another Place
(1974)

These Foolish Things is the debut solo studio album by Bryan Ferry, who continued additionally to be Roxy Music's lead vocalist. The album was released in October 1973 on Island Records in the United Kingdom and Atlantic Records in the United States. It is considered to be a departure from Roxy Music's sound, being made up of far more 'straight' versions of standards. Additionally, where Roxy Music's albums were of songs composed by the band, These Foolish Things was a covers album. It was a commercial and critical success, peaking at number five on the UK Albums Chart. It received a gold certification from the British Phonographic Industry in May 1974.

Most of the tracks on the album were personal favorites of Ferry's, and spanned several decades from 1930s standards such as the title track through 1950s Elvis Presley to Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones.

"A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" was released as a single and reached number 10 in the UK Singles Chart in September 1973.

Composition

Speaking about the album in 1973, Ferry said: "It's a very catholic selection, I've given up trying to please all of the people all of the time. Some will like it for one reason, some for another. And some will presumably dislike it for the wrong reasons, though I hope the general point of it will be understood. It's amusement value. I think."

Release

The album's release coincided with David Bowie's covers album Pin Ups. As Ferry had recorded his album weeks before Bowie began work on Pin Ups, Ferry was annoyed at the perceived copying of his project, calling it a "rip-off". According to biographer Christopher Sandford, he allegedly went to his label Island Records to request they file an injunction to prevent Pin Ups from being released before These Foolish Things. Instead, the author Chris O'Leary writes that Bowie phoned Ferry to inform him of Pin Ups and requested permission to record a Roxy Music song. Ferry later told the biographer David Buckley, "At first I was a bit apprehensive, but Bowie's record turned out to be very different. I myself was always very anxious to be different from other people ... and to forge my own furrow." In the event, both albums were released as planned and charted on the same day, 3 November 1973.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicStarStarStarStar
Christgau's Record GuideA−
OverdoseA−
QStarStarStarStar
The Rolling Stone Album GuideStarStarStarStarStar

Robert Christgau found that Ferry "both undercuts the inflated idealism of [Bob Dylan's 'A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall'] and reaffirms its essential power", establishes Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" as a protest song, and with his cover of "These Foolish Things", "reminds us that pop is only, well, foolish things, many of which predate not only Andy Warhol but rock and roll itself." In 1983's The New Rolling Stone Record Guide, Dave Marsh wrote:

These Foolish Things pits Lesley Gore against Bob Dylan, and not just for effect. Ferry views pop as a kind of continuum, extending through all sorts of Tin Pan Alley and Brill Building craftsmanship and incorporating visions as radical as Dylan's and as banal as Gore's. Within such a sensibility discerning what deserves to be dismissed as "trash" and what deserves elevation as "art" is not a simple problem. And such designations are so often determined by context that their order can be reversed almost at will. By altering tempos and singing every song with the deadpan emotional blankness he largely avoids with Roxy, Ferry exposes these issues as effectively as any pop singer in history.

In AllMusic, critic Ned Raggett said that throughout These Foolish Things, "Ferry's instantly recognizable croon carries everything to a tee, and the overall mood is playful and celebratory", calling the album "one of the best of its kind by any artist." Rob Sheffield, in 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, praised it as a "conceptual and musical tour de force". In 2010, Rhapsody listed These Foolish Things as one of the best covers albums.

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Original artist & albumLength
1."A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall"Bob DylanBob Dylan, from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)5:19
2."River of Salt"Irving Brown, Bernard Zackery, Jan ZackeryKetty Lester, from Love Letters (1962)1:48
3."Don't Ever Change"Gerry Goffin, Carole KingThe Crickets 1962 single2:15
4."Piece of My Heart"Jerry Ragovoy, Bert BernsErma Franklin 1967 single3:06
5."Baby I Don't Care"Jerry Leiber, Mike StollerElvis Presley, from the motion picture Jailhouse Rock (1957)1:50
6."It's My Party"Walter Gold, John Gluck Jr., Herb WeinerLesley Gore, from I'll Cry If I Want to (1963)2:00
7."Don't Worry Baby"Brian Wilson, Roger ChristianThe Beach Boys, from Shut Down Volume 2 (1964)4:13

Personnel

Musicians

Production

Charts

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI) Gold 100,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ↑ "BPI".
  2. 1 2 "British album certifications – Bryan Ferry – These Foolish Things". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 6 October 2020. Select albums in the Formats field. Type These Foolish Things Bryan Ferry in the "Search:" field.
  3. ↑ "Roxy Music - Albums - on VivaRoxyMusic.com".
  4. ↑ "BRYAN FERRY | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com.
  5. ↑ Bryan Ferry - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall [Official] on YouTube
  6. ↑ MacDonald, Ian (8 September 1973). "Party Fun from an Old Poseur". NME.
  7. 1 2 O'Leary 2015, chap. 7.
  8. ↑ Trynka 2011, p. 484.
  9. 1 2 Sandford 1997, pp. 114–116.
  10. ↑ Buckley 2005, pp. 165–171.
  11. ↑ Doggett 2012, pp. 209–219.
  12. 1 2 Raggett, Ned. "These Foolish Things – Bryan Ferry". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  13. 1 2 Christgau, Robert (1981). "F". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor and Fields. ISBN 0-89919-026-X. Retrieved 24 February 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  14. ↑ Hull, Tom (April 1975). "The Rekord Report: Second Card". Overdose. Retrieved 26 June 2020 – via tomhull.com.
  15. ↑ "Bryan Ferry: These Foolish Things". Q. No. 159. December 1999. p. 158.
  16. 1 2 Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Bryan Ferry". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 296–97. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  17. ↑ Marsh, Dave (1983). "Bryan Ferry". In Marsh, Dave; Swenson, John (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. Random House/Rolling Stone Press. pp. 173–74. ISBN 0-394-72107-1.
  18. ↑ Farrar, Justin (23 February 2010). "Rhapsody's Favorite Covers Albums". Rhapsody. Archived from the original on 31 July 2010. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
  19. 1 2 "Roxy Music".
  20. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 111. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  21. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Bryan Ferry – These Foolish Things" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  22. ↑ "Official Albums Chart on 28/10/1973 – Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  23. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten – Album 1973". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 9 April 2021.

Sources