As Time Goes By

1	As Time Goes By 2:34
2	The Way You Look Tonight 3:36
3	Easy Living 2:16
4	I'm in the Mood for Love 4:17
5	Where or When 3:19
6	When Somebody Thinks You're Wonderful 2:57
7	Sweet and Lovely 3:10
8	Miss Otis Regrets 2:39
9	Time on My Hands 3:02
10	Lover, Come Back to Me 2:54
11	Falling in Love Again 2:26
12	Love Me or Leave Me 2:44
13	You Do Something to Me 2:47
14	Just One of Those Things 2:46
15	September Song 3:03

Barnes & Noble

Though perhaps unexpected, an album of '30s standards in the hands of Roxy Music raconteur Bryan Ferry should really come as no surprise. Ferry distinguished himself as a master interpreter more than 25 years ago with his first solo album, THESE FOOLISH THINGS, a refined extension of the singer's glam-rock persona that featured coolly dramatic versions of Dylan, Stones, and Beatles hits. Here, Ferry turns the clock all the way back to the '30s, setting his suave demeanor and quivering croon to the passions of a long ago, more elegant time. Rendered with subtly swinging, cabaret-style arrangements, such classics as Rodgers & Hart's "Where or When," Kurt Weill's "September Song," Cole Porter's "Just One of Those Things," and Jerome Kern's "The Way You Look Tonight" indeed prove to be the perfect vehicle for Ferry's detached lounge-lizard cool. And while anyone hoping for an update of Roxy Music's sensuous AVALON masterpiece would be looking in the wrong place, others will find this to be an equally intimate, agreeably artful collection of retro gems. Suzanne McElfresh

All Music Guide

Bryan Ferry invests considerable time and energy in cover albums (he should, considering that they compose a good portion of his solo catalog), treating them with as much care as a record of original material. He's always found ways to radically reinvent the songs he sings, so it's easy to expect that his collection of pop standards, As Time Goes By, would re-imagine the familiar. Instead, As Time Goes By is his first classicist album, containing non-ironic, neo-traditionalist arrangements of songs associated with the '30s. That doesn't mean it's a lavish affair, dripping with lush orchestras -- it's considerably more intimate than that. Even when strings surface, they're understated, part of a small live combo that supports Ferry throughout the record. He's made the music as faithful to its era as possible, yet instead of rigidly replicating the sounds of the '30s, he's blended Billie Holiday, cabaret pop, and movie musicals into an evocative pastiche. Ferry is at his best when he's exploring the possibilities within a specific theory or concept; with As Time Goes By, he eases into these standards and old-fashioned settings like an actor adopting a new persona. Since Ferry has always been a crooner, the transition is smooth and suave. He makes no attempt to alter his tremulous style, yet it rarely sounds incongruous -- he may sound a little vampirish on "You Do Something to Me," but that's the rare case where he doesn't seamlessly mesh with his romantic, sepia-toned surroundings. On the surface, it may seem like a departure for Ferry, but in the end, it's entirely of a piece with his body of work. True, it may not be a major album in the scheme of things, but it's easy to be seduced by its casual elegance. Stephen Thomas Erlewine