Thank Christ for Youtube previews.

Olympia can be safely filed under the category ' huge pile of keech' alongside Mamouna and Taxi.

I had pre-ordered Olympia but on hearing the previews I cancelled the order! A bit rash I know, and I'll definitely end up getting it, but so far it sounds very disappointing.

I recall Bryan being interviewed following Frantic (in my view his best since "Bride") and him stressing that he was enjoying having found his voice again following the rather whispery vocals of Mamouna (a decent cut). On the basis of the preview snippets he seems to have gone back to the whispery voice, over produced stuff.

Let's hope it turns out to be better than I fear.

Hmm, I've listened to the snippets - feeling a bit the same myself. Tired of the close mic whispery vocals, over produced wall of sound with a million players all having a go! Who is the producer? Rhett by any chance? Trying to be a soul/funk sound yet again. Time Bry moved on I think. On what I have heared doubt I will buy.
I liked Frantic too, more clarity in everything, good tunes, some that grabbed you first listen, some that grew on you. One or two classics in there with Fool and I thought, even Baby Blue & One way love got you chair dancing!

I think, in contrast, a preview of the Alphaville sessions would be great imho - reflecting the fact that that unreleased album was the last great piece of work from BF. There seems to be a spark of brilliance left somewhere buried in the mix tho' - unfortunately it's too buried in a highly overproduced, over fiddled, under lyric'd, undersung miss.

Oh no, I've listened to the preview again! To be fair, a couple of the tracks sound quite sweet, in that maudlin way he likes. But OH MY GOD, how on earth has anyone let him record all that excruciatingly dated Mamouna style funky, squeaky bass stuff? It sounded dated on Mamouna, but it's just off the scale now.

I remember hearing excerpts from Frantic on some website, when it came out, and feeling thrilled because at least there were some tunes. But I'm gutted at this offering.

This is the whole problem with solo Ferry. There's no-one to tell him it's rubbish.

I can see that it might feel quite cool whispering over the funky beats in your basement in Olympia (in a crowd of sycophants), but it ain't quite so for the punters listening in their cars on the M25 in the rain, or their kitchens in Middlesbrough. The thing is that the proper material could transform those spaces and locations, but I'm afraid this can't.

I think it' really the problem!

Quote:
"This is the whole problem with solo Ferry. There's no-one to tell him it's rubbish".

Now we`re getting somewhere. I`ve always had that nagging feeling, -idolizing a person that I really don`t like. The first videos on utube with his sons grooving to some Mamouna-like stuff in the studio was a huge let-down.

Frankly I think the "Olympia" album gonna sell more than any other solo. Marketing-genius.

I find "O" somewhere in between Mamouna and Frantic, but lack a bit of ecclectic rareties like both the latter mentioned imho.

Curious, but the extracts here, seem much better. I think we have perhaps spokent too fast...let's hope!

http://www.bol.com/nl/p/muziek/olympia/ ... uct_images

I'm not comparing it to anything else he's done. It seems to have a mellow feel and I like what I've heard so far. No really great songs though.