Love Letters (EP) Bryan Ferry

• 1 Love Letters 02:59
• 2 I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself 03:47
• 3 Fooled Around and Fell In Love 04:22
• 4 The Very Thought Of You 03:07
• Total Runtime 14:15

Info for Love Letters (EP)

Widely regarded as a master of the cover version, Bryan Ferry’s new interpretations of four classic love songs.

Recording of ‘Love Letters’ began in Nashville whilst on tour in 2019, with work on the EP continuing in London in 2020. In the US the band included Luke Bullen on drums, Chris Spedding on guitar, Neil Jasonon bass, Fonzi Thornton on backing vocals and Waddy Watchel on guitar. Back in London recording continued with Tom Vanstiphout on guitar, Chloe Smith on keyboards, Tugg (Nathan Curran) on drums, Marina Moore on viola and Lucy Wilkins on violin.

‘Love Letters’, originally written and performed by Ketty Lester in 1961, and in Bryan Ferry’s words “a beautiful haunting ballad with a simple country flavoured piano”. This track was mixed by Catherine Marks in London.

‘I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself’ by Burt Bacharach with lyrics by Hal David, popularised by Dusty Springfield. Ferry comments: “I’d always wanted to do one of their well-crafted songs, and this is one of their most famous”.

‘Fooled Around And Fell In Love’ written by Elvin Bishop in the mid 1970s, a US #3 hit which has been used in countless film soundtracks. Ferry’s inspiration came from the original, which he heard when he was living in America. This track was mixed by Tom Elmhirst in New York.

‘The Very Thought Of You’, which in Bryan Ferry’s words “is one of my all-time favourite songs… coming from that great period of song writing.” Written and recorded by Ray Noble in 1934 and recorded by many others including Billie Holiday and Nat King-Cole. This song has a strong link with These Foolish Things which Ferry covered in 1973 on his first album of covers of the same name.

Summing up the ‘Love Letters’ project, Bryan Ferry comments, “I like extending my repertoire by covering songs from different genres and different times. It can be an interesting challenge, finding the best way to interpret them in my own style – whatever that may be.”

Bryan Ferry, vocals
Chris Spedding, guitar
Waddy Watchel, guitar
Tom Vanstiphout, guitar
Chloe Smith, keyboards
Neil Jasonon, bass
Luke Bullen, drums
Tugg (Nathan Curran), drums
Marina Moore, viola
Lucy Wilkins, violin
Fonzi Thornton, backing vocals

Bryan Ferry
is one of the most influential and successful UK singers, musicians and songwriters of all time, with a career stretching back 40 years to the release of Roxy Music’s debut album in 1972. Bryan Ferry’s work created an entirely new aesthetic in popular music and has inspired artists as varied as David Bowie, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Franz Ferdinand and The Killers. In total, Bryan Ferry has sold over 30m albums worldwide across eight Roxy Music and 13 solo album titles. Among his compositions are Roxy Music perennials such as ‘Love Is The Drug’, ‘Avalon’ and ‘More Than This’. He remains one of the most active and creative artists of his generation with a busy touring schedule, which has included in the past 18 months a worldwide solo tour supporting his last album Olympia and an arena tour with Roxy Music in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. To celebrate and mark the 40th year anniversary of his incredible career both as a solo artist and as the creator of Roxy Music, Ferry re-recorded some of his own compositions, performed by The Bryan Ferry Orchestra in the style of the 1920s. The collection was the first of three new albums to be released by BMG. Bryan Ferry's latest album Avonmore will be released on 17 November 2014. His 14th solo album, Avonmore features eight new Ferry compositions plus Ferry’s cinematic interpretation of Sondheim’s ‘Send In The Clowns’. Produced by Ferry and Rhett Davies in Ferry’s London studio, the album was mixed by Craig Silvey (Arcade Fire/Paolo Nutini) and features performances throughout the album by many of Ferry’s long-term musical partners including Nile Rodgers, Johnny Marr and Marcus Miller. Highlights include the forthcoming single ‘Loop De Li’, ‘Soldier of Fortune’ (co-written by Johnny Marr) plus closing track ‘Johnny & Mary’, Ferry’s recent collaboration with Norwegian producer and DJ Todd Terje.

This album contains no booklet.