I always thought Bryan Ferry was David Bowie on opium. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjhTHQhJLxs

I always loved the sound textures Bryan gets.

How's this for a tough gig?  This is a Bryan Ferry quote:

"I have terrible memories of it all going wrong. I'd put together an all-star band and the set was fraught with problems. We had David Gilmour on guitar and, poor David, his guitar wasn't working for the first couple of songs. With his first hit, the drummer put his stick through the drum skin. And then my microphone wasn't working, which for a singer is a bit of a handicap. A roadie ran on with another mic so then I was holding two mics taped together and I wasn't really sure which one to sing into. It was a great day though." (On playing Live Aid (1985) (TV))

That's sort of an apples to flaming-pianos-on-the-planet-dipton comparison.

Bowie is the eternal enigma.

But I shorely did luv me them ol albums of "chestnut covers" that Bryan put out.  Warble on, ol pal...warble on.

One more "Wow!"  Here's some info about the album this song is on.  Check out the musicians he had!

Gilmour AND Knopfler?  Plus my favorite (non-Coffee House) bass player, Tony Levin?  And the others are pretty up there too...

HERE'S THE LINK

yorolpal


That's sort of an apples to flaming-pianos-on-the-planet-dipton comparison.

Bowie is the eternal enigma.

But I shorely did luv me them ol albums of "chestnut covers" that Bryan put out.  Warble on, ol pal...warble on.

You do know that Bowie considers Bryan his favorite song writer though, ya?

I'm sure Da Vinci considered some lesser (read...less famous) person(s) as his better in many ways.  But he's the superstar.  Them's just the breaks.  Like I said, I love ol Brian...and will do so always.

David Bowie is no Bryan Ferry... maybe he is a Brian Ferry wanna be. I never understood what made Bowie so famous. There was that one song about Major Tom but that, IMO, got old quickly. Besides that he was really strange and in a bad sort of way. Frank Zappa was strange in a funny/good sort of was. Bowie was always disturbing to me... still is I guess.

Besides, how can you go wrong with dancing girls?

J

Hi,

Both are good in their own right.

David, should have become an actor a long time ago. Some of his work in film is excellent and deserves some credit. Of special attention is "The Man Who Fell to Earth" and then "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence", and even "The Hunger".

Bryan did not want to do any acting, and he has always stuck to his own lounge singer thing ... and he is very clean and very good at it, and he always manages to put together some incredible musicians. But his work, is, hardly, new or experimental, or different ... it's just really well done and special work all around.

David's career in music is not something that we should ignore and not say a good thing about. Over the years, he has either gotten bored with his work, or he simply wanted to do more ... than just the same thing. And his creative stuff has always been interesting.

It will make a lot more sense to check David out, if you can find the VH-1 Behind the Music on David Bowie ... it helps clear up a lot of his work ... he is well read, studied and not your average rock'n'roller that will only do one thing, and not learn anything else! As such, David is a very good artist.

I enjoy both of them ... though "Country Life" burns up my CD or turntable a bit more than any David Bowie album! ... or playing "Amazona" out loud!

I like them both, but David Bowies span of expression is about 100 times wider than that of Bryan Ferry. Both his compositions and performances are hard to beat if you think about how many styles of pop and rock he masters / has mastered during the years.

Not only is Bowie a phenomenal live performer, but he has been copied so much right from the beginning of his fame: style of singing, habitus, record sounds etc. I don't know any single artist that has been a trend setter for so long. 

Bryan Ferry has a great, recognizable sound and style, but IMO he really is a one trick pony, whereas  Bowie is a pony, horse, tractor, acrobat and aeroplane.