These Foolish Things (album)

These Foolish Things is the debut solo studio album by Bryan Ferry, who at the time was still 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.^[2]

These Foolish Things
Studio album by Bryan Ferry
Released	5 October 1973 (1973-10-05)[1]
Recorded	June 1973 (1973-06)
Studio	AIR, London
Genre	Traditional pop glam rock
Length	43:46
Label	Island Records (UK) / Atlantic Records (North America)
Producer	Bryan Ferry John Porter John Punter
Bryan Ferry chronology
These Foolish Things (1973) Another Time, Another Place (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.^[3]

"A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" was released as a single and reached number 10 in the UK Singles Chart in September 1973.^[4][5]

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."^[6]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
Christgau's Record Guide	A−[8]
Overdose	A−[9]
Q	[10]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[11]

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."^[8] 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.^[12]

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."^[7] Rob Sheffield, in 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, praised it as a "conceptual and musical tour de force".^[11] In 2010, Rhapsody listed These Foolish Things as one of the best covers albums.^[13]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" (Bob Dylan cover from the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963))	Bob Dylan	5:19
2.	"River of Salt" (Ketty Lester cover from the album Love Letters (1962))	Irving Brown, Bernard Zackery, Jan Zackery	1:48
3.	"Don't Ever Change" (The Crickets cover from the 1962 single)	Gerry Goffin, Carole King	2:15
4.	"Piece of My Heart" (Erma Franklin cover from the 1967 single)	Jerry Ragovoy, Bert Berns	3:06
5.	"Baby I Don't Care" (Elvis Presley cover from Jailhouse Rock)	Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller	1:50
6.	"It's My Party" (Lesley Gore cover from the album I'll Cry If I Want to (1963))	Walter Gold, John Gluck Jr., Herb Weiner	2:00
7.	"Don't Worry Baby" (The Beach Boys cover from the album Shut Down Volume 2 (1964))	Brian Wilson, Roger Christian	4:13
8.	"Sympathy for the Devil" (The Rolling Stones cover from the album Beggars Banquet (1968))	Mick Jagger, Keith Richards	5:50
9.	"The Tracks of My Tears" (The Miracles cover from the album Going to a Go-Go (1965))	Smokey Robinson, Warren Moore, Marvin Tarplin	3:04
10.	"You Won't See Me" (The Beatles cover from the album Rubber Soul (1965))	John Lennon, Paul McCartney	2:32
11.	"I Love How You Love Me" (The Paris Sisters cover from the 1961 single)	Barry Mann, Larry Kolber	3:02
12.	"Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" (Four Tops cover from the album On Top (1966))	Ivy Jo Hunter, Stevie Wonder	3:06
13.	"These Foolish Things" (cover)	Jack Strachey, Eric Maschwitz and Harry Link	5:41

Personnel

Musicians

• Bryan Ferry – lead vocals, acoustic piano
• Eddie Jobson^[14] – keyboards, synthesizers, violin
• David Skinner – acoustic piano
• John Porter – guitars, bass
• Phil Manzanera – guitar solo (10)
• Paul Thompson – drums^[14]
• John Punter – additional drums (7, 8)
• Roger Ball – alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, horn arrangements
• Ruan O'Lochlainn – alto saxophone solo (11)
• Malcolm Duncan – tenor saxophone
• Henry Lowther – trumpet
• Robbie Montgomery – backing vocals (1, 8)
• Jessie Davis – backing vocals (1, 8)
• The Angelettes – backing vocals (2–7, 9–13)

Production

• Bryan Ferry – producer
• John Porter – producer
• John Punter – producer, engineer
• Steve Nye – engineer
• Andy Arthurs – assistant engineer
• Nicholas De Ville – cover design
• Karl Stoecker – photography

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1973) Peak position Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[15] 18 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[16] 10 UK Albums (OCC)[17] 5

Year-end charts Chart (1973) Position Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[18] 70

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[2]	Gold	100,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. "BPI".
2. "British album certifications – Bryan Ferry – These Foolish Things". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
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. Raggett, Ned. "These Foolish Things – Bryan Ferry". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
8. 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.
9. Hull, Tom (April 1975). "The Rekord Report: Second Card". Overdose. Retrieved 26 June 2020 – via tomhull.com.
10. "Bryan Ferry: These Foolish Things". Q. No. 159. December 1999. p. 158.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. Farrar, Justin (23 February 2010). "Rhapsody's Favorite Covers Albums". Rhapsody. Archived from the original on 31 July 2010. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
14. "Roxy Music".
15. 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.
16. "Dutchcharts.nl – Bryan Ferry – These Foolish Things" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
17. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
18. "Jaaroverzichten – Album 1973". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 9 April 2021.