Boys and Girls (album)

For the Alabama Shakes album, see Boys & Girls (Alabama Shakes album).
Boys and Girls
Studio album by Bryan Ferry
Released 3 June 1985 (1985-06-03)
Recorded 1983–1985
Studio AIR Studios, Hampstead, London; Compass Point Studios, New Providence, The Bahamas; Effanel Mobile; RPM Studios, New York; Sarm West Studios, London; The White House, New South Wales, Australia; The Power Station, New York [1]
Genre Sophisti-pop
Length 38:24
Label E.G.
Producer
Bryan Ferry chronology
The Bride Stripped Bare
(1978)
Boys and Girls
(1985)
Bête Noire
(1987)
Singles from Boys and Girls
  1. "Slave to Love"
    Released: April 1985
  2. "Don't Stop the Dance"
    Released: August 1985
  3. "Windswept"
    Released: November 1985

Boys and Girls is the sixth solo studio album by the English singer and songwriter Bryan Ferry, released in June 1985 by E.G. Records. The album was Ferry's first solo album in seven years and the first since he had disbanded his group Roxy Music in 1983. The album was Ferry's first and only number one solo album in the UK.[2] It was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry and contains two UK top 40 hit singles. It is also Ferry's most successful solo album in the US, having been certified Gold for sales in excess of half a million copies there.

The album contained the track "Slave to Love," which became one of Ferry's most popular solo hits. The single was released on 29 April 1985 and spent nine weeks in the UK charts in 1985, peaking at number 10, along with the other (modestly successful) singles "Don't Stop the Dance" and "Windswept".

The guitar solo at the end of "Slave to Love" featured Neil Hubbard[3] and the album featured other famous guitarists such as the Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler, Pink Floyd's guitarist David Gilmour, Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers and Bryan Adams' guitarist Keith Scott.

The album was remastered and re-released in 2000, and was also re-released on the SACD format in 2005.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Robert ChristgauB−[5]
Rolling Stone(equivocal)[6]
Smash Hits(6/10)[7]

Writing for AllMusic, critic Ned Raggett complimented the track "Slave to Love" and wrote "As a whole, Boys and Girls fully established the clean, cool vision of Ferry on his own to the general public. Instead of ragged rock explosions, emotional extremes, and all that made his '70s work so compelling in and out of Roxy, Ferry here is the suave, debonair if secretly moody and melancholic lover, with music to match."[8]

Critic Robert Christgau wrote that "[Ferry's] voice [is] thicker and more mucous, his tempos [are] dragging despite all the fancy beats he's bought, [but] he runs an ever steeper risk of turning into the romantic obsessive he's always played so zealously."[5]

The 1992 edition of the Rolling Stone Album Guide gave the album three and half stars out of five: "Set in the richly synthesized mode of Avalon, Ferry's sixth album envelopes the listener in emotional subtleties and sonic nuance. Then it's over like a pleasant dream. Boys and Girls could stand a couple of more tunes along the memorable lines of "Slave to Love" or "Don't Stop the Dance."[9] The 2004 New Rolling Stone Album Guide repeated the three and half star rating; "Boys and Girls, his first solo album after Roxy Music broke up, was his disco-friendly bid for solo stardom, and while it's too fluffy, it does have one of his greatest love songs ever, the hypnotic slow-dance "Slave to Love." [10]

In the 1985 Pazz and Jop Critics Poll by the Village Voice it was voted the 31st best album of the year.[11]

2006 surround-sound remix

In 2006, Virgin reissued Boys and Girls on Hybrid Super Audio CD (SACD) with a new 5.1-channel surround sound remix by the original production team of Rhett Davies (the producer) and Bob Clearmountain (the mixing engineer). The original 1985 stereo mix is left intact and is the same for the CD layer and for the HD layer, allegedly being transferred from analogue master tapes to DSD and processed in DSD throughout the process.

Track listing

All songs written by Bryan Ferry except as noted.

No. Title Length
1. "Sensation"   5:07
2. "Slave to Love"   4:26
3. "Don't Stop the Dance" (Bryan Ferry, Rhett Davies) 4:19
4. "A Waste Land"   1:02
5. "Windswept"   4:31
6. "The Chosen One"   4:51
7. "Valentine"   3:47
8. "Stone Woman"   4:56
9. "Boys and Girls"   5:25
Total length:
38:24

Personnel

A promotional poster for the album.
Additional personnel
Engineering

Sales chart performance

Album

Year Chart Peak
Position
1985 UK Album Charts 1 [2]
1985 US Billboard 200 63 [12]
1985 Canadian RPM Top Albums Chart 11 [13]

Singles

Year Single Chart Peak
Position
1985 "Slave to Love" UK Singles Charts 10 [2]
1985 "Slave to Love" Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks 19 [14]
1985 "Don't Stop the Dance" UK Singles Charts 21 [2]
1985 "Don't Stop the Dance" Billboard Adult Contemporary 26 [14]
1985 "Don't Stop the Dance" Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales 30 [14]
1985 "Windswept" UK Singles Charts 46

Certifications

Organization Level Date
BPIUK Gold June 5, 1985 [15]
BPI – UK Platinum October 29, 1985 [15]
RIAA – U.S. Gold February 18, 1993 [16]

References

  1. "Boys and Girls". These Vintage Years. Archived from the original on 2008-04-10. Retrieved 2008-08-27.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "UK Top 40 Hit Database". Retrieved 2008-08-27.
  3. "Roxy Music - Welcome To VivaRoxyMusic.com - on VivaRoxyMusic.com". vivaroxymusic.com.
  4. Allmusic review
  5. 1 2 "Robert Christgau: Consumer Guide Dec. 3, 1985". robertchristgau.com.
  6. Rolling Stone review
  7. Anthony, Lisa (19 June 1985). "Album Reviews)". Smash Hits. EMAP Metro. 7 (15): 20.
  8. Ned Raggett. "Boys and Girls". AllMusic.
  9. DeCurtis, Anthony (Ed.). "Bryan Ferry". Rolling Stone Album Guide. 1992. pg. 243
  10. Brackett, Nathan. "Bryan Ferry". The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. November 2004. pg. 297
  11. "Robert Christgau: Pazz & Jop 1985: Critics Poll". robertchristgau.com.
  12. "allmusic (((Boys and Girls > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums)))". Retrieved 2008-08-27.
  13. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". collectionscanada.gc.ca.
  14. 1 2 3 "allmusic (((Boys and Girls > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles)))". Retrieved 2008-08-27.
  15. 1 2 "BPI Certified Awards". Retrieved 2008-08-27.
  16. "RIAA Gold and Platinum". Archived from the original on 2007-06-26. Retrieved 2008-08-27.
Preceded by
Our Favourite Shop by The Style Council
UK number one album
June 15, 1985 – June 28, 1985
Succeeded by
Misplaced Childhood by Marillion

External links

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