Bryan and even more Bryan

Bryan Ferry: Frantic (Virgin, 47:28). Ferry’s last album, 1999’s “As Time Goes By,” revisited the Thirties; the new disc is guitar-based, with more of a live feel. This disc also reunites Ferry with several of his Roxy Music band mates: Brian Eno co-writes “I Thought” with Ferry and performs on both it and “Goddess of Love”; and drummer Paul Thompson plays with Ferry in the studio for the first time in 20 years (Roxy’s swan song was 1982’s “Avalon”). Chris Spedding, who performed with Ferry in the Seventies, plays guitar on several tracks, most notably on “Cruel,” as well as electric sitar on “Hiroshima.” Ferry co-wrote four other songs with Dave Stewart (The Eurythmics) and two by himself; his last songwriting album was in 1994. The inspirations are quite varied: “Goddess of Love” is about Marilyn Monroe and the atmospheric, haunting “San Simeon” (William Randolph Hearst’s “castle haunted by the ghosts of a thousand Hollywood parties,” as Ferry puts it) is inspired by Orson Welles’ film “Citizen Kane” and actually is a “return to the scene of the crime” that was Roxy’s “In Every Dream Home a Heartbreak.” Ferry says some of the new song’s lyrics actually are from verses he left out of “Dream Home.” There are two Bob Dylan covers: “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” which is both raw with Ferry’s harmonica and Mick Green’s guitar and striking with its use of strings; and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright,” which is backed by just Ferry’s harmonica and Colin Good’s piano. Ferry’s adaptation of the French medieval-sounding “Ja Nun Hons Pris,” written by Richard the Lionheart, serves as a brief prologue to “A Fool for Love,” which mixes country feel with images of dragons and unicorns. Leadbelly’s classic “Goodnight Irene” is interpreted with Cajun musicians (more straight-ahead blues is a cover of Don’s Nix’s “Goin’ Down”), while “Hiroshima,” with Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood one of the four guitarists, explores a cyberpunk world and pays homage to the “nouvelle vague” films of Alain Resnais. A-

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Bryan Adams and Hans Zimmer: Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron, Music from the Original Motion Picture (A&M, 60:03). The animated film about a wild stallion in the American frontier who becomes friends with a young American Indian, narrated by Matt Damon and opening Friday in theaters, features nine songs by Adams, four of which have Zimmer as one of the co-writers. There also are four instrumentals from Zimmer’s score. The disc opens with their collaboration of the pretty ballad “Here I Am,” which rises in force and should be yet another soundtrack-spawned hit for Adams; he has had top 10 hits with and earned Oscar nominations for “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” from 1991’s “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman” from 1995’s “Don Juan DeMarco” and “I’ve Finally Found Someone” from 1996’s “The Mirror Has Two Faces.” Zimmer has scored more than 70 films, winning seven Oscars (most recently for “Gladiator”). Both have won Grammys for their film music work. The song’s reprise is more orchestrated. In a similar vein is their “I Will Return,” while “Get Off My Back” rocks (the title takes a whole new meaning when you remember the film is about a horse). “brothers Under the Sun” aims to be a soft epic, while the love song “Don’t Let Go” is a duet with Sarah McLachlan. Adams also sings Gavin Greenaway and Trevor Horn’s “Sound the Bugle,” is a call to be strong. The best of the instrumentals is the stirring “Run Free.” This is Adams’ first album in four years. B+

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Bryan Adams: Unplugged (A&M DVD, 56 min.; also available on CD). Newly released on DVD is this 1998 performance on the MTV series. The rearrangements of several of his hits are good — Michael Kamen, who co-wrote “When You Love Someone” and “I’ll Always Be Right There” (a fine closing ballad with Keith Scott on Spanish guitar), conducts an orchestra of 20 Juilliard string students — but some of the song choices, especially two-thirds of the way through the 15-song program, don’t elicit any sparks. The string section is heard on “Back To You” and “When You Love Someone,” while the fine version of “18 Til I Die” is performed with a string quartet. This show features a basic band of six, including two keyboardists, plus guest Davy Spillane on Irish flute; so Adams plays guitar throughout, as well as harmonica on the blues “If You Wanna Be Bad — Ya Gotta Be Good.” There is no bonus material. B

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Bryan Adams: Live at Shane Castle, Ireland 2000 (A&M DVD, 90 min.). The 19-song, Aug. 26, 2000 shows found Adams at his performing peak with his three-piece band: himself on bass instead of rhythm guitar, Keith Scott on guitar and Mickey Curry on drums. After a ho-hum start, the hits start flowing: “18 Till I Die,” “Summer of 69,” “It’s Only Love,” “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” and “Cuts Like a Knife.” Adams brings up a girl from the audience for “When You’re Gone,” but singer Mel C. also joins in. Irish flute player Davy Spillane joins for “I’m Ready” and “Heaven,” but the evening’s highlight is the first encore song, the rave-like “Don’t Give Up,” featuring Nick Bracegirdle-Chicane on synths and performed live for the first time. The show ends with fireworks. DVD bonuses include four minutes of rehearsals with the guests, the pre-show arrival, a photo gallery of Adams’ career and a 10-minute interview with the band, recorded months later. There are three bonus songs — the mic gets a bit squeally on “Before the Night” — and you can view five songs in a static, 360-degree perspective (there is more on this via DVD-ROM on your computer). B+

* * * * *

Bryan Adams: The Best of Me (A&M, 68:31). This is Adams’ second greatest hits collection, following 1993’s “So Far So Good,” with which it shares five selections. The other 10 include the 1999 single and title track, “Back To You,” “All For Love” (with Sting and Rod Stewart) and “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?” A-

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Excelsior: Soul Interpretations (Verity, 48:11). I don’t know if you will find a more uptempo Gospel number than this album’s opening “It’s My Time,” sung by a female belter and the album’s first single. Excelsior is a ministry-based performance group from Minneapolis that was founded 22 years ago. The current 30-voice edition won the Stellar Gospel Music Award for Best New Artist last year and this is its second album, following “God @ Work.” The disc is full of songs of trust, encouragement, reassurance and submission to God (“Yes” is unconditional submission). The music ranges from the uncomplicated “Thank You” and the bouncy beat of “I’ll Trust You” to the James Brown-influenced “The Blood (Never Loses Its Power)” and the urban funk of the closing “Brand New Day.” The choir’s founder and director is Bobby Champion, while the primary writers are Tanabe Gatlin and F. Darnell Davis . A-

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Bryan and even more Bryan Bryan Ferry: Frantic (Virgin, 47:28). Ferry’s last album, 1999’s “As Time Goes By,” revisited the Thirties; the new disc is guitar-based, with more of a live feel. This disc also reunites Ferry with several of his Roxy Music band mates: Brian Eno co-writes “I Thought” with Ferry and performs on both it and “Goddess of Love”; and drummer Paul Thompson plays with Ferry in the studio for the first time in 20 years (Roxy’s swan song was 1982’s “Avalon”). Chris Spedding, who performed with Ferry in the Seventies, plays guitar on several tracks, most notably on “Cruel,” as well as electric sitar on “Hiroshima.” Ferry co-wrote four other songs with Dave Stewart (The Eurythmics) and two by himself; his last songwriting album was in 1994. The inspirations are quite varied: “Goddess of Love” is about Marilyn Monroe and the atmospheric, haunting “San Simeon” (William Randolph Hearst’s “castle haunted by the ghosts of a thousand Hollywood parties,” as Ferry puts it) is inspired by Orson Welles’ film “Citizen Kane” and actually is a “return to the scene of the crime” that was Roxy’s “In Every Dream Home a Heartbreak.” Ferry says some of the new song’s lyrics actually are from verses he left out of “Dream Home.” There are two Bob Dylan covers: “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” which is both raw with Ferry’s harmonica and Mick Green’s guitar and striking with its use of strings; and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright,” which is backed by just Ferry’s harmonica and Colin Good’s piano. Ferry’s adaptation of the French medieval-sounding “Ja Nun Hons Pris,” written by Richard the Lionheart, serves as a brief prologue to “A Fool for Love,” which mixes country feel with images of dragons and unicorns. Leadbelly’s classic “Goodnight Irene” is interpreted with Cajun musicians (more straight-ahead blues is a cover of Don’s Nix’s “Goin’ Down”), while “Hiroshima,” with Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood one of the four guitarists, explores a cyberpunk world and pays homage to the “nouvelle vague” films of Alain Resnais. A- * * * * * Bryan Adams and Hans Zimmer: Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron, Music from the Original Motion Picture (A&M, 60:03). The animated film about a wild stallion in the American frontier who becomes friends with a young American Indian, narrated by Matt Damon and opening Friday in theaters, features nine songs by Adams, four of which have Zimmer as one of the co-writers. There also are four instrumentals from Zimmer’s score. The disc opens with their collaboration of the pretty ballad “Here I Am,” which rises in force and should be yet another soundtrack-spawned hit for Adams; he has had top 10 hits with and earned Oscar nominations for “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” from 1991’s “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman” from 1995’s “Don Juan DeMarco” and “I’ve Finally Found Someone” from 1996’s “The Mirror Has Two Faces.” Zimmer has scored more than 70 films, winning seven Oscars (most recently for “Gladiator”). Both have won Grammys for their film music work. The song’s reprise is more orchestrated. In a similar vein is their “I Will Return,” while “Get Off My Back” rocks (the title takes a whole new meaning when you remember the film is about a horse). “brothers Under the Sun” aims to be a soft epic, while the love song “Don’t Let Go” is a duet with Sarah McLachlan. Adams also sings Gavin Greenaway and Trevor Horn’s “Sound the Bugle,” is a call to be strong. The best of the instrumentals is the stirring “Run Free.” This is Adams’ first album in four years. B+ * * * * * Bryan Adams: Unplugged (A&M DVD, 56 min.; also available on CD). Newly released on DVD is this 1998 performance on the MTV series. The rearrangements of several of his hits are good — Michael Kamen, who co-wrote “When You Love Someone” and “I’ll Always Be Right There” (a fine closing ballad with Keith Scott on Spanish guitar), conducts an orchestra of 20 Juilliard string students — but some of the song choices, especially two-thirds of the way through the 15-song program, don’t elicit any sparks. The string section is heard on “Back To You” and “When You Love Someone,” while the fine version of “18 Til I Die” is performed with a string quartet. This show features a basic band of six, including two keyboardists, plus guest Davy Spillane on Irish flute; so Adams plays guitar throughout, as well as harmonica on the blues “If You Wanna Be Bad — Ya Gotta Be Good.” There is no bonus material. B * * * * * Bryan Adams: Live at Shane Castle, Ireland 2000 (A&M DVD, 90 min.). The 19-song, Aug. 26, 2000 shows found Adams at his performing peak with his three-piece band: himself on bass instead of rhythm guitar, Keith Scott on guitar and Mickey Curry on drums. After a ho-hum start, the hits start flowing: “18 Till I Die,” “Summer of 69,” “It’s Only Love,” “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” and “Cuts Like a Knife.” Adams brings up a girl from the audience for “When You’re Gone,” but singer Mel C. also joins in. Irish flute player Davy Spillane joins for “I’m Ready” and “Heaven,” but the evening’s highlight is the first encore song, the rave-like “Don’t Give Up,” featuring Nick Bracegirdle-Chicane on synths and performed live for the first time. The show ends with fireworks. DVD bonuses include four minutes of rehearsals with the guests, the pre-show arrival, a photo gallery of Adams’ career and a 10-minute interview with the band, recorded months later. There are three bonus songs — the mic gets a bit squeally on “Before the Night” — and you can view five songs in a static, 360-degree perspective (there is more on this via DVD-ROM on your computer). B+ * * * * * Bryan Adams: The Best of Me (A&M, 68:31). This is Adams’ second greatest hits collection, following 1993’s “So Far So Good,” with which it shares five selections. The other 10 include the 1999 single and title track, “Back To You,” “All For Love” (with Sting and Rod Stewart) and “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?” A- * * * * * Excelsior: Soul Interpretations (Verity, 48:11). I don’t know if you will find a more uptempo Gospel number than this album’s opening “It’s My Time,” sung by a female belter and the album’s first single. Excelsior is a ministry-based performance group from Minneapolis that was founded 22 years ago. The current 30-voice edition won the Stellar Gospel Music Award for Best New Artist last year and this is its second album, following “God @ Work.” The disc is full of songs of trust, encouragement, reassurance and submission to God (“Yes” is unconditional submission). The music ranges from the uncomplicated “Thank You” and the bouncy beat of “I’ll Trust You” to the James Brown-influenced “The Blood (Never Loses Its Power)” and the urban funk of the closing “Brand New Day.” The choir’s founder and director is Bobby Champion, while the primary writers are Tanabe Gatlin and F. Darnell Davis . A-
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