Neil Tennant - 'A Beautiful, Sophisticated, Melancholy Image of Bryan Ferry'

Neil Tennant reflects on a Bryan Ferry poster he saw in 1974.

‘A Beautiful, Sophisticated, Melancholy Image of Bryan Ferry’: Neil Tennant’s ‘The Thing’,
for Frieze, 2 November 2018

SCRIPT:

"In the autumn of 1974 when I was studying history in North London Polytechnic, magnificent billboards appeared across the city, featuring a beautiful, sophisticated but melancholy image of Bryan Ferry standing by a swimming pool, which, I later discovered, was at the hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles. The image was advertising his new album called 'Another Time, Another Place'.

Bowie and Roxy Music were the central pillars of my musical taste in those days and this image clearly indicated a cultural shift. 1974 marked the end of glam rock, everyone was moving on. Marc Bolan was finished and the fag end of glam was naff. Bowie meanwhile was off tour in America. And he was Bryan, exiled by a swimming pool in Bel-Air, as wealthy and enigmatic as Gatsby. The irony of his previous incarnations evaporated.

I’m not sure that in 1974 I’d ever even heard of Bel-Air, but you could tell from the light that it was in California. You would also tell by the clothes of the people in the background – a young woman standing alone in shocking pink, an elder woman who could be Lucille Ball in a pantsuit, a very lush guy wearing Oxford bags with a white jacket and the insinuation of a cravat. A house with a swimming pool, sophistication as in wealth, but wealth that, like Gatsby’s wealth, doesn’t necessarily bring happiness, very adult.

We just entered the European Union at this time. They promised that if we joined the Union, we’d have cheap wine and cafes with outdoor tables. I thought - I want both of those things, I want to be European. And actually we got them. You have to remember there was a time when people didn’t sit outdoors and drink cappuccino, when it seemed chic to see people abroad drinking vin ordinaire out of little glasses. Bryan made us want to be sophisticated. Or, as my friends from Newcastle used to say: ‘sophis’.

1974 was the other Jack Hazan’s film about David Hockney, 'A Bigger Splash' came out (another swimming pool in California). The film version of 'The Great Gatsby' was also released. That fascination with old Hollywood glamour had started off being a camp interest in kitsch. Now it was serious. Glamour wasn’t glam. Bryan was becoming the thing he previously imitated satirically. From this point on Bryan would not be quoting sophistication, he would be sophisticated. And his audience could feel that they were aspiring to this sophistication, not imitating it, but learning how to be it. Everything was changing. We were all on a journey."

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‘The Thing’ is a series of eight short films starring Jarvis Cocker, Neil Tennant, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Goshka Macuga, Jeremy Scott, Hank Willis Thomas, Eric Mack and Haegue Yang. For the series, Frieze asked each artist to choose a single object of significance from their working or living environment and discuss what makes it special.

[paolabevar]

I could listen to Neil's voice for hours and hours. So relaxing and sensual at the same time, every word glides softly on his tongue and becomes something extremely creamy and luscious.

[conniepark]

Love Neil's beautiful voice 💜💜💜💜💜 from Korean fan

[MoyXram]

Нейл хорошо говорит, голос будто речка звучит.

[flashback]

Neil, You don't need to under the control of EU or USSR to be "European".