If These Foolish Things, Bryan Ferry's first solo album was a cry of joy, Another Time, Another Place seems to be the grim realization that what was fun, was now work. Ferry stares from the cover, elegant and sombre, as if he has been given the onerous task of singlehandedly bring glamor back to the denimed hordes of rock music. 

Bryan Ferry: Another Time, Another Place

He states his case on the very first track, the  stupendous, guitar-riffing The In Crowd, originally a mid-Sixties hit for Dobie Gray:  

"...I'm in with the in crowd
I go where the in crowd goes
I'm in with the in crowd
And I know what the in crowd knows

Anytime of the year, don't you hear?
Dressing fine, making time

We breeze up and down the street
We get respect from the people we meet
They make way day or night
They know the in crowd is out of sight..."

                      The In Crowd

The In Crowd: Bryan Ferry LIVE with Roxy Music

I'm not going to try to dissect Another Time, Another Place, covers albums are mostly for fun...and there are some fine covers here. The up-tempo numbers fare best:

• Joe South's Walk A Mile In My Shoes...dig that fiddle and the big backing vocals...(on a very different note, see my article of the same name)
• Ike Turner's Fingerpoppin': "Well, I don't care no more...about nuthin' you do...and I'm goin' shoppin', finger fingerpoppin' on you..." (Whatever that ,means!)...note the great brass section and sax solo! 

The mid-tempo numbers are mixed:

• Jimmy Cliff's (What A) Wonderful World...which is cute
• Willy Nelson's Funny How Time Slips Away...which is surprisingly good  
• Ferry's own Another Time, Another Place...(actually slow, then fast, not mid-tempo)...which is really good...and probably would have been well-loved and respected, perhaps even considered a classic, if it had been on Roxy Music's next album, Country Life, instead of this hardly known effort & 
• Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe...which is absolutely dreadful

However, I'm still, after all these years, undecided about the slow numbers:

• Davis & Mitchell's 40s standard You Are My Sunshine &
• Kris Kristofferson's Help Me Make It Through The Night 

...they're so idiosyncratic I'm not sure whether they're soothing...or creepy. So, that's Another Time, Another Place, it's certainly interesting and worth lending an ear.

Bryan Ferry: Another Time, Another Place

"...For me, Bryan Ferry's second solo album is a bit uneven in the quality of song choices...(but)...the title track is one of Bryan's best original songs with its unusual time changes and catchy melody..." Amazon reviewer Jay Murphy "Jay Thing"

"...The first track, The In Crowd, is explosively sublime, and...Smoke Gets in Your Eyes...(is)...in my view, THE definitive version of this standard..." Amazon reviewer Phillip Thomas Powell

"...check out the liner notes. The credit "Cover Concept By Bryan Ferry" really had me giggling. I could just imagine him saying (in... British accent) "Hey guys, I'm so damn handsome, let's just get a shot of me dressed like the Great Gatsby with a come-hither-look on my face standing in front of a swimming pool. That would make a great cover." And you know what? In a way, it did..." Amazon reviewer Rob Damm

El-Cheapo-Me says: It's definitely great value if you can pick it up second hand or in the bargain bin.

For more info, see:

• wikipedia Another Time, Another Place
• Melody Maker interview with Bryan Ferry promoting Another Time, Another Place
• NME interview with Bryan Ferry about his then-upcoming SOLO concerts to promote Another Time, Another Place at the Royal Albert Hall (first half only)