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As the title track “Avalon starts with the guitar playing the intro with slowly played Latin sounding percussion with the smooth voice of Mr Ferry crooning the opening line “Now the Party’s over”, the song as features a stunning background vocal section singing “Dancin’, ... Read review
Hipper students of 1980s pop might like to pretend that Joy Division and The Smiths had a ... more
monopoly on melancholia, but for the older, more suave miserabilist, nothing could match the stylised desolation of Roxy Music's last album.Avalonwas recorded in ...
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Hipper students of 1980s pop might like to pretend that Joy Division and The Smiths had a ... more
monopoly on melancholia, but for the older, more suave miserabilist, nothing could match the stylised desolation of Roxy Music's last album. Avalon was recorded i...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Hipper students of 1980s pop might like to pretend that Joy Division and The Smiths had a ... more
monopoly on melancholia, but for the older, more suave miserabilist, nothing could match the stylised desolation of Roxy Music's last album.Avalonwas recorded in ...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Hipper students of 1980s pop might like to pretend that Joy Division and The Smiths had a ... more
monopoly on melancholia, but for the older, more suave miserabilist, nothing could match the stylised desolation of Roxy Music's last album.Avalonwas recorded in ...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
By the time the eighth and so far final studio album from the lasting remaining 3 core members of the band Bryan Ferry, Andy Mackay and Phil Manzanera was released in May of 1982 tensions where running high between the band members, possibly why this collection is such a ground breaker in style and execution.
With the use of atmospheric keyboards and percussion this album set a standard that Mr Ferry has been trying to repeat since the release ... ...“Boys and Girls” was like a sequel to this recording.
The opening track “More than this” was the first single to be released from this album and got to number 6 in the single chart. The main theme of the song is picked out on the lead guitar with the keyboards playing against it with percussion and strings adding atmosphere for the opening lines of “I could feel at the time, there was no way of knowing”. more
By the time the eighth and so far final studio album from the lasting remaining 3 core members of the band Bryan Ferry, Andy Mackay and Phil Manzanera was released in May of 1982 tensions where running high between the band members, possibly why this collection is such a ground breaker in style and execution. With the use of atmospheric keyboards and percussion this album set a standard that Mr Ferry has been trying to repeat since the release of this album, the first solo release after this called “Boys and Girls” was like a sequel to this recording.
The opening track “More than this” was the first single to be released from this album and got to number 6 in the single chart. The main theme of the song is picked out on the lead guitar with the keyboards playing against it with percussion and strings adding atmosphere for the opening lines of “I could feel at the time, there was no way of knowing”. “The space between Us” has a big percussion sound than has drums and guitar playing fills with keyboards adding a sense of space and texture. As the title track “Avalon starts with the guitar playing the intro with slowly played Latin sounding percussion with the smooth voice of Mr Ferry crooning the opening line “Now the Party’s over”, the song as features a stunning background vocal section singing “Dancin’, Dancin’. Dancin’” underpinned with the smooth sax in the middle section with Yannick Etienne vocals sitting on top of the main vocal track giving a haunting air to the song as the song fades out.
The following track called “India” was played through the P.A. as the band took their places on stage during the 1982 “Avalon” tour, this instrumental piece was also used as the B-side to the “More Than This” single, and the music itself is very short and full of texture and space and as the music is about to finish the percussion of the following track begins. “While My Heart Is Still Beating” is another love song written by Mr Ferry and the sax player Andy Mackay, the track itself has layers of percussion and keyboard tracks that are interwoven with saxophone and guitar and some big sounding bass.
Handclaps and bass guitar with more percussion are interspaced with the bass and keyboards that pick out the main theme, of the track “The Main Thing” that was used as a B-side of the single “Take a Chance On Me”, which was the third single from this album and final single released during the life of the band. This is the next track in the running order and this track was written by Ferry/Manzanera, the song has an a slow intro and then a change of pace with the guitar and sax picking out the main theme, this is interwoven with the main vocal to underline and punch out lines in the song adding a big dramatic feel to the track. The song “To Turn You On” was an old track that Bryan had written during the recording of “The Bride Stripped Bare” and when they needed a B-side to the John Lennon tribute single “Jealous Guy” this track was used. Bryan Ferry felt this was to good a song to be lost as a B-side. For the second last track “True To Life” which has a high-hat intro on the drums with percussion with keyboards and a big sounding bass filling out the track which has the opening lines “So it gets to seven and I think of nothing”. To close this album and in a way to underline the music that had gone before an atmosphere instrumental track “Tara” written by Ferry/McKay that has a saxophone intro which carry’s the main theme that is filled out with keyboards and as the track finishes the sound of waves can be heard crashing on the shore as if to say you made it home. The perfect end to a superb atmospheric album that still sounds superb today and with the re-mastering by Bob Ludwig, which has brought this collection to HDCD standard.
Advantages: better sound Disadvantages: another version to buy
When Bryan Ferry?s sixth studio album was released in the June of 1985 as a long-standing fan of ?Bryan?s? music and that of ?RoxyMusic?, I bought it with out hearing a single track apart from the single ?Slave to Love? (which was featured extensively on the soundtrack to the movie ?9 ½ weeks? and reached number 10 in the U.K. charts, the album itself gave Bryan his first solo number 1 album.
What we the listening public where treated to was basically the continuation of the ideas and themes on the last ?RoxyMusic? album ?Avalon? which is full of soundscapes and sonic textures.
But for this version of Bryan?s vision it looks like he created a wish list of musicians for the project and everyone he asked came to the party, the list reads like a who?s who of the music world at that time, David Gilmour (from ?Pink Floyd?), Nile ...
Advantages: Contains almost all their best tracks Disadvantages: But not quite all
Away’ ‘Oh Yeah’ ‘More Than This’ and ‘Avalon’ became their trademark. These tracks make a greatest hits album from RoxyMusic an essential part of your record collection.
The absence of some of those early tracks left space for some of the later Ferry efforts. However in the company of what had gone before the forgettable ‘Is Your Love Strong Enough?’ disappointing’ Kiss and Tell’ and lamentable ‘Your Painted Smile’ just don’t cut it in this company. Shame on the record company bosses for making these changes.
This is a good album but one which truly picked the best 20 tracks ever from Bryan Ferry and RoxyMusic would deserve the title great. The original 1986 Greatest Hits album was great. ...
Advantages: all the best Roxy tracks in concert Disadvantages: none
a breathless blast through their first single (and even uses the original VCS3 synth, donated by Eno for the tour), "Avalon" is just as beautiful as the original with Yannick Etienne guesting for the unique backing vocals.
The core members of RoxyMusic - Bryan Ferry on sublime vocals, Andy Mackay on heartbreaking sax and oboe, Phil Manzanera on killer guitar (check out the ending of "Ladytron"!) and the Great Paul Thompson on those rock solid drums - are bolstered by some solid extra musicians - the aforementioned Chris Spedding is superb. The lovely Lucy Wilkins fills both Eno and Eddie Jobson's shoes on synths and violin - her solo on "Out Of The Blue" is astonishing and Colin Good plays some rhapsodic piano.
The sound quality is top notch, the performances are top notch and the songs are top notch. This is basically RoxyMusic at their best ...
Personnel: Bryan Ferry (vocals, guitar synthesizer, keyboards); Phil Manzanera, Neil Hubbard (guitar); Kermit Moore (cello); Andy Mackay (saxophone); Paul Carrack (piano); Neil Jason, Alan Spenner (bass); Rick Marotta, Andy Newmark (drums); Jimmy Maelen (percussion); Fonzi Thornton, Yanick Etienne (background vocals). Recorded at Compass Point, Nassau, Bahamas and The Power Station, New York, New York. Digitally remastered by Robert C. Ludwig (Masterdisc). From 1975's SIREN through the rest of Roxy Music's albums and his concurrent solo work, Bryan Ferry was leading up to AVALON. The last Roxy Music studio album (it was followed by numerous collections, both live and otherwise), it is the perfect culmination of Ferry's constant striving for the ultimate sophistication. On AVALON, the styles that the band had explored in the past--funk, jazz, and rock--come together to create a texture of remarkable subtlety. The title track is Ferry's finest moment. His suave voice turns the romance all the way up, while the band plays in a smooth, light jazz-funk groove and guitar notes shimmer like the sun on water. "While My Heart is Still Beating" features Andy Mackay's saxophone drifting in around Phil Manzanera's languid guitar lines. "True to Life," a ballad shot through with reverberation, is the kind of song aching to be played late at night with the lights off. From the almost jaw-dropping elegance of the opening track, "More Than This," to the closing "Tara," a sparse, evocative instrumental, AVALON is Roxy Music's masterpiece.
Album Reviews
Rolling Stone (11/89) - Ranked # 31 in Rolling Stone's "100 Best Albums Of The Eighties" survey. Mojo (9/03, p.123) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...AVALON, in its indistinct beauty, said everything Ferry needed to say about sophisticated pop for grown-ups..." Uncut (9/03, p.126) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...The sounds on this, the biggest-selling album of their career, are as avant-garde as anything they'd ever done, just more subtle..." Q (12/99, p.158) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...A demi-monde of exhausted, ruined glamour is conjured by the title track....AVALON is their weary goodbye and as a farewell letter from a national treasure, it's a bittersweet treat." Mojo (1/00, p.108) - "...a coherent piece of work with a high strike rate....sparkling pop..."
Titles on disc 1
1.
More Than This
2.
Space Between
3.
Avalon
4.
India
5.
While My Heart Is Still Beating
6.
Main Thing
7.
Take A Chance With Me
8.
To Turn You On
9.
True To Life
10.
Tara
Ciao
Listed on Ciao since
24/03/2004
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