Customer Reviews
Smooth.....nice.....a very fine swansong for a great band..... - By: New Gold Dreamer, 29 Dec 2007 
Rating: 7.5/10
Best tracks: "More Than This", "Avalon", "True to Life", "Take a Chance with Me".
Roxy Music began life as a raucous, impossible-to-pin-down, rough, ready, post-modern & decidedly futuristic proposition; by the time of their last album, they'd become an entirely different band. Super-smooth, mature, elegant, streamlined & without a single notein the wrong place. I can imagine there may be some people who loved "Ladytron", "Editions of You" or "In Every Dream Home a Heartache" who refuse to have the time of day for Avalon, & vice versa. Roxy Music were certainly building their way towards this album's peerless perfection the moment they made their comebackin 1979 with their sleek, more chart-friendly Manifesto & the following year's Flesh & Blood; neither were classic Roxy Music albums, though they both had their moments, the formerin particular. Before Avalon, it looked as though the band seemed like they were merely getting by,in danger of being hopelessly overshadowed by the many bands they'd helped to inspire & influence, their glory days long behind them. Yet Avalon saw them give it one last shot, to spectacular effect. A valid criticism of the album is that it's too-perfect sounding, to the point of being over-mannered. You can tell these songs have been airbrushed & honed to absolute exquisiteness, & for those who like the sound of spontaneity, recklessness or anything approaching surprise, Avalon will not be a favourite. At its best, such as on the mighty "More Than This", the seductive title track & the wonderful "Take a Chance With Me" (unsurprisingly, all were singles), we're talking about Roxy Music at its finest.
The title track, if you're feeling mean, does sound in places like a prototype for what would be Chris de Burgh's hideous forte (sorry, it IS there....) of chocolate box romance (sorry, that should be "rom-aaans"), but it's a beautiful thing, & with its "now the party's over" opening, pretty much a perfect summation of the band's farewell status. It's the kind of late-evening, impeccably tailored, sensual mature pop that loads & loads would try & copy, & yet barely anyone would be able to match. Despite what it helped to influence, this remains one of the band's best ever songs. You can't blame a band for the poorer imitations it inspired, can you? Just try & block out those "Ladyin Red" resemblances.....it can be done! The stylish late-night mood-funk of "The Space Between" & "The Main Thing" are terrifically performed & produced, even if they aren't exactly memorable at all! "India" is a beguiling, atmospheric instrumental interlude that's like a sunset-travelogue and,in its own innocuous way, one of the best little things the band ever created. The fine if unspectacular "While My Heart is Still Beating" makes for a very strong point that this is as much a Bryan Ferry solo album as much as it is a Roxy LP, since it's indistinguishable from his own material, yet Ferry himself never was able to recapture the magic present here, though lord knows he'd try again & again & again. "More Than This" is just absolutely, maddeningly perfect, with one of the best Ferry vocals ever, while the band refrain from histrionics, play it perfectly cool & evoke perfect skies, sleek suits, glamorous dresses, exquisite melancholy & bittersweet joy. "Take a Chance With Me" was a single, though many best-ofs & retrospectives ignore it; I have no idea why, as it's absolutely fantastic from start to finish; those guitars just sigh & strut, the rhythms are perfect, & above it all, Ferry gives it that unique feel with that great voice of his. "To Turn You On" might make some go green with its MOR-esque atmosphere, but it's a beauty, especially during that lovely solo. The hidden gem on this album however is "True to Life", a magical, mesmerising thing of wonder with a great chorus. Unfortunately "Tara" is merely an okay, forgettable epilogue.
Compared to the likes of Stranded & Country Life, Avalon lacks excitement, surprise or edge, but it doesn't try to deliver on that level; on its own terms it's a smashing adult-pop album, beautifully played, divinely sad, smooth & oh-so very stylish. In theory it should be hopelessly bland, but it works, it really does. Only a few average (tracks 2, 5, 6 & 10in particular) songs & a general lack of sonic variety make it less than perfect. Overall though, Avalon is a very fine way for one of the best bands of the 1970's to bow out. Fall for it.
PS: The B-side to the "Avalon" single, "Always Unknowing" is an absolute must for anyone who loves this album, as it's more the same; delicate, dreamy soundscapes....try & find it!
Avalon Roxy Music - By: Mr. Jr Hardwick, 12 Feb 2006 
Bryan Ferry, what a guy, what a group. More than this, The main thing, Avalon, India, while my heart is still beating, all great tracks. This is not the best album of Roxy Music, that is Streetlife, but worth investing in.
The eighth studio Roxy album� - By: Milt Ingarfield, 16 Mar 2004 By the time the eighth & so far final studio album from the lasting remaining 3 core members of the band Bryan Ferry, Andy Mackay & Phil Manzanera was releasedin May of 1982 tensions where running high between the band members, possibly why this collection is such a ground breakerin style & execution.
With the use of atmospheric keyboards & percussion this album set a standard that Mr Ferry has been trying to repeat since the release of this album, the first solo release from him �Boys & Girls� was like a sequel to this recording.
The opening track �More than this� was the first single to be released from this album & got to number 6in the single chart. The main theme of the song is picked out on the lead guitar with the keyboards playing against it with percussion & 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 & guitar playing fills with keyboards adding a sense of space & 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 saxin 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 �Avalon� tour, this instrumental piece was also used as the B-side to the �More Than This� single, & the music itself is very short & full of texture & space & 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 & the sax player Andy Mackay, the track itself has layers of percussion & keyboard tracks that are interwoven with saxophone & guitar & some big sounding bass.
Handclaps & bass guitar with more percussion are interspaced with the bass & 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 & final single released during the life of the band.
This is the next trackin the running order & this track was written by Ferry/Manzanera, the song has an a slow intro & then a change of pace with the guitar & sax picking out the main theme, this is interwoven with the main vocal to underline & punch out linesin 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� & 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 & a big sounding bass filling out the track which has the opening lines �So it gets to seven & I think of nothing�.
To close this album &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 & 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 & with the re-mastering by Bob Ludwig sounds even better the sound on the disc is HDCD standard.
Avalon is a dreamy shangri-la of rock. - By: , 28 Feb 2001 I think this is Brian Ferry's finest album. The tunes are magical fantasies of mystic Britishness, setin a netherworld of Arthurian legend & the beaches of old Zanzibar for exotic effect. More than this, the melodies & harmonies are instantly memorable,in a soft focus sort of way. Ferry was at the height of his popularity , when people had the patience to follow an artist's career & philosophy. This is a lounge lizard world of afternoon cocktails & leisurely overseas sojourns, yet the songs live up to the billing. Half are up tempo numbers, the rest dreamy ballads. The Main Thing & Take a Chance With Me were released as singles, the first two tracks; More than This & The Space Between are faster percussive pieces followed by slower more reflective ramblings such as India & Avalon itself. The album is beautifully written, performed & produced with wonderful technical values for the time; A timeless classic of mysticism these tunes will stay foreverin the memory of nice songs. Hear Brian Ferry's voice at it's very bestin a non threatening environment, preferably by a coal fire on a winter's evening, with a bottle of red, the kids safely tucked upin bed, phone turned off, debts forgotten, with someone you love.......that's the way Brian would have wanted it.
37 minutes 21 seconds of perfection. - By: , 13 Apr 2000 Every nuance is cared forin this superbly produced (but not over-produced) album. Frankly, words could not spell out the score, but I'll give it a go. It is wonderfully lush, romantic, incisive. It is also a remarkably cohesive album. Although there is variation between tracks, particularly rhythmically, the overall musical feel & the lyrical feel are both quite lucid & they are perfectly matched.
The album begins with 'More Than This' which lays down the very high standard of the album, with no instrument dominating but marvellous little sequences comingin at just the right time, most notably from the guitar & the keyboards. The vocals are also used cleverly, as more than a voice - as an instrumentin itself with peaksin the middle of lines creating a sweeping effectin the verses, like the tide washingin & out, to which the lyrics refer. The second verse is a gentle gaining of understanding from the first & the track moves onward to its serene departure. You could say I kinda like it.
Next is 'The Space Between', lyrically a suggestion of moving beyond friendship & characterised by some marvellous percussion. The highlight of the title track is the stunning background vocal with pitch perfect high notes. Next (on the original sequence at least) follows a short instrumental which maintains the flow with refined touchesin both foreground & background, then comes the heartfelt 'While My Heart Is Still Beating' (the lyric including "My heart has flown away now, will it never stop bleeding?").
Strong rhythm pulses through 'The Main Thing' then comes the moody opening to the Bryan Ferry/Phil Manzanera composition, 'Take A Chance With Me' which goes on to plead "All the world, even you, should learn to love the way I do", clearly depicting love as the maker & breaker of lives. 'To Turn You On' is a superb love song, the singer again committed to his emotions for better or worse. 'True To Life' maintains both mood & theme & features some evocative vocal effects, then the album finishes with another instrumental & the tide washingin again.
It is no wonder Roxy split after this as the only way would have been down, as Ferry's over-produced solo attempts to recapture this have proven. This album may not be the best of all-time (there - I've admitted it!) but it is my personal favourite.
