i'm hooked on the vocal delivery throughout this album. but particularly on the singles
― Charlie Howard, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 12:30 (sixteen years ago) link
If I ever spot a copy of the CD with the "Always Unknowing" b-side
That's on the rarities disc in the _Thrill Of It All_ box.
― Mr. Odd, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 14:21 (sixteen years ago) link
'take a chance with me' is pretty fantastic
― Charlie Howard, Thursday, 10 April 2008 10:22 (sixteen years ago) link
hard to argue with the super smooth lushness of the title track. i'm really warming to this textured 80s sound. even though i may have found it irksome not six months ago.
― Charlie Howard, Monday, 28 April 2008 16:24 (sixteen years ago) link
Oddly enough I've played this more than once in the last week. Pretty much everything about it is perfect smoove.
Plus I have the More Than This 7"!
― sonderangerbot, Monday, 28 April 2008 18:05 (sixteen years ago) link
I certainly see it as Ferry passing into the New Establishment (at the exact, specific moment when that entity started to form itself, ie mid-1982 when Thatcher stopped being a mere prime minister and became an ideological reformer), cf trying his hand at falconry in the video for the title song, and his society wedding the week "Avalon" the song reached its chart peak. It marked his final moment of contemporary revelance, but it was a brilliant way to go; the kind of perfection from which there is, literally, no way back or out. Nobody could care about Ferry after that; nobody *was meant* to care. Bryan's son protesting at Tony Blair's constituency home in support of foxhunting almost exactly 20 years later - ie the Ferry lineage now *more* old-establishment than the PM - was the logical conclusion. That's not a diss of "Avalon", far from it.
-- robin carmody (robin carmody), Wednesday, 21 January 2004
is that the final perfect moment of Carmodyism, from which there was nowhere to go?
― the pinefox, Monday, 28 April 2008 18:34 (sixteen years ago) link
We discuss Roxy in the eighties.
― Blue Fucks Like Ben Nelson (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 21:25 (fourteen years ago) link
Inspired by all this I've been listening to the Boston 1979 radio broadcast today.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 21:32 (fourteen years ago) link
from the Manifesto period? how is it?
― Blue Fucks Like Ben Nelson (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 21:36 (fourteen years ago) link
A touch muffled but an excellent performance all around, Ferry introduces each of the band bit by bit after a particular turn on a song (Mackay after "A Song for Europe" etc.). Should be pretty easy to find, search by 'roxy music orpheum boston 1979.' Some amusing moments like the funky bass breakdown in "Out of the Blue."
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 21:38 (fourteen years ago) link
His intro to "Stronger Through the Years" kinda invents Jarvis Cocker (even more so than a lot of other things).
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 21:46 (fourteen years ago) link
The DVD comp released in 2008 has excellent live footage from this period (especially "Still Falls the Rain" and "Ain't That So"), so I wonder if it was recorded in Boston.
― Blue Fucks Like Ben Nelson (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 21:49 (fourteen years ago) link
np
― ur reading from a season in hell but u don't know what it's abt (missingNO), Monday, 2 May 2011 09:31 (thirteen years ago) link
i wish my life was like this album
― ur reading from a season in hell but u don't know what it's abt (missingNO), Monday, 2 May 2011 09:34 (thirteen years ago) link
expensive tailoring, cabriolets and romance as a means of anticipating regret?
― normal_fantasy-unicorns (contenderizer), Monday, 2 May 2011 09:45 (thirteen years ago) link
plus cocaine, obv
this is a pretty cool interview with one of the guys who mixed Avalon
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug03/articles/roxymusic.htm
interesting stuff about Bryan Ferry's writing process, putting down ideas over a Linn Drum beat and then the band kinda embellishing the groove
― ur reading from a season in hell but u don't know what it's abt (missingNO), Monday, 2 May 2011 09:52 (thirteen years ago) link
(xx-post. misread "life" for "wife". don't know, maybe applicable too ;-)
― willem, Monday, 2 May 2011 09:52 (thirteen years ago) link
Show me other records like Avalon.
― love, light, and walkabout-thinking (admrl), Saturday, 3 March 2012 16:01 (twelve years ago) link
OK....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aawe7ydbF0I
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 3 March 2012 16:06 (twelve years ago) link
Thanks!
I quite like Thomas Dolby's "Flat Earth" too, it's sort of like Avalon.
― love, light, and walkabout-thinking (admrl), Saturday, 3 March 2012 16:19 (twelve years ago) link
Kaputt.
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Saturday, 3 March 2012 16:24 (twelve years ago) link
Marcello has a go.
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 9 August 2013 03:27 (ten years ago) link
I think you might want to correct that link.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 9 August 2013 03:37 (ten years ago) link
What a dream: Ferry yelling OKLAHOMA WAS NEVER LIKE THIS
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 9 August 2013 11:22 (ten years ago) link
The more I listen to this record, the more I'm convinced that it's one of the greatest production jobs of all time. Everything on this record sounds so beautifully recorded. I understand that there are those that prefer the more unhinged early Roxy, but man am I so glad they stuck around long enough to make this one.
― Turrican, Sunday, 1 May 2016 17:55 (eight years ago) link
This one was my gateway. Didn't everyone have a cop of the cassette in their glove box?
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Sunday, 1 May 2016 18:15 (eight years ago) link
DANCING, DANCING
― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Thursday, 4 May 2017 16:05 (seven years ago) link
The video for the title track is a little masterpiece in its own right and has aged nearly as well as the song. Something that struck me last time I watched it was the director's use of a "glowing retina" lighting trick on Ferry and his inamorata, similar to what Ridley Scott employed that same year in Blade Runner to signify that a character is a replicant. It reminded me of the scene in the film where Pris asks J.F. Sebastian how he has guessed that she and Roy are not human. "'Cos you're so perfect", he wistfully replies.
― Vast Halo, Thursday, 4 May 2017 20:59 (seven years ago) link
'Is it raining in New York, on fifth avenue?' - goosebumps every time
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Friday, 5 May 2017 13:36 (seven years ago) link
this is the best album
― Scam jam, thank you ma’am (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 14 August 2018 17:23 (five years ago) link
It is rather unworldly, or out of time or something intangible. Cinematic, even.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 14 August 2018 18:17 (five years ago) link
yes! it feels like it is shimmering...
“And the background's fadingOut of focusYes the picture's changingEvery momentAnd your destinationYou don't know it”
pretty much describes the sensation
― Scam jam, thank you ma’am (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 14 August 2018 18:43 (five years ago) link
I still feel that Ferry may wear dentures despite someone who met met confirming he did not
― Rabbit Control (Latham Green), Tuesday, 14 August 2018 18:55 (five years ago) link
the way I see itthis relationship ain't right
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 14 August 2018 18:57 (five years ago) link
Take a chance with me is a stunner
― Crowmengus (Ross), Tuesday, 14 August 2018 18:59 (five years ago) link
― Scam jam, thank you ma’am (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, August 14, 2018 12:23 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
otm
― ant banks and wasp (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 14 August 2018 19:08 (five years ago) link
The Prophet-5 work on this album is some of the most gossamer and on-point ever.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 14 August 2018 19:19 (five years ago) link
This is not only my favourite Roxy Music album, but one of my favourite productions of all time. It's such a beautiful sounding, superbly well recorded album.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Tuesday, 14 August 2018 19:38 (five years ago) link
Agreed. "Gossamer", that's the word I was searching for!
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 14 August 2018 20:20 (five years ago) link
I've only heard the first 2 and this. I can't imagine anything in-between sounding quite so special.
― Scam jam, thank you ma’am (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 14 August 2018 20:36 (five years ago) link
stranded, country life, and siren are totally and completely different from avalon, but they are each fantastic in their own way. check em out.
― ant banks and wasp (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 14 August 2018 20:39 (five years ago) link
Stranded is still my favorite, but, really, if their weakest is Flesh + Blood, then my god
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 14 August 2018 20:40 (five years ago) link
stranded also my favourite, brian eno otm about that one
― Ross, Thursday, 16 August 2018 16:01 (five years ago) link
I'd rank it below Country Life, myself... but only just!
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Thursday, 16 August 2018 16:04 (five years ago) link
In fact, I'd take Stranded and Country Life over the first two.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Thursday, 16 August 2018 16:05 (five years ago) link
same here
tbh i find for your pleasure to be my least favourite, despite having some of their best tracks (like grey lagoons)
country life is a damn good record
― Ross, Thursday, 16 August 2018 16:07 (five years ago) link
er for your pleasure not below flesh and blood obvs tho, but least favourite possibly on par with siren
flesh and blood is their only half-assed record (two covers!) but the highs on it are amazing.
― visiting, Thursday, 16 August 2018 16:29 (five years ago) link
'Same Old Scene' is one of my Top 10 Roxy Music tracks. I listen to Flesh + Blood more than Manifesto.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Thursday, 16 August 2018 18:10 (five years ago) link
top five even
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 August 2018 18:12 (five years ago) link