Roxy Music 'Avalon'

i'm hooked on the vocal delivery throughout this album. but particularly on the singles

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.

'take a chance with me' is pretty fantastic

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.

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"!

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?

We discuss Roxy in the eighties.

Inspired by all this I've been listening to the Boston 1979 radio broadcast today.

from the Manifesto period? how is it?

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."

His intro to "Stronger Through the Years" kinda invents Jarvis Cocker (even more so than a lot of other things).

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.

np

i wish my life was like this album

expensive tailoring, cabriolets and romance as a means of anticipating regret?

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

(xx-post. misread "life" for "wife". don't know, maybe applicable too ;-)

Show me other records like Avalon.

OK....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aawe7ydbF0I

Thanks!

I quite like Thomas Dolby's "Flat Earth" too, it's sort of like Avalon.

Kaputt.

Marcello has a go.

I think you might want to correct that link.

What a dream: Ferry yelling OKLAHOMA WAS NEVER LIKE THIS

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.

This one was my gateway. Didn't everyone have a cop of the cassette in their glove box?

DANCING, DANCING

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.

'Is it raining in New York, on fifth avenue?' - goosebumps every time

this is the best album

It is rather unworldly, or out of time or something intangible. Cinematic, even.

yes! it feels like it is shimmering...

“And the background's fading
Out of focus
Yes the picture's changing
Every moment
And your destination
You don't know it”

pretty much describes the sensation

I still feel that Ferry may wear dentures despite someone who met met confirming he did not

the way I see it
this relationship ain't right

Take a chance with me is a stunner

this is the best album

― Scam jam, thank you ma’am (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, August 14, 2018 12:23 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

The Prophet-5 work on this album is some of the most gossamer and on-point ever.

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.

Agreed. "Gossamer", that's the word I was searching for!

I've only heard the first 2 and this. I can't imagine anything in-between sounding quite so special.

stranded, country life, and siren are totally and completely different from avalon, but they are each fantastic in their own way. check em out.

Stranded is still my favorite, but, really, if their weakest is Flesh + Blood, then my god

stranded also my favourite, brian eno otm about that one

I'd rank it below Country Life, myself... but only just!

In fact, I'd take Stranded and Country Life over the first two.

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

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.

'Same Old Scene' is one of my Top 10 Roxy Music tracks. I listen to Flesh + Blood more than Manifesto.

top five even