"Avalon sits easily alongside ABC's Lexicon Of Love or Duran Duran's Rio." The album that consolidated Roxy Music's shift from weirdo art-rockers to gossamer smooth purveyors of sultry adult pop

Signalling a conclusive end to their art-rock years, Avalon was Roxy Music’s second consecutive UK No.1 album, with Bryan Ferry crooning superbly on the likes of More Than This, Take A Chance With Me and While My Heart Is Still Beating.

Long seen as an appropriate final studio album from Roxy Music (there is an unfinished ninth album sitting on the band members' hard drives), Avalon reveals the preceding (unsatisfactory) Flesh + Blood as a transitional album, evidencing the shift from the Roxy of old and the ethereal ambience displayed here. But Avalon is itself a transitional work for Ferry, between the last vestiges of the Roxy sound and the otherworldly feel he would pursue solo.

More Than This and even the title track are (like the hit singles taken from Manifesto) unrepresentative; it’s the languid, gossamer drift of While My Heart Is Still Beating and To Turn You On, which are the true heart of the intriguing Avalon album.

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Other albums released in May 1982

• Jinx - Rory Gallagher
• After the Snow - Modern English
• Pornography - The Cure
• Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch - Frank Zappa
• The Single Factor - Camel
• Wiped Out - Raven
• Junkyard - The Birthday Party
• Combat Rock - The Clash
• The Eagle Has Landed - Saxon
• Church of Hawkwind - Hawkwind
• Hot Space - Queen
• Sheffield Steel - Joe Cocker
• The Hunter - Blondie
• 3rd From The Sun - Chrome
• I Paralyze - Cher
• No Fun Aloud - Glenn Frey
• Coney Hatch - Coney Hatch
• Get It On Credit - Toronto
• Let Me Rock You - Peter Criss
• Now and Forever - Air Supply
• One on One - Cheap Trick
• The Record - Fear
• Special Forces - 38 Special
• Sweets From A Stranger - Squeeze
• Tuckerized - Marshall Tucker Band
• Vinyl Confessions - Kansas

What they said...

"The indisputable peak of the group’s latter stage is Avalon; a 40-minute cruise on smooth, synth-heavy, jazz-sprinkled waters. And on that voyage Bryan Ferry, Andy Mackay and Phil Manzanera serve as co-captains, with Ferry’s slick vocals riding top of soothing saxophone and airy synths. Early Roxy Music might have broken more musical barriers, but the line-up on Avalon taught a whole new generation." (Treble)

"Avalon – recorded by the core trio of singer Bryan Ferry, guitarist Phil Manzanera, and saxophonist/oboist Andy Mackay – was devoid of the camp and irony that partly defined the first five Roxy albums, and instead went for something quite accessible and mature, while still serving as a vehicle for songwriter Ferry’s romantic meditations on yearning and heartbreak." (Pop Matters)

"At its juiciest Bryan Ferry's romanticism has always seemed too arch and too sour, not to mention too juicy, which is why this minor triumph sounds mild or even dull at first: after all these years, its sweet simplicity is unexpected. We've always known he recorded These Foolish Things in the fond hope that someday he'd believe it, and while I never will, I can enjoy his pleasure in the accomplishment." (Robert Christgau)

What you said...

Mike Canoe: Avalon is where I came in with Roxy Music, thanks, as is often the case, to early MTV, which introduced me to the swooningly beautiful More Than This and title track. A guy in my dorm was a huge Roxy Music fan and played Avalon and Flesh And Blood a lot. As a newly minted "punk rocker" (university will do that to you), I dismissed them as style over substance.

Eventually, I really got into the first four Roxy albums, but still was kind of sniffy about the second half of their discography because I felt all the art rock weirdness had been blanched out for smooth uber-romantic pop.

I like Avalon a lot better now. More Than This and the title track are still swooningly beautiful, as are "True To Life and the instrumental Tara. My favourite track, The Space Between, adds some much-needed edge and darkness to all the heavy-handed romanticism elsewhere. The Main Thing and Take a Chance with Me are good dance tracks and a nice antidote to the mega-schmaltz of While My Heart Is Still Beating.

Bryan Ferry seems to have gone to great pains over the years to demonstrate that he, and he alone, is the mastermind behind Roxy Music, but the contributions of Phil Manzanera and Andy Mackay are as essential as ever. Among the many session musicians on Avalon, backing vocalists Fonzi Thornton and Yanick Étienne really shine. And a hat tip to the cool Hipgnosis album cover - positively modest by Roxy Music standards.

Avalon may be considered the pinnacle of the band's career, but it still can't top the first four Roxy Music albums.

Gary Claydon: Lush, seductive 'grown-up' '80s synth pop. About as far removed from their early, otherworldly avant-rock as they could get. Ferry continued to align the band's style with his extracurricular activities, so much so that it was now apparent that Roxy were an extension of his solo career rather than the other way round.

The title track is gorgeous, and while To Turn You On has slight hints of earlier glories, there is too much here that just ambles along, and the two instrumentals are little more than filler. As a big Roxy Music fan right from the start, I don't dislike Avalon, but have to admit, I wasn't overly sad to see them call it a day after this. Ferry's vocals are as good as ever, but the whole suffers from a relative lack of Manzanera's guitar, a point that is only reinforced when it is actually, too briefly, to the fore.

Adam Ranger: The final album that completed their transformation from Art rock to AOR. I actually prefer Flesh And Blood as it still straddles the original Roxy Music as well as the smoother sound.

That said, Avalon and More Than This are well-produced slabs of sumptuous AOR, like being stroked by a velvet glove. You might not want to enjoy them, but you just can't help yourself. The rest of the album is not so smooth, but does continue on in a similar vein. My favourite track is Take A Chance With Me. Nice guitar line and good hook.

On the whole, though, a great slice of early 80s music that has stood the test of time.

Chris Elliott: As a 16-year-old, I knew a few of their obvious hits. They were meant to be rocky and weird... and this was anything but. However, the title track just wore me down until I relented and taped a copy.

It's not revolutionary – it's borderline smooth jazz in places – but it is, however, a strangely compelling album. More Brian Ferry than Roxy - but somehow better than his solo work. Wonderful record to wander through the forest with the dog.

John Davidson: By the time Avalon was released, Roxy Music had transformed from glam-adjacent art rockers to purveyors of smooth but sophisticated pop music.

The core members Ferry, Mackay and Manzanera were still there, but Eno was long gone, as was his multi-talented replacement Eddie Jobson. Even drummer Paul Thompson had butted heads too often with Ferry and finally quit the band.

Avalon was their final but most successful album, and sits more easily alongside side ABCs Lexicon Of Love or Duran Duran's Rio than anything from 1982 that might resemble traditional definitions of classic rock. Taken on its own merits, Avalon is an enjoyable album, and both the single More Than Love and the title track Avalon are excellent. The rest of the album is ok too.

I've always had a soft spot for this album and its predecessor, Flesh And Blood, but it's not a guilty secret I expected to reveal here... with that caveat and confession shared. As a pop album, it probably deserves more, but in the pantheon of classic rock, 7/10 seems generous.

Paulene Ashmore: It’s aeons since I listened to this album. I was a massive Roxy fan back then, but their early incarnation is their best for me. Once they mellowed, so did my interest. I’m still playing their live album, Viva! quite regularly. I mean, who wouldn’t want to listen to Bryan Ferry singing about a rubber doll?

Roxy Music - Avalon - YouTube

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Greg Schwepe: Turns out this week’s selection of Roxy Music’s Avalon is a bit of a career bookend review, as we did their debut, Roxy Music, back in March of 2022. Avalon ended up being their final studio album.

As I’ve mentioned in countless other reviews, my involvement on the staff at our college radio station resulted in exposure to bands and albums that eventually became favourites. And Roxy Music was one of those bands that the staff and campus liked. I mean, everyone played Love Is The Drug on their show! And when we heard “hey, the new Roxy Music album is out,” everyone played it. That one was Avalon.

Since I had access to the production studio with its turntables and its tape deck, I grabbed one of my blank Maxell cassettes and recorded a “free” copy (sorry record companies!) of Avalon. Heck, since cassettes have two sides, I also recorded Flesh And Blood and got a nice double bonus. Since then, I’ve bought all of Roxy’s catalogue in one media form or another, but Avalon always seems to be my measuring stick, as it was really the first full album I had access to.

I went back and read my 2022 review of Roxy Music, and I described parts of it as “screechy, squawky, and dissonant.” Not that those things are all bad. But Avalon is way at the other end of the musical spectrum. Those are things Avalon is not. Avalon is slick, polished, and shimmering.

When I later upgraded my wrinkled cassette and bought it on CD during the "Great Music Media Switchover #2" (or was it #3?) I remember a sticker on the shrink wrap that said “Roxy Music’s Shimmering Masterpiece.” “That’s it. Exactly,” I remember saying to myself. And that thought has stuck with me to this day.

So, you might think of this as Adult Contemporary, far from the band’s experimental, art school beginnings. The entire album seems to adhere to the “less is more” theory, each instrument providing enough to get its point across, but not too much. The core of the band at that point, Bryan Ferry, Phil Manzanera, and Andy Mackey, along with other session players, lay down a slinky and swaying groove.

Ferry’s crooning vocal in More Than This, the funky The Space Between, the atmospheric title track Avalon, the sultry sax and keyboards in While My Heart Is Still Beating, the thumping (there’s that incredible beat again!) in The Main Thing. This is all classic Roxy Music. The bass and drums might be the unsung heroes of this album. And Tara, with its flirty, flitty saxophone, turned out to be the perfect coda to the album and the band.

9 out of 10 on this one for me. A true Desert Island Disc, and one named after a fictional island. Go figure.

Mark Herrington: So you strike lucky at the college disco, and it’s back for a coffee at your place. You look through your LPs, beginning to panic. Overkill and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath will just kill the mood. Then, with a sigh of relief, you spot a stray Roxy Music album one of your flatmates has left lying around, and you know all will be good. Bryan Ferry croons like the king of cool, the electric lounge lizard, as smooth as silk and seductive as a siren song.

Generally, I prefer Roxy Music’s albums with a darker vibe, like For Your Pleasure or Ferry’s solo LPs like Bete Noire, a nihilistic fever dream of an album. Avalon, though, is smooth as silk and a seductive tour de force, but just lacks a bit of that abrasive art rock edge. Whilst it wouldn’t be a regular listen, I don’t mind giving it the odd spin.

Marcelo Morem: This album is so minimalist. I have the impression they spent some time removing every single note and every single noise that could pollute it. And they did it great. Avalon is perfect.

Nick Tedds: Avalon offers a smoother, more mellow sound than the band's earlier work, thus rendering it slightly less interesting but highly listenable, nevertheless. More Than This is pure classic pop of the highest order, whilst the title track allows Bryan Ferry to be at his crooning, lounge-rock best, in my opinion.

The repetitive funky rhythm of The Space Between, shifting chords of While My Heart Is Still Beating and gradual acceleration of Take A Chance With Me add much value, as does a lean and crisp production throughout.

It would be remiss of me not to also mention Andy Mackay’s beautiful sax playing, none more so than on the final track, Tara. Whilst I don’t think this is Roxy’s finest album (For Your Pleasure probably gets my nod), it does round off their catalogue nicely. I also love the more subtle album artwork on this one.

Roxy Music - More Than This - YouTube

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Robby Jackson: I found it better to listen to at night.

Tlacaélel Thunupa: This album is crying to be fully remastered with today's technology

Peter Thomas Webb: I first heard Avalon shortly after its release in 1982. The videos, especially More Than This and Avalon, were all over MTV and Much Music. Someone at the pizza joint where I worked nights kept the cassette of Avalon on high rotation, between bouts of Don Henley and Sting.

From this context, Avalon took a long time to impress me as more than musical wallpaper to be endured while slicing pepperoni and sprinkling soggy veggies over flattened dough.

Only later did I discover what an amazing group Roxy Music were. Old TV footage of Roxy from the early seventies first hit me in the 2000s. Here was a very different Bryan Ferry, singing ominously about a guy in lust with a rubber doll as Brian Eno twiddled oscillator knobs in silver platform shoes. Oh boy, how severely I had misjudged this band!

Now, as I enjoy Avalon in succession after For Your Pleasure and Country Life, I appreciate the album for what it is: a smoothly-crafted chillout session after a career spent pushing boundaries, from a great band with nothing more to prove. My rating: 7/10

Evan Sanders: Another nice selection, and this one is in the category of Why Didn’t I Own This During My Formative Classic Rock Years. The first three songs of More Than This, Space Between, and Avalon were practically on classic rock radio autoplay in the early 80s. And while I don’t think the rest of the songs rise to the same level, they are all listenable and in the silky-mellow vibe typical of Roxy Music.

Listening to this and a few of our recent picks from that era reminds me of the musical power of albums that were in the 30-45 minute range. It’s long enough to enjoy this selection of music, and not so long that there is obvious filler.

Either 7 or 8 out of 10 for me, depending on how much I’m in the silky-mellow Roxy Music vibe when listening to it.

Nigel Mawdsley: Superb production and musicianship, I love Phil Manzanera's guitar work, but the album's just a bit too 'easy listening' for my personal taste.

Philip Qvist: I have always felt that there were three distinct phases of Roxy Music, mainly the early 70s experimental and "arty" phase (that would be from their self titled debut to Country Life, and a cover that wouldn't see the light of day today), their transitional phase where the band went more commercial but still kept some of their early experimental selfs (Siren and Manifesto) and then their smooth, almost pop, phase (Flesh And Blood and Avalon).

I actually like all their phases, so it is probably no coincidence that my favourite Roxy Music albums come from each of those distinct phases, mainly For Your Pleasure, Siren and Avalon. But despite all the different phases, one person has always been in charge: Bryan Ferry, the man who steered the band through all those phases.

My first introduction to Roxy Music came in late 1980 when I bought Flesh And Blood, an album that is pretty uneven but has also some of the band's best songs on it (Same Old Scene, Oh Yeah, My Only Love). Avalon was a must-buy for me, before I bought a couple of their live and compilation albums, while I only started listening to their earlier output much later on in my life.

So what about Avalon, the album? Well, it is definitely a more consistent album than Flesh And Blood, and it's definitely a far cry from their 1973 debut. That doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad record, far from it. It's one of my favourites for a reason.

You have the opening track and first single, More Than This, The Space Between, and the great title track (featuring Yanick Etienne's unique vocals), all of which tick the boxes quite nicely. On side two, you have The Main Thing, Take A Chance On Me and To Turn You On, which also tick those boxes. I don't even mind the two short instrumentals, India and Tara. So all in all, a pretty good package.

The question, though, was where would Roxy Music go next? And the answer was nowhere, apart from releasing those live and compilation albums. It is probably no surprise that Bryan Ferry's solo album, Boys And Girls, was a follow-up to Avalon, complete with many of the supporting cast that was on display on Avalon, albeit without Andy Mackay and Phil Manzanera.

I remember us doing a review of their 1973 album not so long ago, and I remember stating that it has its great moments, but it is also an uneven and at times an incoherent record. Avalon is the Ying to Roxy Music's Yang, and I prefer the former. Is it rock, adult rock or mere pop? Who knows and who cares, I like this album and in spades. A high score from me this week.

Final score: 7.50 (63 votes cast, total score 473)

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