Avalon
	Produced by Rhett Davies and Roxy Music
	Released on May 1982
	UK CHART POSITION #1 . . . US CHART POSITION #53 . . . GOLD RECORD (12/5/86), PLATINUM (12/2/92) . . . Rolling Stone's 100 Best Albums of the '80s (#31, 1989 poll)
	Find it at GEMM
23686-1 cover [high resolution photo]

T he ethereal, otherworldly atmosphere that permeates Avalon makes for a lovely and striking pop album. Here, Bryan Ferry has hit upon the inextricable link between love and tragedy, delivering his words of love as a spirit fading in and out of our world, flotsam on the ectoplasmic ebb and flow of music. It’s a different album than anything Roxy Music or Ferry had yet made, inviting comparison as much to Brian Eno’s languid Another Green World as the wilting romance of Flesh + Blood. The difference may be that Mackay and Manzanera are fully engaged here; the perfectly placed guitar parts and spectral keyboards are equal partners in the ultimate outcome, defining Avalon as much as Ferry’s voice. But Avalon’s real achievement is its songs: “More Than This,” “Avalon,” “Take A Chance With Me” and “To Turn You On” are so sophisticated that the love songs from Manifesto and Flesh + Blood pale in comparison. These are the album’s centerpiece, around which more visceral tracks like “The Main Thing” and “The Space Between” simply act as a buffer. Also included here are a pair of instrumentals that reinforce the album’s wistful, delicate mood. After a work this spectral and spectacular, the band’s imminent demise carries less of a sting. It’s the crowning achievement of their second coming, and by far the most flattering setting that Ferry has found for his romantic muse. And speaking of crowns, Kevin Sheridan (who served as a communications consultant with EG Records) was kind enough to inform me that Lucy Helmore is the cover model, keeping Roxy’s string of femme fatales (in one guise or another) intact.

23686-1 back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. MORE THAN THIS    (Bryan Ferry)    4:31
2. THE SPACE BETWEEN    (Bryan Ferry)    4:28
3. AVALON    (Bryan Ferry)    4:15
4. INDIA    (Bryan Ferry)    1:45
5. WHILE MY HEART IS STILL BEATING    (Bryan Ferry/Andy Mackay)    3:26
6. THE MAIN THING    (Bryan Ferry)    3:53
7. TAKE A CHANCE WITH ME    (Bryan Ferry/Phil Manzanera)    4:41
8. TO TURN YOU ON    (Bryan Ferry)    4:14
9. TRUE TO LIFE    (Bryan Ferry)    4:22
10. TARA    (Bryan Ferry/Andy Mackay)    1:27

CREDITS

BRYAN FERRY --
ANDY MACKAY --
PHIL MANZANERA --
Rhett Davies -- engineer
Bob Clearmountain -- engineer, mixing

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