Avalon ~ Roxy Music ~ Jazz - Blues ~ CD ~ Used VG

Editorial Reviews

Progressive rock savants Roxy Music reinvented themselves as the avatars of caviar dreams and champagne wishes on this smooth-as-$1,000-cognac 1982 disc. By this point in their jagged discography, Roxy had become little more than Bowie-esque lead singer Bryan Ferry's backup band, with his regal tone ensconced somewhere between the synth-fetish of Ultravox and a friskier Scott Walker. Seemingly gone were the band's herky-jerky days as a democratically run outfit--Avalon's syrupy, New Romantic tone is worlds away from the era when Brian Eno's unpredictable keyboard noodles or Phil Manzanera's rocket-fuel guitar defined the proceedings. The exquisite "More Than This" and the moody title cut give the decadence of Robin Leach's '80s a dignity that those times probably didn't deserve. But even if the Reagan years didn't sound to you like new wave for social climbers, as a soundtrack to upscale daydreaming, Avalon beats an episode of Dynasty hands down. --Don Harrison