Roxy Music 'Avalon'

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after years of listening to this album at other people's houses (for some reason it has a strange habit of turning up in apartments where i'm staying for some time--this has been true for years) i finally just out and bought this on sale at FNAC.

this strikes me as an experimental album in the older, less voguish sense. a new approach to arrangement above all. it's hard to reconstruct the context in which this album first appeared because we've had 20 years of various forms of rock music and muzak whose aims seem to converge here.... in a way the record seems to embody what it in fact (in part) anticipates...certain musical gestures that now scream (not unappealingly mind) THE EIGHTIES.

what is it about the synth washes and arpeggiated guitar in the chorus of "take a chance with me" that seem so fervently of their time?--and for me both unnerving and a bit exciting for conjuring up an entire world that belongs to my past. it's not really so far from the structure and affect of this song to things like Toto and Sade and other songs that remain lodged in my memory but refuse to name themselves.

as an experiment this album seems to fail--again, in part--a lot of the time. maybe it's that the minimalist gestures--the perfectionism--of the arrangements are often betrayed by melodies that strike me as kind of banal, unimaginative, falling back without due skill on certain overfamiliar ploys. the album escapes this sense of disappointment at certain points in every song, but especially in "more than this" and the title track (though the former much more than the latter) whose structures really work for me...the gauging of expectation that is the crux of pop songwriting is really fine in "more than this" and thus it's very satisfying. the changes propel you through the song but are sufficiently spartan and slow to allow for appreciation of the arrangement. the guitar is particularly nice except for one moment when it seems to get a bit too wanky for me

looking forward to hearing this song in lost in translation

please let's not make this a classic.dud thing as i'm tired of hearing things like "this rocks" etc which seem even more a hopeless abstraction of actual reactions to music than the stuff i've written above

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 14:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Apparently the DVD-A of Avalon is supposed to be fantastic.

― mzui, Wednesday, 21 January 2004 14:44 (twenty-two years ago)

also the cover

there's something so silly and great about it

it's actually really heartwarming to me to think that someone could have conjured it up

though there is a very strong cognitive dissonance between bryan ferry's love-man seduction moves and the evocation of a saxon warrior looking out over the north sea or whatever

is that part of the point of the title track? i have no clue

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 14:49 (twenty-two years ago)

The thing that strikes me most about this album is that with the possible exception of Diamond Life by Sade, it seemed to be every hopeless collegiate frat schmuck's means of "setting the mood" for bump'n'grind sessions with doe-eyed sorrority whistleheads back in the mid to late 80s. Surely Roxy Music deserve of a better legacy. Still, a fine album, that notwithstanding.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 15:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I pretty much second what you've said.
'Avalon' is one of these albums that succeed mainly, from our jaded perspective 20 years after, on a conceptual basis, i.e. what I like about the record is the era it anticipates and embodies, the fake utopia of the 'diamond life' (which kinda transpires in the 'setting foot on new land' type of cover..). Musically, besides those two songs mentionned, the album is very bland, but in a way, that is precisely the point.

― Baaderist (Fabfunk), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 15:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I quite like "The Space Between", actually.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 15:15 (twenty-two years ago)

What is the song "it's raining in NY"? I quite like that one too..

― Baaderist (Fabfunk), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 15:16 (twenty-two years ago)

It's an album I admire rather than love for it's cool perfection and it's a bit of pity Ferry has spent the past 20 years ploughing the same field.

I think I actually prefer "Flesh + Blood" despite it's occasional naffness.

― LondonLee (LondonLee), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 15:44 (twenty-two years ago)

My own favorite song on the album is "To Turn You On," which in context is almost power-pop compared to everything else (must be the guitars in the chorus). After that might be "The Main Thing" and the title track...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 15:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Avalon is, I think, one of the first albums that sounds so smooth and polished that it leaves the production nowhere to go, no improvements left to make. Through the 60's and 70's, the idea of the studio virtuo was someone who could work beyond the technological limitations of the equipment, but in Avalon it sounds like all the barriers have fallen and the sky's the limit. There's no sharp attack on anything on the record, least of all Ferry's voice. It's my favorite Roxy Music album by far, and a template for all of Talk Talk's subsequent work.

Also, the r&b bass on the title track is fantastic.

― Brian Miller, Wednesday, 21 January 2004 16:56 (twenty-two years ago)

i think my least favorite song is to turn you on, not only because the sentiment of the chorus is kind of icky to me, but because it really is a kind of banal power-pop song in its structure and seems unhappily at war with the rest of the album and even parts of its own arrangement. although i dont really get much out of that closing instrumental either (it's funny-- all the exotic/ancient-sounding names used by bands at that time, "tara" etc--same conceit as the cover i guess)

i'm not sure i get the talk talk connection...can you elaborate?

yes the bass is nice and so are andy newmark's drums. the drum sound has a lot to do with how this is dated (note again that i am not using that word as a pejorative). the title track has that reggae-robbed-of-its-sideways-jerk quality that worked to varying extents for a lot of rock bands of the late 70s/early 80s

sometimes the effects on ferry's voice--reverb etc--seem a bit overdone, but usually not

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 17:04 (twenty-two years ago)

one of the achievements of this album is that its completely drained of irony

given the subject matter of the songs and the overall conceit that's both refreshing and creepy

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 17:16 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm not sure i get the talk talk connection...can you elaborate?

I can sense it -- restrained elegant bliss as final endpoint from a chaotic pop/rock start. In terms of song structure and thematic focus there's no real connection but in a general sense of 'atmosphere' as generically considered...hm, it's an intriguing observation.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 17:28 (twenty-two years ago)

restrained elegant bliss as final endpoint from a chaotic pop/rock start.

do you mean over the span of these bands' careers or the span of a song?

because it seems to me that talk talk rather rediscovered the value of certain "ugly"/chaotic sounds (utilized in moderation) etc. as they moved along and roxy music purposely excluded such sounds in their later records.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 17:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Careers. That's a good comparison actually, and does highlight the difference between the two bands. I don't think myself that Laughing Stock is openly trying to be Avalon Pt. II or anything, but I can how Avalon could have fed into an idea as to what the album might be like.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 17:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Too bad about the legacy of Avalon .. I remember absolutely loving it when it came out - but Roxy Music was still sort of unknown in these parts except for Love is the Drug. (Not unknown, but not top 40. Kinda like Lou Reed - people knew he existed, but didn't know anything past Walk on the Wild Side.) ..but alack, I'm sick of it now. It could have gone down in history as a gentle record made by an experimental band - but instead it's a lite-rock staple.

I still think "The Main Thing" is a great song.

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 18:13 (twenty-two years ago)

i dunno, with regard to the lite rock thing i think it sort of edges close to "patient died, operation was a success" territory. both haves of that statement are hyberbolic because the album is not a failure (only a partial one) and because a lot of what followed was not exactly excitement itself. but i think the whole lite rock thing is quite interesting, if relatively unexplored critically. certainly giving oblique birth (do they do those anymore? it's very diffiult making an incision past the ribcage) to Sade etc. is something to be proud of

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 18:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, by the lite rock legacy, my lament is that lite rock is usually oriented toward the casual listener as background music. So the creativity behind a record like Avalon (or Steely Dan records) is lost on the majority of listeners.

Lite rock in itself is not inherently bad.

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 18:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I tend to think of Sade more as Cocktail Jazz/Bedroom Soul than Lite Rock.

― LondonLee (LondonLee), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 18:26 (twenty-two years ago)

but what if the creativity serves the end of the music functioning as background music?!?!

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 18:31 (twenty-two years ago)

.. Zen master ... touche' !

But that's not why Avalon was made, so that's the problem.

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 18:32 (twenty-two years ago)

That's not why Sade makes records either.

― LondonLee (LondonLee), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 19:17 (twenty-two years ago)

My fave thing about Avalon is that on "More Than This," he never actually pronounces the 's' on 'this'. It becomes "More Than Thi"

The sibilance [sp] of the track does the rest.

― Ian Grey (Ian_G), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 20:56 (twenty-two years ago)

just a note, the cover is by Peter Saville.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 21:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I think "Avalon" was Bryan Ferry looking at those 'new romantics' and saying, I can do this a whole lot better than that.

It is the best album OMD ever made.

― earlnash, Wednesday, 21 January 2004 21:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Comparing OMD to Roxy Music is a fucking joke.

I'm sick of ILM, if anyone cares.

― Sean (Sean), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 21:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think they were being equated.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 21:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Avalon is much closer to OMD than you want to admit. It sure isn't much like the two records with Eno.

Have fun.

― earlnash, Wednesday, 21 January 2004 21:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I dunno — I agree w/ a lot of what amateur!st said, but honestly, I don't feel like this was some experimental vision of Ferry's at all. Rather, it seems like a natural arrival of sorts, the result of many years of smoothing out all the rough edges. As such, it's product — and not in the plastic, marketplace way I think some are ascribing to it.

It's a very well put together record, for sure — and pleasing in many respects: hooks, melodies, synths. And I kind of enjoy it.

But to me, Avalon is the sound of Ferry falling hopelessly in love with a character he had been parodying up until then. As a result, it's utterly impossible to hear this record as anything other than the consequence of that transformation. Does it reflect 80s soullessness? Absolutely — but not in a conscious way at all. And so other than it being made by a legend, nothing about it makes the record all that much different than any other pleasant radio fare from the era.

Does that make sense?

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 21:59 (twenty-two years ago)

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 22:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I seem to remember Ferry's wife saying something to the effect that striking miners should be shot, which is ironic (and other things) considering that Ferry's dad was a coal miner.

― LondonLee (LondonLee), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 22:23 (twenty-two years ago)

If "To Turn You On" sounds a little out of place it could be down to the fact that it predates the album by at least a year and a half - it was the B-side of "Jealous Guy" in Jan 81 - and was probably tacked on as a bit of a careless afterthought, like Bryan had writer's block. I loved it in its 81 context but it jars a little on "Avalon" - at best it's light relief from the more feathery gossamer stuff.

I HEART "Avalon", btw. "True To Life" is my high watermark - where Bry goes all Liz Fraser on us (at least in terms of being vowelly and impenetrable) and sounds gloriously faded glam-y.

― darren (darren), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 22:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Robin's right.

I remember him coming to NYC in 1988 and my then-GF saying "We gotta see him' and I had a deep reaction of 'Why???"

― Ian Grey (Ian_G), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 22:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I should add that this makes his comeback with Frantic (ok, about half of it) that much more remarkable, btw.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 23:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Lee - Ferry's wife is from a totally different social background to his. if Diana Spencer "married up" into the old establishment (but still brought with her the Clapton / Collins / E.John establishment-rock tribe who unsettled the Windsors so much), then Lucy Helmore "married down" into that very establishment-rock tribe which was rapidly taking over, and as such she predicted the Superclass aspirations of her own tribe over the coming 22 years in a way that Diana's extra-curricular interests did, but her marriage into the royal family certainly did not. I'm sure Diana wished she'd married someone like Ferry, and I'm sure Lucy thought "there but for the grace of God go I" in August 1997.

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Thursday, 22 January 2004 05:11 (twenty-two years ago)

or: Lucy Helmore/Ferry: what Diana Spencer would have been happy as

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Thursday, 22 January 2004 05:12 (twenty-two years ago)

The cover is one of the only Roxy Music covers that does not have the female image on it, and i really has nothing to do with the music.

As for the music, I may have mentioned this before, but the feeling of hanging out in some polynesian themed hotel lounge I get is totally unique.

― A Nairn (moretap), Thursday, 22 January 2004 05:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Wouldn't the fact that Lucy Helmore was a society heiress have disallowed her from claiming a large chunk of Ferry's estate on their divorce, especially in light of the fact that the split was precipitated by her infidelity? Or, if not disallowed, at least made the judgement less in her favor? It seems that this would be the way it would have gone in the States.

― Sean (Sean), Thursday, 22 January 2004 06:15 (twenty-two years ago)

The cover is one of the only Roxy Music covers that does not have the female image on it, and i really has nothing to do with the music.

Though the model was in fact a woman -- certainly it was cryptically conveyed, though.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 22 January 2004 06:53 (twenty-two years ago)

The pics on the inside of the 4CD set tell all.

― dave q, Thursday, 22 January 2004 13:10 (twenty-two years ago)

The model is not only a woman, it's Ferry's wife.

Robin, I'm well aware of Lucy Helmore's background and Ferry's social climbing (his London home was one of the first features in World Of Interiors magazine, it was all very trad and landed gentry, not an inch of modernism anywhere). Though I would disagree that no one cared about Ferry after "Avalon", I know plenty of people who adored "Boys & Girls" and to whom Ferry means an awful lot, just as much as Bowie.

― LondonLee (LondonLee), Thursday, 22 January 2004 13:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I think it's kind of interesting in how Eno and Ferry ended up in broadly similar places sonically. Eno, unsurprisingly switching quite markedly from his glam art rock to ambient, while Ferry edged cautiously towards it.

The big difference is that Eno's pieces are aiming for the illusion of stillness, like a water feature while Ferry is trying for stillness. Or put another way Eno's still curious, Avalon's the work of a man who's found his place, both socially and romantically, and is contented. It's no suprise that he packed Roxy in after that as it was an artistic dead end, though he did try refining it with diminishing returns over the following 15 years. It's also no surprise giving his recent background that Frantic is probably his best and most invigorating work since then.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Thursday, 22 January 2004 22:24 (twenty-two years ago)

i need to hear that "frantic" album

my mom inexplicably had "boys and girls" in her collection but has no memory of hearing it or buying it. i liked it but was typically afraid to admit to that.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 23 January 2004 10:21 (twenty-two years ago)

four years pass...

jesus christ, grad school has robbed me of the luxury of spending more than 30 minutes thinking about anything except work. i really miss being able to make extended observations like the one that opens this thread. i think i'll slit my wrists.

― amateurist, Saturday, 23 February 2008 08:25 (eighteen years ago)

No, stay true to life. That's the main thing.

― gershy, Saturday, 23 February 2008 08:47 (eighteen years ago)

Oh my guffing fod. I can't believe this thread came up just now! I was driving home tonight and I saw this street called "Avalon" and I vowed to try to remember to look up the Roxy Music album called that, but I was trying to memorize these other three musical things I'd come across tonight at the same time and then by the time I got home I totally forgot what the 4th thing was and it was Roxy. Thanks ILM! *whew*

― Bimble, Saturday, 23 February 2008 10:34 (eighteen years ago)

ah so that's why amateurist has been so quiet lately

― baaderonixx, Saturday, 23 February 2008 11:30 (eighteen years ago)

jesus christ, grad school has robbed me of the luxury of spending more than 30 minutes thinking about anything except work.

There's a reason I left it.

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 23 February 2008 14:44 (eighteen years ago)

amateurist is wrong about "To Turn You On." Predictable chord sequence, icky sentiment, blah blah blah -- he sings it beautifully, especially the way he enunciates "God help me."

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 23 February 2008 14:52 (eighteen years ago)

I heard avalon on one of the episodes of heroes last night.

― CaptainLorax, Saturday, 23 February 2008 22:26 (eighteen years ago)

Skipping 101 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Wait not phasing, just straight tremolo

― brimstead, Friday, 17 August 2018 22:52 (seven years ago)

Wait not phasing, just straight tremolo

Vibrato? Whatever I'm done sorry

― brimstead, Friday, 17 August 2018 22:52 (seven years ago)

A cross between Phil Manzanera and Ray Manzarek.

― Scottish Country Twerking (Tom D.), Friday, 17 August 2018 23:06 (seven years ago)

I just spent two minutes looking around on the internet trying to figure out whether I somehow missed that Ray Manzarek had played on Avalon before I figured out that it was a typo for Phil Mazanera.

― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 20 August 2018 01:52 (seven years ago)

four months pass...

New tour announced, "playing songs from Avalon plus solo & Roxy Music hits." I don't know what the hell that means. Is he playing all of Avalon, plus solo & Roxy hits? Is he just playing some songs from Avalon, which of course would be also have been covered by "Roxy Music hits?" No idea.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 14 January 2019 16:55 (seven years ago)

Is it a good idea to see him live?

― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 14 January 2019 17:07 (seven years ago)

Is he playing all of Avalon, plus solo & Roxy hits

sounds like it's this

― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Monday, 14 January 2019 17:13 (seven years ago)

He's not bad live, but of course there's not a lot of (any) improvisation and it's all about replicating the albums. He's a pretty weird and compelling performer, though, has good moves and makes funny faces.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 14 January 2019 17:15 (seven years ago)

Thanks, that sounds about all one can expect (he's 73!). Roxy are somewhat heroes of mine and I've never seen him live, but this new tour swings by close to me. I'll probably just go do it. Good moves are underrated.

― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 14 January 2019 17:17 (seven years ago)

and his hair -- well.

― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 14 January 2019 17:18 (seven years ago)

Sign me up for that ravenous coiffure at 73!

― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 14 January 2019 17:23 (seven years ago)

This was his latest full setlist:

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/bryan-ferry/2018/theatro-dasous-thessaloniki-greece-3be988f8.html

The Main Thing
(Roxy Music song)

Slave to Love

Don't Stop the Dance

Ladytron
(Roxy Music song)

Out of the Blue
(Roxy Music song)

Oh Yeah
(Roxy Music song)

Casanova
(Roxy Music song)

Tokyo Joe

Bitter-Sweet
(Roxy Music song)

Windswept

Bête Noire

Zamba

Stronger Through the Years
(Roxy Music song)

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
(Bob Dylan cover)

My Only Love
(Roxy Music song)

In Every Dream Home a Heartache
(Roxy Music song)

If There Is Something
(Roxy Music song)

Re-Make/Re-Model
(Roxy Music song)

More Than This
(Roxy Music song)

Avalon
(Roxy Music song)

Love Is the Drug
(Roxy Music song)

Virginia Plain
(Roxy Music song)

Encore:
Let's Stick Together
(Wilbert Harrison cover)

Jealous Guy
(John Lennon cover)

Editions of You
(Roxy Music song)

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Monday, 14 January 2019 17:24 (seven years ago)

I've seen him three times with increasing delight. He played "Zamba" and "Bete Noire" last time!

― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 14 January 2019 17:25 (seven years ago)

That seals it!

Great setlist too

― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 14 January 2019 17:26 (seven years ago)

Saw him last year, fabulous show. If he ever meant anything to you, absolutely, go!

― composed of atoms just as all posters have been (Dan Peterson), Monday, 14 January 2019 17:41 (seven years ago)

I tried but could not find a way!

― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 14 January 2019 17:44 (seven years ago)

I've seen him three times and Roxy once. They've all been equally good, and while there's nothing revelatory about him live (unlike, say, David Byrne's most recent tour), yeah, if he means something to you, check it out. Which is honestly not something I'd say for just any legacy act.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 14 January 2019 17:49 (seven years ago)

I so wish I could have seen Byrne's recent tour. This isn't that, but it's really good. I never saw Bowie until his final tour in 2014, and now my memories are maybe better than the actual show, which was excellent. And you never know when it'll be your last chance.

xp lol Alfred.

― composed of atoms just as all posters have been (Dan Peterson), Monday, 14 January 2019 18:13 (seven years ago)

Tix ordered, thx guys!

― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 14 January 2019 18:17 (seven years ago)

I never saw Bowie until his final tour in 2014

I sure wish he had such a tour. You mean 2004?

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 14 January 2019 18:23 (seven years ago)

I was in the lobby of the venue when the roadie fell from the rafter in July 2004.

― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 14 January 2019 18:24 (seven years ago)

Bowie final tour 2004, you mean. I saw him that year at MSG, was great. Hard to believe I saw him not long before that opening for Moby on that ill-begotten Area 2 tour.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 14 January 2019 18:25 (seven years ago)

xpost!

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 14 January 2019 18:25 (seven years ago)

Yes, 2004, stupid fingers...

― composed of atoms just as all posters have been (Dan Peterson), Monday, 14 January 2019 18:43 (seven years ago)

that's no way to talk about a dead man

― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 14 January 2019 19:15 (seven years ago)

Stupid Fingers would be a great band name.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 14 January 2019 19:24 (seven years ago)

have consistently missed Ferry and Roxy on all of their tours through the bay area ....I won't miss this one. would be nice if manzanera were on this tour as well.

― akm, Tuesday, 15 January 2019 00:01 (seven years ago)

four months pass...

Tix ordered, thx guys!

― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, January 14, 2019 7:17 PM (four months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

So I saw Ferry's first show of his new European tour on Monday and quite simply: it was a ton of fun! How could it not be when Ferry himself was enjoying it so much? He was so enthused, throwing the audience kisses and just moving about with such swagger all night. His voice isn't what it used to be, that was pretty clear (the first couple of songs he sounded more like Stuart Staples), but that was entirely ok. His backing bank was phenomenal, specifically the drummer and sax player. They were on stage with ten musicians, which I thought was very generous. They ripped through the songs pretty quickly, the bigger hits sometimes only one verse + chorus, but it all made perfect sense and it was just a very tight, lively show, with great sound. We had a blast.

OT: This was by far the concert with the highest average age I've ever went to. I saw people in their 70s taking photos with their ipads :)

― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 22 May 2019 22:34 (seven years ago)

Ha, excellent. Looking forward to August.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 22 May 2019 23:25 (seven years ago)

two weeks pass...

The surround mix of this is glorious.

― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 6 June 2019 02:02 (seven years ago)

two years pass...

The back-to-back sequencing of "To Turn You On" and "True to Life" slays me.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 April 2022 02:24 (four years ago)

It's pretty genius. "To Turn You On" is my secret favorite on the album.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 28 April 2022 02:30 (four years ago)

He never sung again with such unshaded passion; I can see him falling on one knee while singing "God help me!"

The keyboard sound on that track = fireplace simmering.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 April 2022 02:32 (four years ago)

How to make "Or whatever" sound apocalyptic.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 28 April 2022 02:37 (four years ago)

The chord changes and melody on "To Turn You On" make me think he was trying to write a Siren-era song with a 1982 arrangement, it feels a bit out of place on this record.

― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 28 April 2022 03:26 (four years ago)

two years pass...

(it's funny-- all the exotic/ancient-sounding names used by bands at that time, "tara" etc--same conceit as the cover i guess)

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/ta-ra

― @DaftLammy (Tom D.), Wednesday, 11 December 2024 18:13 (one year ago)

Cool but then again, they also ended their second lp with the same lyrical sentiment. (Must've been marking Eno's departure.)

― sawdust lagoon, Wednesday, 11 December 2024 18:33 (one year ago)

"You don't ask why..."

― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 11 December 2024 18:36 (one year ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bwdQIaOtHg

― @DaftLammy (Tom D.), Wednesday, 11 December 2024 18:38 (one year ago)

It’s a reference to the manse in Gone With the Wind is it not?

― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 15 December 2024 14:19 (one year ago)

Works both ways though. Which I'm sure would have been deliberate.

― Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Sunday, 15 December 2024 14:35 (one year ago)

He named one of his sons Tara.

― Kim Kimberly, Sunday, 15 December 2024 16:27 (one year ago)

and a fine lad he is too

https://i.imgur.com/dzPw3sr.jpg

― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 15 December 2024 16:33 (one year ago)

two weeks pass...

turns out i never really listened to avalon before today (1 jan 2025), bcz i "already knew what it sounded like" or some daft shit

anyway despite being half-right abt this i like the way it also quietly hews to eno-esque gestures and micro-techniuques in several songs, while "the main thing" is very much a surprise (and a good one)

― mark s, Wednesday, 1 January 2025 16:43 (one year ago)

That's a sinister little track

― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 1 January 2025 17:33 (one year ago)

Heh, singah’s post is making me revisit this album for the first time in ages.

― James Carr Thief (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 1 January 2025 17:44 (one year ago)

Heard it endlessly when I was young in the 80s, but nothing from the 80s was cool in the 90s so kind of ignored it and beat the 70s albums to death. When I rediscovered it it was like finding an old favorite sweater. Love the reverb, guitar, synths, guitar synth....

― encino morricone (majorairbro), Thursday, 2 January 2025 00:11 (one year ago)

Yeah this was on all the time when I was growing up

― calstars, Thursday, 2 January 2025 01:11 (one year ago)

“The main thing” sounds very current / relevant imo. I bought the 12” recently bc the extended / club version is longer

― ok (D-40), Thursday, 2 January 2025 02:38 (one year ago)

I like what the Voigt bros did with “the main thing” (ymmv)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73sLjt7Hu5g

― brimstead, Thursday, 2 January 2025 03:58 (one year ago)

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