Avalon (Roxy Music album)
| Avalon | ||||
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| Studio album by Roxy Music | ||||
| Released | June 1, 1982 (US Release) (LP) September 1983 (CD) |
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| Recorded | 1981–1982 | |||
| Studio | Compass Point Studios, Nassau; The Power Station, Manhattan, New York | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 37:31 | |||
| Label | E.G. Records/Polydor | |||
| Producer | Rhett Davies and Roxy Music | |||
| Roxy Music chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Avalon | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  |
| Pitchfork Media | 8.0/10 |
| Rolling Stone |  |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |  |
| Smash Hits | 8/10 |
| The Village Voice | A− |
Avalon is the eighth and final studio album by English rock band Roxy Music. Released in May 1982, it was recorded in 1981–82 at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, and is generally regarded as the culmination of the smoother, more adult-oriented sound of the band's later work. It was the band's most successful studio album, reaching No. 1 in the UK (for 3 weeks) and staying on the album charts for over a year. Although it only peaked at No. 53 in the United States, Avalon endured as a sleeper hit and became the band's only million-selling record in that country, ultimately receiving a RIAA platinum certification.
A single, "More Than This", preceded the album and was a Top 10 hit in Britain, Australia, and several European countries. The title track was released as the album's second single and also became a UK Top 20 hit. A third extract, "Take a Chance With Me", with a remixed version of album track "The Main Thing" on the B-side, reached the UK Top 30 and was Roxy Music's last UK hit single to date. Both "More Than This" (No. 103) and "Take a Chance With Me" (No. 104) performed relatively well in the United States, narrowly missing the American Top 100.
Bryan Ferry started working on the material for Avalon while staying at Crumlin Lodge on the west coast of Ireland. Ferry was there with his girlfriend, Lucy Helmore, who would become his wife in 1983. The album cover artwork featured the same lake that can be seen from the lodge. Phil Manzanera has said about the making of the record "By the time you get to Avalon, 90 per cent of it was being written in the studio. That album was a product of completely changing our working methods," adding "for the last three albums, quite frankly, there were a lot more drugs around as well, which was good and bad. It created a lot of paranoia and a lot of spaced-out stuff." Bryan Ferry said "I've often thought I should do an album where the songs are all bound together in the style of West Side Story, but it's always seemed like too much bother to work that way. So instead, I have these 10 poems, or short stories, that could, with a bit more work, be fashioned into a novel. Avalon is part of the King Arthur legend and is a very romantic thing, when King Arthur dies, the Queens ferry him off to Avalon, which is sort of an enchanted island. It's the ultimate romantic fantasy place.”
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Wikipedia