Avalon

From 1975's SIREN through the rest of Roxy Music's albums and his concurrent solo work, Bryan Ferry was leading up to AVALON. The last Roxy Music studio album (it was followed by numerous collections, both live and otherwise), it is the perfect culmination of Ferry's constant striving for the ultimate sophistication. On AVALON, the styles that the band had explored in the past--funk, jazz, and rock--come together to create a texture of remarkable subtlety. The title track is Ferry's finest moment. His suave voice turns the romance all the way up, while the band plays in a smooth, light jazz-funk groove and guitar notes shimmer like the sun on water.
"While My Heart is Still Beating" features Andy Mackay's saxophone drifting in around Phil Manzanera's languid guitar lines. "True to Life", a ballad shot through with reverberation, is the kind of song aching to be played late at night with the lights off. From the almost jaw-dropping elegance of the opening track, "More Than This", to the closing "Tara", a sparse, evocative instrumental, AVALON is Roxy Music's masterpiece.|