Roxy Music - Avalon
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On this episode, we dive into the last album by the highly influential band, Roxy Music, 1982’s Avalon. Avalon was free of the experimentations found on the group's earlier records. The synthesizers are more atmospheric and provide the bed where the other instruments can find space and be heard. Sonically, it is beautiful, and the musicianship and recording are first-rate. Roxy Music, now down to a trio of Bryan Ferry (keyboards and vocals), Phil Manzanera (guitar), and Andy Mackay (saxophone) are augmented by over a dozen supporting musicians. The album is as influential as anything the band ever did, and its fingerprints are all over the New Romantic movement of the early 80s. The songs are full, at times propulsive, and even danceable at times, though it is probably not an album to play while you're drinking beers with your buddies.
THINGS WE DISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODE
The original Roxy Music lineup in all its glory (Picture L to R) Phil Manzenera, Bryan Ferry, Andy McKay, Brian Eno, Graham Simpson, and Paul Thompson.
Watch Roxy Music perform “Virginia Plain” - a Top 10 single in the UK - on Top of the Pops in 1972.
Here is a picture of the VCS3 (short for Voltage Controlled Studio, version #3). It is a portable analog synthesizer introduced by Electronic Music Studios Limited (EMS) in 1969.
The VCS3 was popular among progressive rock bands in the 1970s, including King Crimson and Pink Floyd. It was instrumental to Roxy Music’s early sound.
Here’s a pretty great video of a live performance of “Ladytron” on The Old Grey Whistle Test also in 1972.
Watch the video for “More Than This,” which received considerable airplay on early MTV.
Here is the video for the title track off of Avalon. It was directed by Ridley Scott, who had directed Alien and Blade Runner by this time.
