Avalon (Half Speed Master) Vinyl LP

Named after King Arthurs final resting place of legend described by Bryan Ferry as the ultimate romantic fantasy theres a kind of poetic justice to the fact that the last Roxy Music studio album became their most successful to date. Summing up its myriad charms in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, critic Mark Coleman wrote of Avalon this austere, beautiful set of songs represents a mature peak and, swathed in Ferrys shimmering keyboards and punctuated by Phil Manzaneras sparing, chiming guitar work and Andy Mackays poetic bursts of sax, Avalon conjures an enigmatic ambience all of its own. Conceptualised to work as a whole piece as opposed to a collection of songs, Avalons individual pieces nevertheless stand up, no more so than on its elegiac title track, the dreamlike While My Heart Is Still Beating and More Than This, which has arguably come to be the bands most popular song of all. Ultimately Avalon is an equal parts album and fantastic reverie.