Avalon (1982)

I briefly thought about growing up and then I decided against it but my love for cornball sophistipop remained. I actually think it's easier to enjoy records like Avalon when you can't/don't want to relate to its make-out yuppie demographic. There's an unusual atmosphere hanging over Avalon and that's probably thanks to the cover- Wanderer above the Sea of Fog for white-collar Romantics divided in regard to what the mythical Avalon means to their white-collar Romantic contemporaries: the end of the colonial dream and the beginning of world music, the return of the colonial dream, or an allusion to Ferry's bedroom out of the spotlight. The best song's the opener which is even more obvious than the title track- Ferry throws every archetypal Romantic image he can at you BUT OH WAIT it's all in past-tense, and allegedly that's all there is- the beauty of times gone by. Pessimistic end-of-an-era vibes, optimistic end-of-an-era messages, or Ferry getting horny and reading 19th Century poetry? I can't tell, and that doesn't really bother me. His croons are some of the best in cornball sophistipop, his moods are darkly seductive (no homo), and the synths which permeate every sound are at the point of atmospheric which occurs just before tacky. Actually my favourite Roxy Music album

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