Avalon by Roxy Music: Album Review

There are very few albums I've listened to where I've enjoyed every single song contained with them. There are plenty where I like a few songs, or half of them, or maybe all but one or two. But every single song? That's rare.

For a while, in fact, I only had one. It’s an album steeped in personal nostalgia (i.e. the kind I specifically avoided writing about in this post), so that probably played a large role. But in the UK, it reached number one and stayed there for quite a while, while the three singles from the album also charted well. It fared worse in the US, reaching number 53 with the singles missing the top 100, but it was certified platinum.

When it comes to external sources in my posts, I tend to lean exclusively on chart statistics. However, for an album that I claim is good from start to finish, I felt the need to find more sources to justify my claims, and let's just say that I didn’t quite find what I was expecting. For an album that is the most complete, well-rounded album I've personally come across, other reviews were not as kind.

That’s not to say they were negative, but I encountered words like “boring” and “lifeless,” which would have never once even crossed my mind. The general sentiment seems to be that the album was good, but many people were upset with the direction the band took since their edgier, chaotic beginnings. Admittedly, this album was my introduction to the band, so I have nothing to say about their trajectory up until that point or how I feel about it.

I guess I should stop beating around the bush and actually name the album, even though it’s listed in the title. The album is called Avalon, and it’s the final studio album released by the British band Roxy Music.

Avalon is an album that, for me, is strongly intertwined with childhood memories of playing outside in the snow for hours and coming inside to be greeted by dinner being prepared, while this album played in the background. Even once I began actively listening to music, I didn’t return to Roxy Music for a long time. I always remembered the band fondly, but I guess I was too busy exploring other genres to give them much thought.

I finally decided to go back and give the whole album a listen a few years ago, and I was blown away. There was not one song that I wanted to skip, not one that bored me. That was something I had never experienced before. There are very, very few instrumental tracks I enjoy. This album has two, and I was surprised by how deliberate they felt and how much I actually liked them. All of this made me decide that Avalon was my favorite album.

Since then, I have never listened to Avalon all the way through again. I probably should have done this before reading other reviews on it, but listening to it back again now...I kind of understand where these claims of boredom come from. I still love the album and every song on it, but I have to recognize the sheer power of sentimentality that’s at play here. To those without personal memories involving Avalon or Roxy Music (which is most people, I'd imagine), songs like “While My Heart Is Still Beating” and “True To Life” can seem monotonous and unexciting. The ambiance provided by the instrumentals, “India” and “Tara,” isn’t for everyone. A lot of the songs on the album need a bit of time to really get going, and if the buildups aren’t interesting to someone, the wait might not be worth it.

That’s all the negativity I can get out about Avalon, though. Even if I’ve come to understand why people don’t put it up on the same pedestal I do, I still have no reason to take it down from there. Perhaps it's the fact that I was introduced to this album when I really had no knowledge of any music other than “American Pie” by Don McLean and “Soak Up The Sun” by Sheryl Crow (which I had often heard on the radio when I was younger), but for me, Avalon is in a realm of its own. The most common description I’ve seen for its genre is sophisti-pop, and that’s the best one, I think. In fact, if I had to describe the album in one word, it would be “sophisticated.” The music, the attitude, and the atmosphere feel polished and classy, while avoiding any semblance of pretentiousness.

Songs like “More Than This” and “Avalon” manage to somehow feel grandiose and relaxing at the same time. “The Space Between” provides the album with a disco/funk sound. “The Main Thing” is full of life with its pulsing instrumentals. “Take A Chance With Me” takes almost a whole minute to get past the introduction, but both the buildup and payoff make the song my favorite on the album.

I don’t think I would consider Avalon my favorite album anymore, but it is definitely up there and still one of the most complete albums, if not the most complete album I’ve come across.