AVALON

Roxy Music has always appealed to me so much more as live band than on their studio albums, and probably no where more so than here. "Avalon" is an album that frustrates the hell out of me because there is so much potential here. But she is an album killed by production: a dry, lifeless slickness that sucks the passion and energy of these formidable performers right away. This is the music coming out of the little round speakers in the ceiling of your dentist's office as he cleans your teeth. Music that makes you glaze over, music that won't threaten the older ladies chatting away with the receptionist. And it's a real shame because I've seen some of these tracks in their live videos and they do come to life in that setting. Both "Avalon" and "While My Heart is Still Beating" in particular are outstanding pieces of sophisticated art-pop that can be gripping under the right circumstances. But here, alongside the stock beats and the toned down instrumental flourishes that sound like studio musicians bored out of their minds, there is nothing here I can care about. Nothing that grabs me. Nothing more than pure professionalism devoid of any musical vibrancy or magic. Perhaps it's an album Ferry needed to make but it's not the one curious proggers should choose to investigate this great band. I'd suggest watching their live DVDs for the Roxy experience and then dig back through their earlier studio works if you like what you hear. As I read some of almost unanimous 5-star ratings on sites like Amazon and RYM, where people proclaim this a mature masterpiece of romantic pop perfection, I have to say it's completely lost on me. I love many pop albums but even from that perspective "Avalon" is a toothless, disappointing exercise. I struggle to give the second star.

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