Roxy Music - Avalon
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Written By: Moti Kupfer
Release date - 28.05.1982
Phil Manzanera recalled that he and Bryan Ferry went out for coffee and heard a woman singing in a nearby studio. It was a Haitian band recording there, and both of them were immediately stunned by the power of her voice.
It turned out to be singer Yanick Étienne. She did not speak English, so her boyfriend, who managed the band, translated for her. By the following day, she was already contributing her distinctive high vocals to the sessions.
Étienne’s refreshing addition ultimately saved "Avalon", the title track that had already been recorded but still felt incomplete in its original form. Once her voice entered the mix, the song transformed into one of the most unforgettable moments in the catalog of "Roxy Music", taken from "Avalon", the band’s eighth and final studio album, released on May 28, 1982.
In October 1975, "Roxy Music" released their fifth studio album "Siren", completing an especially productive three-year period for the Newcastle band.
One month before the release of the live album "Viva! Roxy Music", the band announced they would be taking a break. The hiatus eventually lasted nearly two and a half years. During that time, punk conquered Britain, while "Roxy Music" became a major influence on both the punk movement and the new wave scene that followed.
The break came to an end in November 1978, when Bryan Ferry, Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay, and drummer Paul Thompson began working on a new album. This second incarnation of the band introduced a noticeably different musical direction, one influenced by disco and aimed at a more commercial sound.
Eventually, the band was reduced to a trio consisting of Ferry, Manzanera, and Mackay, who relied on elite session musicians to help realize their vision. Co-producer Rhett Davies was also in a position to introduce new working methods inspired by his recent collaborations with Brian Eno.
"Roxy Music" had always been accustomed to recording songs live in the studio. Instead, Davies encouraged them to build songs gradually in the studio while recording rhythm tracks first. For the new album, many of those rhythms were created using a Roland CR-78 drum machine, while "Avalon" itself used a Linn drum machine. The entire approach reflected Eno’s philosophy of treating the recording studio itself as a musical instrument.
Phil Manzanera said about the making of the record that nearly 90 percent of the songs on "Avalon" were written in the studio. He explained that the album represented a complete change in the band’s working methods. He also admitted that during the making of their last three albums there were far more drugs around the band, something he described as both positive and negative because it created a strong sense of paranoia.
In a 1989 interview with "Rolling Stone", Manzanera explained that many of the tracks were built out of improvisations in the studio. The band constantly experimented with sounds and studio equipment, often discovering unexpected results by accident that eventually became part of the album’s identity.
The combination of studio-based songwriting and using the studio itself as an instrument had already begun to develop during the sessions for "Flesh and Blood", through the band’s rendition of John Lennon’s "Jealous Guy", and eventually evolved fully into "Avalon".
Work on "Avalon" began at Phil Manzanera’s Gallery Studios in Surrey, England, before the band relocated to "Compass Point Studios" in Nassau, Bahamas, the same studio where "AC/DC" recorded their massively successful album "Back in Black".
Bryan Ferry later said that the tropical location and stormy weather helped shape the melancholic atmosphere that flows throughout the album.
In a 1982 interview published in NME, Ferry explained that he had often imagined creating an album where all the songs were connected in the style of "West Side Story". However, he felt that approach would require too much effort, so instead he decided to connect the ten songs he already had into something resembling a collection of short stories that could almost form a novel.
Ferry also explained the meaning behind the album’s title. In Arthurian legend, "Avalon" is the mystical island where King Arthur is taken after his death. To Ferry, it represented the ultimate romantic fantasy destination.
In February 1982, "Roxy Music" traveled once again, this time to New York’s "Power Station Studios" in order to complete the album. Legendary engineer Bob Clearmountain was brought in to handle the final mix.
The opening track and first single, "More Than This", explores the collapse of a relationship through a tone filled with emotional emptiness and existential despair.
The song, along with the rest of the material on "Avalon", was written while Bryan Ferry was staying in Ireland, a place he later said heavily inspired the album’s calm and atmospheric sound. Ferry explained that listeners naturally connected to the album’s overall mood and its unique sonic character, adding that some of its darker melancholy likely came from the surroundings in which it was written.
The title track "Avalon", released as the album’s second single, also reflected Ferry’s personal life at the time. After more than a decade with "Roxy Music", Ferry was beginning to move away from the chaos of the band in order to settle down with his future wife, Lucy Helmore.
"Avalon" itself is the mythical island from Arthurian legend where King Arthur’s sword, Excalibur, was forged, and where Arthur was taken after being mortally wounded at the Battle of Camlann. The song later became especially memorable through a famous scene in the television series "Moonlighting", where detective David Addison, played by Bruce Willis, falls in love at first sight with a mysterious woman portrayed by Demi Moore, who was Willis’ wife at the time.
The album cover was designed by graphic designer Peter Saville and featured Ferry’s girlfriend, and future wife, Lucy Helmore. The photograph was taken by photographer Neil Kirk at dawn, showing a cloaked figure wearing a medieval-style helmet while standing with their back turned toward the water.
"Avalon" ultimately became the most successful album in the history of "Roxy Music". It remained at number one on the UK Albums Chart for three consecutive weeks and stayed on the chart for an entire year.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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