AVALON

After reuniting for the rather limp Manifesto and Flesh + Blood, Roxy Music regrouped and reimagined themselves for this glorious swansong. The secret to the band getting their groove back was that they realised that the New Romantic crowd were a) looking back to the classic era of Roxy Music for inspiration and b) coming up with some damn fine ideas themselves.

In a way, Avalon is a sort of surrender - Bryan Ferry and his Knights of the Roxy Table passing on the sword to a new generation by embracing that generation's aesthetic and the smooth sophisti-pop tones whilst still creating a space for Ferry's emotive lyrics, Manzanera's guitar work (which is more complex and intricate on this album than you might imagine at a first listen, and Andy Mackay's soulful sax.

It's delicious enough on first listen, but both in the context of Roxy's own discography and the sophisti-synthpop sounds of the time, it risks coming across as rather overpolished and tamed - Roxy Music dancing to someone else's beat rather than blazing their own trail as they had from their debut up to Siren. They just about manage to avoid that trap, with classics like Avalon or More Than This being impossible to imagine anyone other than Roxy Music producing, but it's not quite on the level of their magnificent early work. It's not an absolutely classic send-off, but it's the best exit they could have made at the time.