AVALON

By the end of the 70ties, Roxy had shifted from art rock to pop music of mostly high standards. Avalon is a collection of easy listening, accessible and smooth songs that are nevertheless very well crafted, memorable and emotional. As much as I hated this in 1982, time has been gentle with it. And as it turned out, I would now say Roxy were still relevant and fresh so late in their career. They sure set the standard for how to write classic pop material.

The stumbling block for me is the polished sound that is so glossy and clean that everything has lost most of its edge. Also the fact that they ran out of ideas by the end of the album doesn't help, I'm usually losing my interest by the time the album is halfway through. There are strong highlights though. Next to the well known hits, there is The Space Between, a song that could have featured on a Japan album, Heart Still Beating and The Main Thing. Also True To Life is a graceful song but it sits amidst a number of drowsy tunes that make it hard to get so far into the album.

All in all, not an overwhelming but still a graceful end to the Roxy studio chapter. 2.5 stars