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By
The Pop Mechanic
When the rightround staff decided to do a "featured songs" column on make-out music, no fewer than six people immediately blurted out the title of Roxy Music's final studio album.
I've never analyzed Avalon before — whenever it comes on, I always seem to be thinking about other stuff. But now, fist wrapped around a stiff cup of coffee, I'm listening to it as I seldom have: sober and dispassionately.
It's not new, and it's not indie, but it's still one of the sexiest records money can buy. Here's why:
- Avalon is one of the most immersive recordings ever. The producers and engineers made brilliant use of the stereo field. You don't so much listen to this album as soak in it.
- It's repetitious. And not. The grooves are smooth and continuous, with no sudden stops, starts, or shifts. Track-to-track tempo changes are modest. Yet there's an incredible amount of textural detail swirling among those easy-rolling rhythms. It maintains a steady groove while advancing from base to base (no doubt mirroring your own progress).
- There are no sharp edges. Take "More Than This," the sublime opening track. Its guitars are burnished with chorusing. The sly Latin percussion is lubed with reverb. The suave filter-synced synths deftly sidestep period kitsch. The low end pulsates, while the highs are silky-soft. (Amazing, considering the disc dates from 1982, the height of the icepick-treble era.) Even the sax works, and everyone knows that sax is a libido toxin on pretty much any pop record post-1965.
- It's the most effortlessly sexy vocal performance of Bryan Ferry's effortlessly sexy career.
- Avalon sounds good when you're high, and makes you feel high when you're not.
Better stop here, before we compromise our dispassionate sobriety.
Posted November 2006
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