New Bryan Ferry album "Avonmore" to be released in November 2014

On my second listen now. Another classic IMO.

 

Yes, I think you're right about Mr. F's mood. He's never been the happiest of bunnies (inflatable doll, lover ungrateful) and yes it would be nice if we could hear him.

 

I first felt this sense of sadness, detachment and aging all the way back to Country Life's A Really Good Time. I hear that track as the weary advice of an aging man to someone he sees as a younger version of himself. The line "Listen to me/I'm not finished yet" feels like he's drunk at a bar, trying to give advice to someone who's trying to politely leave the conversation. Avalon's To Turn You On feels like he's in love with someone who has other, better (younger?) romantic prospects. That song really, really hit home with me after 20+ years of listening when I fell for someone considerably younger (lucky for me, I somehow convinced her to marry me )

I agree completely that this album is the most intense expression of this. I've been gradually peeling away the layers, and I'm seeing the same thing you are. His best since Mamouna (which some people think is just OK. Those people are wrong )

 

This felt a bit funny to me too, so I've swapped "Lost" (which felt like it should be closer to the end) and "Send in the Clowns" on my iPod.

 

I quite like this effort for 2 listens ....

 

Since I got this I've been playing it constantly, the Endless River seems to have ended, at least for me.
I wasn't expecting great things but Avonmore is a really surprising collection of songs from him, considering how late it is in his career. It's quietly becoming a masterpiece for me.

 

Pretty cheap on cd at Amazon - $7.99 :

http://www.amazon.com/Avonmore-Brya...16610996&sr=1-1&keywords=bryan+ferry+avonmore

 

While I agree that it's somewhat odd that two covers close the album, "Johnny and Mary" just SOUNDS like a Ferry album closer to me, similar in scope to the similarly grandiose "Boys and Girls" and "Bete Noire." All in all, I quite like this album, much more than Olympia, which I also thought was pretty great. I feel he really brings out the polyrhythmic funk AND the atmospheric moodiness on this album. Plus, this album does sound a little less brickwalled than its predecessor.

His best since Mamouna, IMO.

 

It's the closing track that does it for me. It could have been a Ferry track unless you knew otherwise. The moment when that piano ripples in. It's the best track to close the album and (for me) one of the best in his whole career - while obviously aware that it's a Robert Palmer cover.

 

I have to agree with those who are saying it's his best album since Mamouna (which is easily my favorite of his solo albums). The title track is particularly brilliant, and I even think the covers are outstanding, closing out the album in a grand way (albeit not quite on the level of the stunning "I Thought"). Has anyone else noticed that the opening track is virtually a remake of Mamouna's "NYC," though?

 

Nah Olympia was pretty good too..as time goes by was superb, you can't ignore all those albums.

 

I like Olympia, but I don't think it's on the same level as this or Mamouna. As Time Goes By is stellar, though. And while Ferry's song choices reveal something about himself, Mamouna and Avonmore are statements created from scratch.

Of course, I also liked Dylanesque

 

Not ignoring them--I just don't enjoy either nearly as much as Mamouna or Avonmore. We all have different tastes.

 

I'm not talking about personal tastes, Olympia was a kind of groundbreaking record for Ferry, pretty relevant regarding sound, not my favorite though, Avonmore is kind of Olympia "second part", but between those 3 i think my fav is Avonmore.

LOL i still remember when i bought Mamouna in 1994... i knew Roxy Music and this was gonna be my first Ferry album so i didn't know where to go....i chose this album ONLY becuase of the cover and the colors and of course it was the latest at the time.....

 

The more I play Avonmore, the more I love it. And, despite my initial misgivings about the prospect of him covering Send In The Clowns, I have come to love that too.


I just came across this link to download a fantastic remix of Loop De Li on Bryan Ferry's Facebook page:

https://soundcloud.com/bryanferry/loop-di-li-leo-zero-remix

 

Two things I don't like about Avonmore.

'Lost' is way too short for such a great piece. It's over before it's really begun.

At seventy, he should stop whining about not falling in love again. If I could have even met half the women he's probably nailed, I could die a happy man. To quote a cricket phrase, 'He had a good inning.'

Regards

 

You're not alone, I love Dylanesque; Ferry is a brilliant interpreter.

In fact I can't think of a Ferry Dylan cover that I don't like, and I'll go even further and say that I like them all much more than Dylan's originals.

 

Ok, I gave this a proper listen. Its a really good album. Great depth in the production and the songs are strong too. Avonmore is a brilliant track, and a fitting title for the album. Possibly his best since Bete Noir.

However...

I'm still not a fan of this... 'whispering thing' he's doing with the vocals. I'd love to hear him sing the way he did on say... Bete Noir. But the style of vocal he's adopting is maybe just not to my preference. Its is a great album though. I just feel that the quiet parts of the singing dont have any effect because there's no volume on the vocal elsewhere to contrast it.

It's like... the groove armada version of 'Shameless' I preferred to the version on Olympia. Cant quite put my finger on why.

 

Perhaps its the 'affliction' of the hopeless romantic. Always hoping for the perfect romance?


Yeah, I'm sure Mr F has wrangled a fair bit of very desirable 'tail' Que sera, sera....

 

I agree with you about "Lost." But falling in love is Ferry's main obsession. And now it appears that obsession has faded to an understandable (but for Ferry, unbearable) end. What should he be singing about? "Will the nurse turn me over when the bedsores are bad?" "How are my retirement funds maturing?" "Who's gonna stand up and save the earth?" I find his despair painfully compelling.

 

Excellelent post!

 

Even though I'm the one who opened this thread, I waited a bit to check it out, because I wanted to take a listen to the album without being influenced. Now that I did, I'm gonna check out each one of your posts. Meanwhile, if you feel like it, here's my review (in Italian).

I'm not sure Google Translator works that well, so basically here's what I wrote about the album:

There are some artists that release their albums once they are ready, while others wait until the recorded material is not until a certain standard. Bryan Ferry is among those others, and judging from the list of musicians (including Flea on one track), I suspect there is material that was started during the "Olympia" sessions. At this point of his carreer, Bryan Ferry isn't looking for a new sound anymore, so those who were expecting a radical change from "Olympia" are going to be disappointed. This, of course, doesn't mean that Ferry is not capable of offering something new in his new-style or that he can't still improve his own songwriting. In fact, I do think that "Avonmore" is a superior album compared to "Olympia", because it sounds like it does have more direction, with most of the material sounding good as a stand-alone and in the context of the album. The only two songs for which I object their sequence are the last two tracks, the two covers. Not that they are bad, but I would have liked "Send in the Clowns" earlier in the album, and "Johnny and Mary" looks like a bonus track more than a real colsing number, probably because of the different production, due to the fact that it was first thought for another project. The new material is much better. "Loop De Li" and "One Night Stand" sound like they could have come out from something like "Bete Noire", and they are 100% Ferry, something he only could have written. "Driving me Wild" and "Midnight Train" are more on line with what we heard on "Olympia": modern arrangment, a typical product of 2010s, but still not centred enough to sound dated in some years. "A Special Kind of Guy" and "Lost" are numbers in which we hear Ferry the crooner, and he's at his best. A special mention is deserved for the Marr penned "Soldier of Fortune", an exquisite track with a spot on arrangment, and the title-cut, one of Ferry's best songs of his last years: energic, catchy and not obvious.

So, in short, you can't expect a masterpiece. "Avonmore" is not Ferry's best album and, if Ferry releases more albums, you can't expect the next ones to be the peak of his carreer. Anyway, Ferry's quality standard is still very high and, for what is worth, I like this album a lot more than "Olympia". Also, while Ferry has already extabilished his carreer path, he's one of the few artists who question himself. His voice is not the vibrating one from the first Roxy Music albums, nor the enchanting crooner that we heard on "Boys and Girls". Yet, this new material is written with that in mind, so he still sound as great in this new context. So, even if "Avonmore" is not groundbreaking, it's still a quite original and coherent album, which I think will very much satisfy even the old-time fan. If this is going to be Bryan's last album, then his carreer would end in a very elengant, charming and dignified way.

 

I hear Dylanesque get bashed constantly, glad to see someone else appreciates it. And I 100% agree with you. Dylan's one of those people I respect, but don't love. I invariably like interpretations more than his originals.

That's not how love works, which is the great irony of his work in general. Freddie Mercury could have virtually any man or woman he wanted (just to head this one off at the pass, he was bisexual.) But he was extremely unhappy.

"I've become bitter. I just don't trust anybody because I've been let down so many times. Success has brought me millions of pounds, and worldwide adulation, but not the thing we all need: a loving relationship. You can be loved by so many thousands of people, yet still be the loneliest person."

Ferry obviously got laid constantly. So?

As hard as losing at love is, looking back at your life and realizing you will most likely die before you feel love again...that's got to be excruciating.

His opening salvo to the world, Remake/Remodel:

I tried but I could not find a way
Looking back all I did was look away
Next time is the best time we all know
But if there is no next time where to go?

She's the sweetest queen I've ever seen
(CPL593H)
See here she comes, see what I mean?
(CPL593H)
I could talk talk talk, talk myself to death
But I believe I would only waste my breath.

He's been the tragic playboy for literally his entire career. And as the end of his life draws ever closer, he's back to where he started.

Next time is the best time we all know/But if there is no next time where to go?

At 70, there will almost certainly be no next time.

 

Freddie Mercury was 100% gay for most of his adult life. He had one relationship with a women, Mary Austin, who remained his close friend until his death, every single relationship after this one (and there were many) was with a man.
Furthermore I do not think that Freddie was extremely unhappy, certainly not in the last few years of his life which he spent with his partner Jim.
I do agree with what you are saying though about love and ageing etc
I am loving the sound of this album from the posts on this thread, it sounds almost like a cross between Leonard Cohen and maybe an Eno ambient album.

 

Fair enough, I was essentially saying that Freddie could have anyone he wanted, male or female. Also, I was responding to the sentiment that people shouldn't feel regret if they've lost at love just because they had a lot of sex. Freddie may well have been happy towards the end (obviously, I sincerely hope he was,) but it looks like that may not be the case with Ferry.

And yeah, brilliant record