The Musical Box

Welcome to a new feature we’re planning for every Saturday here at The Musical Box from now until Labor Day weekend. It’s called simply the Summer Album of the Week - a chance to briefly celebrate a great pop/rock recording released during the summers of yore, be it last year or decades ago.

Our entries each week will reflect an album released during the corresponding month - meaning records issued in May will be written about in May and so on. But after that, we toss chronology out the window. We might feature a 2002 album one week and a gem from 1966 the next. It’s all intended to simply expand the notion of what is commonly viewed as “summer music” and recall (and maybe even re-introduce) sounds that helped fuel the fun in the sun of summers past.

We lead off with a beaut:

roxy music: avalon (released may 1982)

From its cover art work of some Nordic lord surveying an inverted horizon (clouds are the ocean, the ocean is the sky) to the gorgeous dark elegance of its immensely rhythmc tunes, Avalon is where British art rock fave Roxy Music grew up. All of its trademark sounds are still there: Phil Manzanera’s chiming guitar, Andy MacKay’s woodwind punctuations and, of course, the hapless crooning of Bryan Ferry. But add discreet keyboard and percussion orchestration along with a landmark mix by Bob Clearmountain that makes Roxy sound royal and you have a true vanguard record. When faced with the daunting task of a producing followup to Avalon, Ferry and Roxy did what any honestly discerning pop troupe band would do. They broke up.