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Avonmore (album)

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Avonmore
Studio album by
Bryan Ferry
Released17 November 2014
GenreArt pop, sophisti-pop
Length43:21
LabelBMG Rights Management
ProducerBryan Ferry, Rhett Davies, Johnson Somerset, Todd Terje
Bryan Ferry chronology
The Jazz Age
(2012) 		Avonmore
(2014) 		Bitter-Sweet
(2018)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
The Guardian[2]
Pitchfork Media(6.7/10)[3]
PopMatters(8/10)[4]
Rolling Stone[5]

Avonmore is the fifteenth studio album by English singer Bryan Ferry, released in the United Kingdom on 17 November 2014.[6]

Background

The title of the album was named after the location of Ferry's studio in London where it was recorded.[7] The album was announced on 23 September 2014 with a preview of the song "Loop De Li".[8] The album was produced by Ferry with long-term collaborator Rhett Davies, who has produced several albums for Ferry and Roxy Music. The album also features Ferry regulars such as Fonzi Thornton, Nile Rodgers, Marcus Miller, and Johnny Marr (who co-wrote the track "Soldier of Fortune"). The album includes two cover versions, a rendition of Stephen Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns" and a version of "Johnny and Mary", originally by Robert Palmer. The latter track was a collaboration with the Norwegian DJ/producer Todd Terje and first appeared on Terje's album It's Album Time which was released earlier in 2014.

Avonmore peaked at number 19 on the UK Albums Chart, and number 72 on the US Billboard 200.

Critical reception

Reception of the album was generally positive. In a four-out-of-five-stars review, AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that "this is Ferry's prime, a moment when his legacy was intact but yet to be preserved in amber" and that the album "consciously evokes this distinct period, sometimes sighing into the exquisite ennui of Avalon but usually favouring the fine tailoring of Boys and Girls, a record where every sequenced rhythm, keyboard, and guitar line blended into an alluring urbane pulse" and that "the songs are what makes this record something more than a fling".[9] PopMatters critic John Paul wrote that the album "functions as a well-deserved victory lap for both Ferry and those he’s assembled, triumphantly returning to relevance and reminding listeners he’s been doing this since the '70s. It's just taken this long for the mainstream to catch up with where he's been all along".[10] Writer T. Cole Rachel from Pitchfork was less positive, giving the album 6.7 out of 10, writing that the album, in places, "flounders when the music, which routinely flirts with a kind of adult contemporary smoothness, leans over into blandness" and stating that "Ferry's well-documented good taste is both an asset and possibly a curse" and concluding that the record is "a fine addition to Bryan Ferry's oeuvre, if not necessarily a terribly challenging one".[11]

Special edition

On 29 October 2015 Ferry announced the release of the a special edition package of Avonmore, containing the album on vinyl and CD, along with a 48-page book of photos by photographer Matthew Becker.[12]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Loop De Li"FerryFerry, Davies, Somerset4:18
2."Midnight Train"FerryFerry, Davies, Somerset3:49
3."Soldier of Fortune"Ferry, Johnny MarrFerry, Davies4:25
4."Driving Me Wild"FerryFerry, Davies3:37
5."A Special Kind of Guy"FerryFerry, Davies3:14
6."Avonmore"Ferry, Oliver ThompsonFerry, Davies5:13
7."Lost"FerryFerry, Davies2:47
8."One Night Stand"FerryFerry, Davies, Somerset5:05
9."Send in the Clowns"Stephen SondheimFerry, Davies4:02
10."Johnny and Mary"Robert PalmerTodd Terje6:47
Total length:43:15

Personnel

Production

  • Alistair Norbury – management
  • Johnny Dewe Mathews – cover photography
  • Neil Kirk – inner sleeve photography
  • Michael Knight – design
  • Jono Patrick – digital artwork

Charts

Chart (2014) Peak
position
French Albums (SNEP)[13] 63
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[14] 23
Italian Albums (FIMI)[15] 71
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[16] 19
UK Albums (OCC)[17] 19
US Billboard 200[18] 72

References

  1. ^ AllMusic review
  2. ^ The Guardian (review)
  3. ^ Pitchfork Media review
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ Rolling Stone review
  6. ^ Bryan Ferry Official Site (Avonmore)
  7. ^ Bryan Ferry on Later... with Jools Holland. BBC Television. (7 November 2014)
  8. ^ YouTube (Bryan Ferry - "Loop De Li")
  9. ^ Allmusic review
  10. ^ [2]
  11. ^ Pitchfork Media review
  12. ^ "Avonmore Deluxe Edition". Roxy Music. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  13. ^ "Lescharts.com – Bryan Ferry – Avonmore". Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  14. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Bryan Ferry – Avonmore" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  15. ^ "Artisti - Classifica settimanale WK 47 (dal 17-11-2014 al 23-11-2014)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  16. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Bryan Ferry – Avonmore". Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  17. ^ "Bryan Ferry | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  18. ^ "Bryan Ferry Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
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