The final studio album from Roxy Music was a remarkable bookend to its start, its crazed sprawl at birth turned into such a monument of taste, easy listening and late night listening for moodily romantic situations that Avalon pretty much became an instant classic in its own right. Little surprise given the honed precision of everyone’s playing throughout, Bryan Ferry, Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay and company delivering up a series of songs that bespeak an adult elegance without apology or irony, with singles like “More Than This” and the title track merely the most well known examples.

– Ned Raggett