Released on 17 November 2014 "Avonmore" was the 15th., studio album by English singer Bryan Ferry, it was his first collection of new songs in nearly four years back then, the album spawned the single "Loop De Li".
Ferry enlisted the help of an all-star cast of players and producers—Todd Terje, Nile Rodgers, Johnny Marr, Flea, Ronnie Spector, Mark Knopfler, and Maceo Parker. Curiously, most of the special guests are all but invisible on Avonmore, their presence muted by Ferry’s unmistakable voice and the lush production. Ferry has become known increasingly for his impeccable covers, it’s refreshing that Avonmore is comprised almost exclusively of original material, most of which hearkens back to his most classic sounds.
The album has a 1980s sound and touch, indeed some of the tracks could have drifted off of one of Ferry’s mid-'80s solo records. There are two great track " Loop de Li" and "Midnight Train" these two complete with tastefully employed chimes and a smattering of low key horns, both are dark and romantic with the kind of breathless quality that only Ferry can offer.
The track "A Special Kind of Guy" is so intensely Ferry-ish
that it borders on parody, Ferry
manages to sell it perfectly almost every time. Avonmore flounders when the music, which routinely flirts with a kind of adult
contemporary smoothness, leans over into blandness. Co-written by Johnny
Marr, "Soldier of Fortune" would be forgettable were it not for Ferry’s
tremulous voice, "Driving Me Wild" and "Lost", are fine, while "One Night Stand" mines
'80s tropes in the worst possible way—honking sax, a chorus of sassed up
backup singers, and an un-funky Ferryon vocals.
There are two covers on Avonmore provide some of the weirdest surprises. Stephen Sondheim’s "Send in the Clowns" could have been rendered as a bit of grandly devastating melodrama, but instead gets mostly buried under a load of damp electronica. While it’s admirable that Ferry might give the venerable bit of camp a modern spin, the end result is something limp and mostly drama-free. He has more success with his cover of Robert Palmer’s "Johnny and Mary"—a collaboration with Norwegian producer Todd Terje. It’s one of the album’s most gorgeous moments, a melancholic ode to romantic ennui that actually allows Ferry to sound his age.
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