Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Roxy Music Available Now

The best British original Super De Luxe pressings of Avalon are sweet and silky, big and lively, with the kind of sound that drives us audiophiles wild — which of course is the main reason this album was on Extra Heavy Rotation at most stereo stores back in the day.

It’s records like this that get people (otherwise known as audiophiles) to spend wads and wads of money in pursuit of expensive analog equipment good enough to bring this wonderful music to life.

This album rewards a stereo with the qualities that audiophiles prize most highly when selecting equipment — spaciousness, transparency, clarity, detail, depth, soundstaging, speed, high frequency extension, and the like. Those qualities are important but not enough for big speaker rock and roll guys like us here at Better Records, but on this record they are key to reproducing the best of what Avalon has to offer.

We would add to that list presence and energy, along with warmth, fullness and lack of smear on the transients. Whomp and rock and roll power do not seem to play much part in separating the best from the rest, although it’s nice when the bottom end is big and solid.

That said, the copies that are exceptionally open, clear and big are the ones that do a better job of presenting this music the way we think it was meant to be heard.

The mix is as dense as any we know. Only the best copies have the ability to show you everything that’s on the tape. Credit must go to the amazingly talented Rhett Davies for creating the space in which so many instruments and sounds can fit comfortably.

What to Listen for — The Title Track

The marvelous female vocalist Yanick Etienne, who sings so beautifully at the end of the title song, is standing in her own space at about the 10 o’clock position in the soundfield. At moderate levels she sounds very small and distant, but turn up your volume and she really starts to take on the attributes of a full-size, real, live person standing just to the left and back a bit from the main proceedings.

This level may be too loud on other songs; we noticed that Ferry’s vocals are very high up in the mixes as a rule, on the first track especially if I recall correctly, and at louder volumes — the ones we like to listen at — he’s going to get too hot.

It’s a bit of a balancing act to find the right level for the music, but as loud as you can stand Ferry singing is probably a good place to start.

Only the most transparent copies will have you “seeing” Miss Etienne at the end of the song. Click on The Making of Avalon to read the story of how the album and her contribution to it came about.

My Story

I’ve been a giant Roxy Music fan since 1975. Rolling Stone gave Siren a rave review that year, and I went right out and bought myself a copy on their say-so. I then proceeded to play it every day. This went on for weeks. I’m a bit obsessive that way. (Being obsessive is extremely helpful if you have a desire to excel in audio. It may in fact be the most important of them all.)

I consider them to be one of the greatest art rock bands in the history of the world. The general public and probably most audiophiles would surely cast their vote for Avalon as the band’s masterpiece. I much prefer their eponymous first album, Stranded, Country Life and Siren to the more “accessible” music found on Avalon. To be fair, that’s splitting hairs, because any of those five titles are absolute Must Own Albums that belong in any serious popular music collection.