Bryan Ferry Unveils His Personal Art Collection.

 

Bryan Ferry's art collection has gone on display at the London International Fine Art Fair, London’s oldest and largest summer international fine art and antiques fair, and will run through June 13. 

The exhibition, called Modern British Masters: Pictures from the Bryan Ferry Collection, is the first showing of the singer's personal collection of early modern British art which includes works by Walter Sickert, Augustus John, Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell, and Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson. 

Ferry said he has collected his art over a long period of time but that "his most intense phase of buying was during the 1980s, when he was at the height of his musical fame with the release of the hit 1985 album Boys and Girls." 

The former art student said: "They seem to suit the house I have in Sussex. If I lived in a Manhattan apartment I suppose I might have collected more contemporary things, but as it is my house is Victorian/Edwardian so much of it is modern British. I thought I would specialise." 

Ferry is currently putting the finishing touches on his first solo album in eight years which is set to be released in September, and this summer will go on tour with the Roxy Music line-up of Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay, and Paul Thompson. All the details can be found at bryanferry.com. 

Photo: REX via telegraph.co.uk 

Quotes: guardian.co.uk

Happy 25th Birthday Avalon.

Released in the summer of 1982, Avalon was Roxy Music's eighth studio album and is generally regarded as the culmination of the smoother, more adult-oriented sound of the band's later work. It was a huge commercial success, hitting #1 in the UK and staying on the album charts for over a year. Avalon was the band's only platinum record in the US.

Continuing a Roxy Music tradition, Bryan Ferry's girlfriend Lucy Helmore appeared on the cover wearing a medieval helmet and carrying a falcon. The image evoked King Arthur's last journey to the mysterious land of Avalon. The lush arrangements and synthesizer drenched sound of Avalon later found its way onto Ferry's solo follow-up album Boys and Girls.

The single, "More Than This," preceded the album and was a Top 10 hit in Britain, Australia, and most European countries. "More Than This" is unusual for a pop song in that Ferry's vocal ends at 2:45 minutes, leaving the last 1:45 minutes as a synth-driven instrumental. It has since become regarded as a classic Roxy Music song.

The title track was released as the album's second single and also became a UK Top 20 hit. A third extract, "Take A Chance With Me," with a remixed version of album track "The Main Thing" on the b-side, reached UK #26 and was Roxy Music's last UK hit single.

Original Roxy Music member Brian Eno is often credited as being the creator of "ambient" music.

"Few albums are truly captivating from start to finish. This is one of them. Avalon is simply exquisite."

Material: wikipedia.org
Quote: "A music fan" via amazon.com