Avalon followed Davies' "groove theory" even more closely. "I would get to the studio about 10 in the morning and I would set rhythms up - get interesting grooves going, weird things happening, and have the keyboard hooked in, ready to go. Bryan would saunter through the door about 1 o'clock and this vibe would be happening already. Bryan would just come and sit down at the keyboard and work a chord progression, or whatever, to go with that.

"It was a fantastic way of working, and working down at Phil's studio was brilliant. They were paying for Phil's studio, but nowhere near top rates, so a looseness was there."

The perfect mate to Flesh and Blood, Avalon rides a midtempo groove through a world where love's death throes have given way to a languid acceptance of the inevitability of romantic failure. But the denizens of this Avalon (the isle of the heroic dead in Celtic legend) savor the temporary triumphs and meaning that romantic struggle brought to their lives and, as disembodied wraiths, twirl eternally together under a distant, shimmering pale moon.

And lastly, I spoke with songwriter/producer Patrick Leonard about working with Ferry in the '80s.

Following his ongoing work with Madonna, Leonard's second most important collaboration has been with Bryan Ferry on his moody, squirming Bete Noiralbum. Leonard used his expertise with electronic instruments to help create a seething, rhythmic stew of romance and intrigue (Leonard co-wrote five of the tracks and co-produced the entire album with Ferry).

The single "Kiss and Tell" finds a supple groove and a clean melody for a tale of romantic bartering. "Zamba" floats on a strange syncopation to reveal a sharp autumnal image of loss. "The Right Stuff" packs a loping punch, and the title track closes the album with a gypsy flourish.

Though the album is great, Leonard isn't satisfied with it. "I don't think that record was fully realized. Bryan was going through management changes and things were dragging a bit. We just had to finish it, and we did. We probably used machines a little too much because of the way we were working.

"There are some good qualities to that record," he continues. "I learned a lot of interesting things - bizarre things I would have never tried - like taking trumpet solos that were done for one song, sampling them and taking a piece, flipping it backwards, dropping it down a fifth and putting it in a different song. Now that is stuff that everybody eats for breakfast, but in '87 it wasn't. Now you can just do it with ProTools."

But love and loss never change - just ask Bryan Ferry