Customer Reviews

Back to Avalon

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I first received this album on vinyl when it first came out. The only two singles that received decent radio airplay were his two movie soundtrack tunes. However, the song "Back To Avalon" is a haunting, roller-coaster, beautiful tune that reveals more to the listener with each play. Isabella's Eyes is a tune written for his daughter and anyone with a daughter can relate to it's touching father's perspective. Lastly, his song dedicated to the homeless children is typical of Kenny's proactivity in the world and is another great 80's tune. If you're a Kenny Loggins fan and don't have this album, you're missing out. A must for every collection.

Back to Avalon, while my favorite KL album, is a difficult one to classify. Something of a transition piece between the solid rock/pop of 1982's High Adventure and 1985's Vox Humana and the introspective, mature sound showcased in 1991's Leap of Faith, Back to Avalon was produced and released a short time before the breakup of his first marriage, and described by Kenny himself as "a tribute to one hell of a good try", which would seems to set a rather somber tone for the production. Yet, when one listens to it, the majority of the songs are relatively upbeat, some even happy. The songs on the album, for the most part, are solid pop-rock numbers - the album's big hit, "Nobody's Fool" from the Caddyshack II soundtrack, is a viable follow-up to "I'm Alright" from the first Caddyshack, and, for my money, was a far better piece of work. By far the best song on the album, however, is the title track, which is a song of the birth and zenith of a love, and its decline, and what must be done to make it flourish again. All in all, Back to Avalon is a very worthwhile purchase for any Kenny Loggins fan, or for any fan of good music.

I like Kenny Loggins.

What's more, I like "Back To Avalon."

There, I've said it.

Seriously, this album is probably one of his best albums; it's certainly one of his most maligned.

And true, by the time "Avalon" came out in 1988, people were suffering from Loggins Overload. It seemed that there wasn't a single movie made between 1983's "Footloose" and 1987's "Over The Top" that didn't have a Kenny Loggins song in it.

While it's true that "Avalon" doesn't sound all that different from "Vox Humana," which smacked of leftover "High Adventure." But that's not necessarily a bad thing. All three of these albums were highly competent works, and if they weren't ground-breaking, they all were certainly radio-friendly. In addition to "Nobody's Fool" and "Meet Me Half Way," songs like "True Confessions," "Blue On Blue," "I'm Gonna Miss You" and the title track would have made respectable chart hits if Sony had given the album half a chance.

As good as the album is, there are a few clunkers. "Tell Her" doesn't quite come together so well as it should. Nothing against guest vocalist Merry Clayton; it's just that she's overwhelmed by the intensity of the track. Something similar happens with Michael McDonald on "She's Dangerous," where his smoky voice seems out of place next to Pat Leonard's production. McDonald and Loggins have collaborated on better songs like "This Is It" and "Heart To Heart," but even a less-than-stellar collaboration is a good song by any standard.

A must for any Kenny Loggins fan.

If you love 80's mucis, and could use a few good clean love songs, this album is for you.

Loggins is highly underrated. Forget "Footloose," etc. He is a songwriter, and this is one of the albums that was a great piece of writing set to music. Update your collection, recall some of these radio hits, and really listen to the lyrics.

This CD is excellent it has alot of unapreciated songs on it like nobodys fool.get it is awsome.

BACK TO AVALON is a 1988 offering from the then ubiquitous Kenny Loggins. All of the elements that launched Loggins' solo juggernaut are evidenced....driving rocking anthems and pounding heartfelt ballads. I like Kenny and much of his critically-reviled tunes. AVALON contains some solid tracks: the melodic mysticism of the title track; the insistent bounce of Caddyshack 2's NOBODY's FOOL; the duet with frequent collaborator Michael McDonald - SHE's DANGEROUS; the desperate social commentary of HOPE FOR THE RUNAWAY; the celebration of Loggins' daughter in ISABELLA's EYES; and the seductive power of MEET ME HALFWAY. The remaining tracks are competent representations of what Kenny was doing best at this highly commercialized point in his career. Loggins affecionados will surely include this collection in their library.

Sorely overshadowed by it's predecessor "Vox Humana" and the epic masterpiece that was "Leap of Faith", "Back TO Avalon" is among the most overlooked and sadly forgotten albums in Kenny Loggins's catalog. Released in 1988, it features some really wonderful tracks such as "I'm Gonna Miss You", "One Woman", the atmospheric title track, the Michael McDonald duet "She's Dangerous" and the beautiful closer "Meet Me Half Way". This album in many respects is a maturing over the commercial-driven pop of "Vox Humana" but even then, it shows no example of the epic beauty that was to become "Leap of Faith", just three years after this one. Still BTA is a must-have.

IMHO This 1988 album is Kenny's very best & that's saying quite alot considering his impressive body of work over the decades. It's similar sounding to 1985's Vox Humana & 1982's High Adventure but the production is better & it's chock full of well written songs with lush melodies. Only 2 songs were released from this album as singles. The mellow but excellent - "Meet Me Half Way" (Theme from the movie - Over the Top) & the awesome high energy rocker - "Nobody's Fool" (Theme from the movie - Caddyshack II). There are also many more great uptempo songs here that could've easily been hit singles as well. Songs like: Tell Her, One Woman, True Confessions, Hope for the Runaway & Isabella's Eyes are all superb numbers & are either just as good or almost as good as anything Kenny has ever put out on the radio. Michael McDonald also guest appears on this album & as always, provides excellent b/g vocals on the track -"She's Dangerous". All in all, this album is very strong from beginning to end & contains no filler whatsoever. I highly recommend it to any Loggins fan & give it 5 stars.

I am one of those people who really gives the 80's pop music era a big break.It's not because of nostalgia of a decade I grew up in but because it's a very musically misunderstood era.So many times when an artist threw on the gated drums/drum machines,handclaps and synthesizer overkill thick I look the other way,especially when the songs are good.And if done right a lot of times those production elements can really work. But sometimes when it becomes about money,music from any era including today can end up being cornball and dated. Kenny Loggins as a solo artist has always been an underated performer anyway,someone who introduced himself with the folksy,soulful pop/jazz of his debut Celebrate Me Home to the well rounded pop rock of High Adventure with many great hits on his own as well.For some reason in the mid 80's he started chasing current trends to stay "hep" and ended up moving off the charts. This album is part of that chase;in many ways the overall sound of the album,heavily cluttered musically and with the whole thing very processed resembles Richard Marx or Corey Hart more then it does Kenny Loggins."Nobody's Fool" pretty much sets the stage,although...."Hope For The Runaway" is pretty spicy. Generally speaking this works better with the slower stuff such as the title song and "Meet Me Half Way". If I had been him....I'd have gone for a mellow 80's soul sound rather then pursued such standard issue mainstream period pop/rock like this but of course sometimes I listen to an album like this and start making up my own,in keeping with the way I think it should be done.Yeah maybe it's a narcessistic thing but it keeps me going if an album only half moves me lol. I didn't end up doing that as much as I thought here but it's kind of frusterating in terms of it not being all it could've been.