If anyone was thinking of buying Avonmore, as a gift or for their own personal use, I too would say that the album gatefold sleeve option has proved great value for money. As well as the vinyl, a CD copy is also included, much to my delight. I'm wondering though, would this count as 2 "Avonmore's" in any chart placing? I would think not, but curious either way. Liking the album, very much indeed.

For me the big frustration about BF achieving sales garnered from the positive reviews, good airplay and his impressive promotional efforts is, once again availability - or lack of - in key retailers. It seems BMG are no more accomplished at getting BF's albums in to shops than Virgin were. I'm sure this is going to have an adverse impact on sales and chart placings. It's almost impossible to overestimate the impact of supermarket sales in the current marketplace and especially at this time of year but Avonmore is absent from some important shelves.

At amazon.de the Avonmore CD is currently listed as "Neuerscheinung Nr 1" (new release nr 1) in the category alternative music, and the Vinyl+CD edition is listed as nr. 4.

On jpc.de Bryan Ferry (CD) is currently nr. 16. Bowie is nr. 17 , nr. 1 Pink Floyd, nr. 2 Zaz (French chansonnière), nr. 3 AC/DC (pre-orders). Pink Floyd are listed 4 times (!) within the top 20 because of different packages.

As previously stated Avonmore was at #14 on the midweek UK album chart. The chart was updated on Thursday & again on Friday. By Thursday it had dropped a place to #15 & Friday a further place to #16. It will be interesting to see if it can sell enough copies today, (Saturday) to stay in the top 20 when the official chart is published tomorrow at 7PM GMT.

So, as with Olympia, Avonmore has entered the carts at number 19.

I think we can safely say though that it would have been higher had it not been released over the festive market period.

Would be interesting to compare first week sales with Olympia to see if it fared any better.

Yes, a very respectable placing at this time of year I think (outselling new entries from the likes of Michael Ball and Shirley Bassey!). I imagine that it's sold more than Olympia, given that it was released a few weeks nearer to Christmas.

Number 19 isn't a complete disaster considering the time of year. Maybe some expected the positive reviews to push it a little higher.

Discounting 'The Jazz Age' - on which Bryan neither sings or plays, there can't be many artists who have released as many albums as Bryan - solo & with Roxy who have reached the top 20 with every studio album they have released.

Avonmore was an impressive no 6 in the Official Record Store Chart. Presumably this doesn't count supermarket sales, so is a level playing field.

In the main Edinburgh HMV store yesterday Avonmore was placed at No. 8 which I assume is based on sales for the week.