If there ever was a group that began in the 1970s but whose music was tailor-made for the 1980s, it was The Alan Parsons Project, the brainchild of famed producer Parsons and his partner Eric Woolfson, who passed away in 2009. Their studio-oriented music, which featured a rotating cast of singers and musicians, took full advantage of all the electronic toys available to make music at the time, and had futuristic, thematic concepts that were perfect for what was to come, for good or bad, in the 1980s.
While their 1976 debut, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, based on the writings of Edgar Allan Poe, was very much a product of the ’70s, their next album in 1977, I, Robot, based on the interconnected short story collection by Issac Asimov published in 1950, wasn’t just the perfect soundtrack for the ’80s, but is even more relevant today.
Pyramid, in 1979, thematically presented eternal questions and used ancient symbols as a guidepost, while musically approached the themes with very modern electronic sounds. Eve in 1979 was a dramatic departure and signaled that the group may have decided to leave the past and maybe even the future behind them. Which brings us to the latest batch of reissues from the group and the first albums they released in the ’80s.
The Turn of a Friendly Card, recorded in Paris and released in 1980, was almost a reset for the group and, in some ways, oddly and conversely, almost a follow-up to their debut. The album had many musical attributes of ’70s music, was a lush, immersive experience, and boasted what turned out to be their biggest hits to date, “Games People Play” and “Time,” eclipsing “Damned if I Do” from Eve. Rather than tackling overreaching themes, the album used a simple game for the thematic metaphor. It’s hard to argue which of the group’s albums is their best, but this one is at least clearly among them.
Fans would have to wait two years for Eye in the Sky, released in 1982, the first time the group did not release an album in successive years, but it was their return to recording at Abbey Road Studios. While not as lush and timeless-sounding as The Turn of a Friendly Card, the album included another one of their massive hits, the title track, and its instrumental album opener, “Sirius.” Again, the group seemed to be moving forward while also reaching back for a ’70s slick British studio sound, which, on occasion, exhibited some bombastic moments.
With Ammonia Avenue in 1984, the group seemed to be beginning to run out of steam a little after six solid albums, but it’s still a worthy effort and included yet another massive hit, “Don’t Answer Me,” with its Spectorish Wall of Sound production, again recorded at Abbey Road Studios. The album also marked the group’s first all-digital recording.
All three reissues of these albums are 45-RPM, double-album sets. The packages are in gatefold jackets, with an Obi-strip and vinyl boasting custom labels, in poly-lined sleeves, and include an insert with liner notes. The albums are numbered and pressed in an edition of 2,000 copies. Along with the 45-RPM speed, to further align with the audiophile approach, the albums were half-speed mastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios and pressed on 180-gram vinyl by Optimal.
The Turn of a Friendly Card was mastered from a high-resolution archive transfer from Woolfson’s mint-condition duplicate master. Eye in the Sky used a high-resolution audio transfer from the original 1982 master tapes used for the 2017 reissue. For Ammonia Avenue, a 1:1 archive transfer of the original Sony 1610-format digital master tape recorded in 1984 was used. All three albums have truly exceptional sound, in line with the quality of the original production by Parsons and Showell’s mastering, as well as the pressing.
The individual artwork for each album is also worth noting. Lol Creme and Kevin Godley, formerly of 10cc, who would go on to become key producers of music videos in the 1980s, did the artwork for The Turn of a Friendly Card. Hypnosis returned to handle the artwork for Eye in the Sky and Ammonia Avenue, with this new reissue of Eye in the Sky featuring a beautiful reproduction of the original gold-foiled eye image from the album. This is a typical touch for these Alan Parsons Project reissues, and the care put into not just the sound quality but also the packaging.
Like previous reissues from the group, these albums are available in other formats. The CD reissues include bonus tracks with demos, rough mixes, various edits, and different vocal takes. The packages are digisleeve gatefolds and include 12-page booklets. These CDs make for perfect companions to the vinyl reissues.
Various other formats are available, but some reissues, including those covered here, may or may not be out of print at the time of publication.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
The Turn of a Friendly Card
A-
Eye in the Sky
B+
Ammonia Avenue
B
