APP remasters

A much earlier post revealed my liking of the Alan Parsons Project, and had a quick review of the first batch of remasters. I've had the 2nd and 3rd batches for some time, so figured a quick summary was in order.

Pyramid : continuing with their theme based albums, this one looks at the then popular pyramid/crystal fad. Ignoring that, it has some good stuff on it, and holds up reasonably well. I've always enjoyed this album, in fact I wore out the tape I had. Some of it drags slightly, but over all enjoyable. The bonus stuff is demo's. I really like The Eagle Will Rise Again, nice use of orchestration, and the slightly damaged vocals work well with the albums theme. 7/10

The Turn of a Friendly Card: another theme album, from APP, say it ain't so sam! Gambling this time. The album seems to miss something from the lack of instrumental work, but it does show a band at their peak. There's some interesting Ennio Morricone influenced work on the Gold Bug, before it moves into a funky-ish early electronica. The album had a couple of big hits (games people play, time), neither of which do much for me. The title track work and gold bug are by the far the standouts. bonuses are demo's 6/10

Eve : a rarity in that there are female vocal leads. Musically I think this is stronger than friendly card, but as an album something doesn't gel. When it's good it's very good, but somethign about it doesn't work for me. I almost get the feeling they were a bit burnt out by this one, and from memory the liner notes on the remaster say something like that. Lucifer and Winding me up are probably my fav's - although the big single was Damned if I do. What annoys me about Winding me up is that the opening orchestral bit appears slightly out of sync - as does the brass section at the end. Damn them. Demos as bonus, including unreleased track. 6/10

Ammonia Avenue: arguably one their best albums. I just love this album from start to finish. Highlight is obviously Ammonia Avenue. Another Woolfson vocal - for someone who says he never sings, most of the biggest APP hits were his vocals... biggest hit from this album is Don't Answer Me. Thematically, a petrochemical plant inspired this one. Oh yes. Prog is petrochemical. Do it. Actually it's more pop-rock, but with long meandering songs, I guess there's an element of the dirty prog in there. 9/10

Stereotomy: I think this one suffered a little from being recorded too quickly after Vulture culture? Maybe? It is miles better than VC tho', and I'm more likely to listen to this as an album. And the instrumental makes a welcome comeback with three of them. And the superb Limelight. Great song. Yeah maybe in retrospect, this one holds up better than I thought. It helps they gave the songs a bit of room to breath, rather than trying to force a single. Bonus includes an unreleased demo track 8/10

Gaudi: Go on, guess the theme...It is my second favourite APP album (Tales being #1), and that's even with Money Talks, which I don't like. The instrumental, Paseo de gracia is superb - and has the trombones back with a vengence. They'd made a few appearances since Tales, most notably on Eye in the Sky. New Zealanders of a certain age will recognise Standing on Higher Ground as the theme to Video Dispatch with Dick (father of Barnaby) Weir. the 8 min opening track, La Sagrada Familia is certainly the highlight of the album. 9/10

So if push came to shove what should you buy? Hmmm if you're not an album person, go for the 2CD best of - it's a pretty good summary of the APP. Albumwise: Tales of Mystery and Imagination; Gaudi; I Robot or Eye in the Sky; Ammonia Avenue, in roughly that order.

I've also got the Eric Woolfson recent album 'the project that never was'. I wouldn't bother picking this up if I were you...bits of it are good, but there's no cohesive feeling to it. And it's overproduced.